Task 2-- Children in the Darkness

Task 2:Steps in Analysis—Children in the Darkness

Point of View

• A person who knows and has witnessed the horrors of war one way or another
• Realistic
• Gives the poem more emotion due to poet’s background

Evidence

• “war consume them
  Their body and their soul
  Will their life and blood be poured
  Down some endless thirsty hole”
• “could we….”

· “Back into the darkness
From which there is no flight”

Elaboration

• We can see from this statement that he knows that children are too young to fight the war. He indirectly means that the horrors of war will corrupt their minds and consume their soul. Also, he knows that war is no playground because the children have not received much training because he states thay their life and blood will be poured down the endless bloodthirsty cavity of war.
• Knows that educating the child in a small way would not make way for hope that children will not be corrupted by the horrors of war

· Knows that children cannot escape from the blanket of black fear of war

Situation and Setting

• Indochina wars
• Cambodian-Vietnamese war
• Shrouded with fear and uncertainty—or certainty of death
• Situation of helplessness—no choice

· Poet pities the children of Vietnam who are forced onto the battlefield

Evidence

• “…..darkness”
• “Back into the darkness
  From which there is no flight”
• “Back to the darkness from which there shines no light”

· “Could we simply light a candle
Could we give them half a chance
Could we teach them how to read
Could we teach them how to dance”

Elaboration

• The poet mentions darkness in almost every stanza of the poem, which is indirectly saying that these wars are full of uncertainty—or from another point of view, certainty of death
• Due to the lack of experience, training and physical maturity
• Children have no choice but to get onto the battlefield in face of certain death with—from the poet’s point of view—hope for survival

· Thinks that the children should be given the chance at education and childhood

Language/Diction

• Rhyming of words at the end of each line in ABAB form emphasize their individual messages
• Comparing the standard of English between his own website and this poem, this poem is specially written, thus the language can be understood easily

· Probably wants to promote awareness about the plight of the children

Evidence

• Stanza 1

Light, fight

• Stanza 2

Key, flee, free

• Stanza 3

Chance, dance

• Stanza 4

Soul, hole

• Stanza 5

No flight, no light

Elaboration

Emphasizes:

· that the children are sent blindly into the horrors of war

• that the children cannot escape the battlefield
• that the children do not have a chance at childhood(dance)
• that children will be desensitized and their life will be wasted

· the helplessness of the situation

Personal Response

Poet does not use any bombastic language, however the theme of fear and pity for the children, and helplessness can be felt through the tone of the poet, even without any punctuation

Evidence

• “Could we simply light a candle (?)
  Could we give them half a chance (?)
  Could we teach them how to read (?)
  Could we teach them how to dance (?)”
• “Or will a war consume them (,)
  Their body and their soul (!)
  Will their life and blood be poured
  Down some endless thirsty hole (?)”
• “Back into the darkness

From which there is no flight

Back into the darkness

Into which there shines no light”

Elaboration

• These indirect rhetorical questions show how the poet pities the children because they do not even know how to hold a pen, or recognise a letter in a book, or even a chance at simple childhood
• Poet evidently thinks that sending children to the battlefield would an atrocious deed because he is outraged that the children will have the horrors of war as a burden, and most likely die

· Poet ends on a tone of helplessness because he watches the children go “back into the darkness”, and he on the other hand cannot help them

Task 1-- We slept with our boots on

We slept with our boots on

They unloaded the dead and maimed right before our eyes
They washed out the blood, we loaded our ruck’s and then took to the skies
Over the mountains, villages, and valleys we flew
Where we would land we had not a clue
Bullets are flying, the LZ is hot
We’re leaving this bird whether we like it or not
30 seconds they yelled, Lock N Load and grab your shit
Get ready to go and make it quick
My heart is pumping adrenalin through all of my veins
I run as fast as I can through the lead rain
The noise is tremendous, terror I can’t define
The only reason I survived that day was divine
I kept pulling the trigger and reloading and pulling some more
You do what you have to do, with that I will say no more
We fought from the valleys to the mountain peaks
From house to cave, to car to creek
Dirty and tired and hungry and scared
We slept with our boots on so we were always prepared
Those majestic mountains so steep, so high they kiss the skies
The Hindu Kush has changed so many lives
Up the mountains with heavy loads we trod
Who knew hell was so close to God
Beauty and terror are a strong mixed drink
So we drank it like drunkards and tried not to think
Good men and bad men, Mothers lost son’s
Everyone loses their innocence when they carry guns
Washed in the blood, and baptized by fire
I will never forget those who were called higher
They say blood is thicker than water, well lead is thicker than blood
Brothers aren’t born they’re earned. In the poppy fields, the tears, and the mud
And when I get to heaven to Saint Peter I will tell
Another Paratrooper reporting for duty sir, I spent my time in hell

Steve Carlsen

Background information

The poet, Steve Carlsen, was just an ordinary infantryman during the on-going Afghan Conflict. He experienced three years of combat after joining the military in October 2000. After basic military training he reported to D Company 1st battalion 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He was deployed to Kosovo in November 2001 as part of peace keeping operations, and again to Afghanistan in of December 2002 where he participated in combat operations. He was honorably discharged from the Army in 2003.

The war in this poem refers to the War in Afghanistan, also known as Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan (OEF-A). It is part of both the War on Terror and the Afghan Civil War. The Afghan War was sparked off in response to the 9/11 attacks on the United States by Al-Qaeda. OEF-A has since evolved from just a plain struggle against Al-Qaeda and its Taliban supporters to a complex insurgency effort.

Belligerents include (on the side of the Coalition) include the NATO-ISAF forces of the United States and the United Kingdom, among others, and Afghanistan, whilst the Insurgents consist mainly of the Taliban and the Al-Qaeda.

In this poem, he recounts the harrowing moments during his time in Afghanistan, putting a lot of attention on his emotions to bring out the theme of fear in his poem, to the extent that he slept as prepared for battle as he could, recounted that he drank fear like a drunkard consuming alcohol and feeling that he should go to heaven should he die, because he had already served his time in hell on earth in Afghanistan.

Task 1-- Children in the darkness

Children in the Darkness

There are children in the darkness
Who have not seen the light
There are children in the darkness
Who someone will teach to fight

Chalk and blackboards will not be
To this door there is no key
From this life they can not flee
And these children are not free

Could we simply light a candle
Could we give them half a chance
Could we teach them how to read
Could we teach them how to dance

Or will a war consume them
Their body and their soul
Will their life and blood be poured
Down some endless thirsty hole

Back into the darkness
From which there is no flight
Back into the darkness
Into which there shines no light

Henry M Bechtold

Background information

The conflicts represented in this poem are the Indochina wars and the Cambodian-Vietnamese war. In these four wars, namely the first, second, third Indochina wars and the Cambodian-Vietnamese war, both sides always had military use of children, such as for spies, porters, messengers, lookouts ,take a direct part in hostilities or even as human shields on the battlefield. These children can be as young as 10 years old. Also, they received little, or even no military training, thus making them easy targets on the battlefield, to opponents or even to their squadron members and themselves. During these wars, children were brainwashed to the extent that they would obey literally any order without hesitation.

The poet for this poem, Henry M Bechtold, says that his mistress is Vietnam herself, and while it fills him with exquisite joy, also breaks his heart. He is actually talking about how the history of Vietnam has affected the people’s lives up till now.

In the poem, he laments about how the children of Vietnam will always be in fear of death as they are sent to the battlefield during the periods of the various wars. Thus, since they are already about to die, and adding to the fact that they are so young, means that they will never even learn how to hold a pen or recognise a letter before they are sent to the battlefield.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_use_of_children

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indochina_Wars

http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Military-use-of-children

Comeback after a really busy term

Uh-oh. Looks like I have all but forgotten that I have this blog here. To be honest, term 2 in HCI for secondary two students was really busy and stressful. In addition to a few common tests(one of which is tomorrow), as a councillor, many events have to be organised in term 2. For example, the Singapore Mathematical Olympiad for Primary Schools and Asia-Pacific Mathematical Olympiad for Primary Schools, which involved thousands of participants. However, I am predicting a less busy term for term 3, so be on the look out for more posts. Well, off to do my homework!