Bruce Dawe

639 Words2 Pages

Indubitably, the themes found within Bruce Dawes critical poems “Homecoming” and “Weapons training” cultivate a profound relationship with each other. This is achieved as the influential poems highlight and reprobate the process of war, with contrasts. The former provides an emotional analysis through the return of deceased soldiers, and the latter through the confronting reality of violence in war preparation. Dawe effectively employs the fundamental themes of war's futility and humiliation-stemmed dehumanisation to develop sophisticated, thought provoking commentaries, which will be explored and compared further throughout this response. The Vietnam War has often been regarded as inordinately brutal and barbaric. Bruce Dawe impactfully employs …show more content…

Bruce Dawe has effectively demonstrated the theme of humiliation-stemmed dehumanisation within the iconic “Weapons Training” to provide commentary on the degradation soldiers face from drill sergeants. Dawes criticism of this system can be illustrated through the blunt "Why are you looking at me, are you a queer”, in which the technique of rhetorical question has been utilised to highlight toxic masculinity. Rhetorical question has been employed to provide the soldier with an uncomfortable question, ridiculing him and effectively stripping him of his perceived ‘masculinity’. In contrast, something which “Homecoming” achieves through the act of not calling soldiers by their name. Further, while the word ‘Queer’ in modern times does not hold extreme negative connotations, during the time of publishing, this word was viewed as ridicule and humiliating, a vital theme within ‘Weapons Training’, and “Homecoming”. Furthermore, the inclusion of this line is reminiscent of the American “Don't Ask, Don't Tell" initiative, which creates equality discrimination in the military. This quote demonstrates a clear similarity to Dawe's “Homecoming” as it displays the dehumanisation and lack of respect soldiers faced. Whilst ‘Homecoming’ demonstrates this feature through deceased soldiers, “Weapons training” provides the context of first hand experience. Moreover, the writing style within “Homecoming” is one of poise and elegance. This contrasts with “Weapons Training” harsh, explicit vocalisation of the drill

Open Document