Death of the
Ball Turrett Gunner
Randall Jarrell
Class Annotations
From my mother's
sleep
I fell into the State,
--`-`-`---` | --`-`-
`-` -`
- Literal
meaning: Speaker went from his childhood right intoa war. Implies
that speaker was very young and/or innocent.
- Figurative meanings: he
wasdrafted. Also image of being born. Could "mother's sleep"
refer to Pearl Harbor? "fell" implies speaker was not in
control-- external forces did this to him.
- Important
words: "State" -- capitalization implies proper name: colossus, an
entity. Implies state of dehumanization... "Sleeping
mother" implies that his paretns orthe people who were supposed to be
protecting him weren't. "Mother" could also refer to his homeland.
- Key
oppositions: mother vs. State ; protection vs jeapordy
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
--`--`--```
- Literal
meaning: he is hunched in the belly of the bomber; wet fur
refers to the fur of his jacket
- Figurative
meanings: wet fur gives an image of a young animal, just
born. Sense of fear-- nervous and sweaty. ALso "hunched"
implies he is trying toprotect himself. Belly image carries both
mother and machine images from first lines.
- Important
words:
- Key
oppositions: belly vs. froze (Belly would imply warmth and
nourishment vs. frozen cold)
Six miles from earth, loosed
from
the dream of life,
--`
` ` --`-` | ``-``--`-`
- Literal
meaning: He is high above the earth inside the plane, and he
doesn't know i fhe is going to live through the mission.
- Figurative meanings. So
far from earth that he can't imagine living anymore; could the "dream
of life" refer to "the American dream"?
- Important
words:
- Key
oppositions: earth and dream of life vs. nightmare of flak
I woke to black flak and the nightmare
fighters.
-`-``--`-`-
- Literal
meaning: He realized he was being attacked by anit-aircraft guns
and planes around him
- Figurative
meanings: waking from dream of life tonightmare (paradox that
reality is also a dream)
- Important
words:
- Key
oppositions: waking and dreaming, life and death, light and dark
When I
died, they washed me out of the turret with a hose.
--`
-``--`--`
- Literal
meaning: He died. ANd there wasn't much left of him-- he
was shattered into pieces.
- Figurative
meanings: some irony, bitterness that he did so much and then is
treated like trash. Makes him part of the machine.
De-humanization-- destructiuon of the individual. Is this an
anti-war poem? An anti-military poem? An anti-State poem?
Meant to remind us of the cost of war. Abortion
- Important
words:
- Key
oppositions: life and death, birth and death, singular vs. plural
(I vs. they)