The Shoe Horn Sonata

The action cuts between two settings: a television studio and a Melbourne motel room. The opening scene shows Bridie re-enacting the kowtow, a tribute to the emperor of Japan. (Bridie stands in a spotlight. She bows stiffly from the waist, and remains in this position). Stage directions allow the readers to visualise exactly how the composer wants it to be performed. The reader is able to share their experiences, and feels engaged with Bridie at this point. Misto uses photographic images, projected on a screen behind Bridie to support the dialogue. [On the screen behind Bridie are projected several 1940 posters for the Women’s Army. These are followed by photographs of the Australian army nurses disembarking in Singapore]. This allows the reader to feel included into the play, and creates an emotional impact by reminding us that although the play is fiction, the stories themselves are real, and real people who suffered in this way. Wilfred Owen’s first line of ‘the Send-Off’ illustrates the soldiers singing happily, heading to defend their country. ‘Down the close, darkening lanes they sang their way to the siding-shed’. Owen opens the poem with this powerful visual line to display the juxtaposition present in the happy soldiers and the ‘close, darkening lanes’. This line reflects the soldiers being sent to their death, and we as the readers are able to understand that Owen points

In Misto’s play contrast is a powerful dramatic device. Describe its use in the Shoe Horn Sonata.

One's memories will paint a reality of society so divorced from our own as 'truth is the first casualty of war'. It will be of three and a half years of imprisonment and the chance to reflect fifty years after the event will be at large. In John Misto's historical fiction, The Shoe Horn Sonata the hard truth is brought to light in 1995, fifty years on providing a rich sense of reflection and consideration of the notion of World War Two through the memory of two characters, Shelia and Bridie.

Disparity of power in society is often created in the chaos of wars, in which it leads to abuse in power and loss of identity in individuals. Through the anti-war poem Homecoming by Dawe, responders have discovered and gained an insight on the power of war, which has impacted and led to the degradation of the ‘homecoming’ soldiers in ‘they’re…them’, as an anaphora illustrates the bitter attitude of the persona, merging and exhibiting Dawe’s dismissive perspective of war. The dominance of conflicts has impacted on the soldiers the most as it is denoted in the free verse lines, reflecting the unstructured senseless tragedy of war that stimulated their powerlessness. On the same hand, Dawe continues with his critical view of militarism in confronting

39. O’Brien meticulously incorporates this chapter directly after “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong,” to portray the counteracting ideals of the role of women and femininity in both sections. In “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong,” the entire chapter is dedicated to discussing Mary Anne’s somewhat bolstering and heartening presence for Mark Fossie. It demonstrates the ideal view of women’s comforting role during the war and how they provided devoted their entire being in making their counterparts happy. In contrast,“Stockings” demonstrates the ideal of how soldiers were still reassured and remedied by women on the homefront who present the bare-minimum effort. This is ideal is exhibited by Henry Dobbins who is consistently alleviated and invigorated by his girlfriend’s stockings, yet in actuality, she hardy demonstrates affection and compassion for Dobbins, eventually ending their

Through the development of these three female figures, O’Brien places women in the archetype of the innocent to convey the message that women are forced to take the backseat experience in war and only spoken about in parallel to “their” man. Through their interactions with men, women take a more significant role than the soldiers themselves in portraying greater truths about war.

Although some may argue that Mary Anne Bell was a symbol for overcoming sexist stereotypes, she was in fact a symbol for what soldiers transitioned through everyday--her change parallels and exaggerates their stories. O’Brien’s changing description of Mary Anne epitomizes the hypnotic effect that war has. Mary Anne was ‘a tall big boned blonde’ (89) an ‘attractive girl’ (90), ‘coy and flirtatious’ (91), but ‘the wilderness seemed to draw her in’ (100) and soon she ‘cut her hair short’ (92) and wore ‘a necklace of human tongues, [that were] elongated and narrow, like pieces of blackened leather, one tongue overlapping the next, the tips curled upward as if caught in a final shrill syllable’ (105-106). Mary Anne’s description of being ‘a tall

The words she chooses have strong connotations that paint a tragic image and give the reader an unavoidable dark feeling. The reader is forced to acknowledge the conditions many war refugees are in, and realize how caring the refugees remain. Although, some readers may be left confused. Why would a person in such a bad condition still offer what little they have left? Mortada puts it simply, “to cook is to be at home, to commune over a meal and seal a bond of friendship” (4).

The most prominent strength of Tomedi’s book proves to be the emotion and personality portrayed by so many of the men in their respective sections. Too often, history books are very dry and emotionally detached; however, through careful editing of the interview transcripts, Tomedi produced chapters capable of capturing and holding an audience’s interest. One particularly touching section involved a soldier recollecting the deep respect he acquired for the valor and pride of the army of the Republic of Korea. He mentioned in the end of the piece that an ROK regimental band went individually to each American soldier and serenaded him with American Christmas songs. Even more heartwarming was that after they had played, each member of the band shook his hand and thanked him for being there (Tomedi 198). Accounts such as that one lend a very personal perspective to a war from which so many people feel far-removed.

Especially in light of Antoinette’s eventual madness resulting from her isolation, Jenny’s life of confinement also invites the reader to consider her mental state. However, as “The Return of the Soldier reveals,… men’s war experiences are often read as more important than women’s experiences of trauma, even as these traumas appear alongside one another” (Pulsifer 53). Because of the mental problems that resulted from the trauma of war, most notably what the contemporaries called shell-shock, women’s mental health was especially overlooked during the Great War. In this novel, West argues that “women’s experiences are as legitimate as men’s” and that Jenny’s situation should not be “overshadowed by Chris’s experience of trauma in war” (38).

Focusing on issues of the human condition, the story addresses, children forced to grow up quickly, gun violence, racism, familial challenges, loneliness, lust, and hierarchy challenges. Also, included are many moments of wistful contemplation of circumstances with people reminiscing about life as it was before the invasion. Missing the amenities, the luxuries and the simplicities of their prior lives the story initially, carries a strong sentimental undertow and at times a permeating sadness that is palatable.

To conclude, John Schumann’s ballad captures the feelings of the diggers in a modest and respectful way. The young Australians were sold a romantic ideal of the glory and honour of battle. However, in reality, the violence and horror of war stole away their innocence, which resulted in great struggle after they returned home from the horrors of war.

The symbolism of being lost is a universal immigrant theme that occurs throughout many immigrant literatures, particularly in Henry Roth’s Call it Sleep. Language, or lack of understanding it, has a profound contribution to the process of being lost. This contribution is shown earlier in the book, in a passage where David is lost trying to find his way home (Passage 1) and is mirrored later on in the book, when David and Aunt Bertha are lost in a museum (Passage 2). The restriction of the usage of language in both passages portrays to us the inevitable and ubiquitous immigrant dilemma: I talk, eat, and live like this new country

Both Sebastian Faulks and W. H. Auden write about the tales of Jewish refugees living in the time of holocaust during WW2 in their two pieces, ‘The Last Night’ and ‘Refugee Blues’. By using literary techniques such as imagery and tone both writers, Auden and Gray create a sense of alienation for the characters portrayed in their writing. Both Auden and Gray create a sincere illusion of reality to promote the refugee’s alienation and suffering in both stories ultimately bringing the two gripping tales to life.

Though “Men In The Sun” is entertaining, a close scrutiny of the story from a literary perspective reveals deeper representations of the lives of refugees who live in the middle East. In particular, the story captures the refugees’ desires to escape from their undesirable pasts and live better lives in future. This is an aspect that is relatable me because the widespread conflict and increasing number of refugees in the Middle East is readily perceivable. On this basis, “pastfuture” and “nextness” stand out in the story. “Men In The Sun” presents characters whose individual and collective experiences involve escaping from their past and seeking a better future particularly through relocation, and this forms the main basis for the author’s representation of “pastfuture” and “nextness”.