-              The bombardment of shells spray over their trenches. It is endless. It feels like it never stops. They were praying to stay alive. They are in darkness as the candle keeps on blowing out from the vibration of the ground. The beams that are supporting the dugout might collapse. 

-              The raid was planned to run at the enemy’s base. He overcame his fear of death and had courage to leave the trench and run onto ‘no man’s land’.  As he reached the enemies base he killed a German by stabbing him with his bayonet. He then had trouble trying to withdraw the gun out of the guy’s chest. He leaves his gun and runs away. He realises that he is by himself and unarmed so he goes back to retrieve his gun.  

-              After the raid was finished and returned back to base, he contemplated about his feelings, why kill? Why sacrifice lives? How his life has changed and why he doesn’t feel emotions when a recruit dies. 

Doesn’t approve of the French girls in the town trading sex for food. ‘No wonder their country is in ruins’ 
He is matured, he is 40’

‘Shame about Brownie, ‘Better out of it’. Respect for brown, he’s no longer a man, he’s a symbol. 

Fights Broadbent over dispute of rations 

Killed in action during Narrators raid.

Narrator-
(Chapter 5 development shared by others below)

Volunteered for raid on enemy trench.

Kills German solider, clumsily, unlike one thinks war will be like 

Takes prisoners, one being the brother of the German he killed ‘Mein Bruder’ (my brother)

Has a moment comforting the German prisoners, ‘who can comfort whom in war’.

Talk of MM (military medal) Narrator refuses to take souvenirs of victory as the thought sickens him.
Thinks where to go on leave, France or London.

Adding to trauma, narrator riffles through dead Cleary’s pockets for his papers he left with him.

Try’s to forget trauma and pain. ‘Better not to think’
All-
All are happy on rest, they are away from the trenches, there’s cheap wine, food beds and girls. That’s until the body of a solider comes around to remind them of the war that will reclaim them to hell.

 

1.      “More terrible than lightning, more cruel, more calculating than an earthquake!” (page 80)

2.      “Yea, all of us have prayed during the maniac frenzy of a bombardment.” (page 81)

3.      “I went through all that without breaking down.” (page 98)

4.      “Who can comfort who in war? Who can care for us, we who are set loose at each other and tear each other’s entrails with silent gleaming bayonets?” (page 95)

5.      “But it is better not to think….” (page 104)

-        Perpetual        Lasting for a long time

-        Coveted          Wish to have something, especially a thing that belongs to someone else

-        Tumultuous    Making a tumult; noisy

-        Epithets          Words expressing something about a person or thing e.g. Alexander the ‘Great’

“Any port in a storm” meaning ‘in adverse circumstances one welcomes any source of relief or escape’. There is a recurring motif where the narrator of the story starts to appreciate the small things in life, which he used to take for granted.

“Gee, I was sorry that I kidded about her” The narrator is now beginning to gain an appreciation for Brownie and regretting teasing him about his wife, now that he is gone. 

-Monotonous: Emotionless, or with one tone

-Billets: places (usually civilian houses or barns in this books case) where soldiers are housed temporarily

-Tarts: Women

-Pips: Lieutenants

-Estaminet: A place similar to a restaurant

-Frogs: French people