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About the Poet
Tran Mong Tu was born and grown up in Hai Dong, North Vietnam in 1943. She worked for Associated Press in South Vietnam in the 1960s. She moved to the US in 1975 after South Vietnam fall. Tran had wanted to be a writer since elementary school, but her poetry was not published until she reached the United States. Today, she frequently contributes poems and short stories to Vietnamese literary publications in the US and other countries. “War is a terrible thing,” says Tran, who has first-hand experience of the Vietnam War (1954-1975). According to Tran, “The Vietnam War is a shameful experience, for both Vietnamese and Americans.” Many people in both countries felt the terrible tragedy of the war. Losses in the war were heavy; more than two million Vietnamese and 57,000 Americans died. In the poem ‘The Gift in Wartime’, Tran addresses an absent person. For example, as she says, “I offer you roses,” the person to whom she is speaking is not present and can neither hear nor understand what she is saying.
Summary
The poem ” The Gift in Wartime” written by Tran Mong Tu has the theme of lamentation for the loss and meaninglessness of lives lost in war. She has presented the very bad impact of war on humans. She has shown her grief, loneliness, and terrible picture of war which snatched all her happiness of life. So she wants to relay the message that war never provides happiness it provides gifts as death, blood, pain, suffering, loss, etc. The poet has presented this poem in seven stanzas.
In the first stanza, the speaker is offering roses to be buried in a new grave of her husband who recently died in the war. She also offers her wedding gown to cover the tomb which is still green with grass. It shows her deep love and her feelings for her husband.
In the second stanza, she talks about his bravery. Her husband was awarded the medals with the silver stars and yellow pips on the badge are still shining with the pride of his bravery. But now they are meaningless with his death.
In the third stanza, she remembers her youth days where she offered her youth to him as a wife. They were in deep love but with the bad news of her husband’s death, the youth and her love life also end at her young age.
The fourth stanza is related to the war zone where many soldiers died and for her, the dress of war only provides her with blood in return. War only brings a bad result for humans. It brings sorrow, pain, suffering, death, etc.
In the fifth stanza, she presents her grief. She remembers her lovable person. with his death, her springtime of life has become cold, her eyes are filled with tears as the clouds in summer. She presents her deep sorrow.
In the sixth stanza, she presents the effects and her pitiable condition. Now her lovable person has left her lips without a smile, arms without tenderness, eyes without sight, and the body without motion.
So in the final stanza, she promises to meet him again in their next life and they can recognize each other by the shrapnel which indicates the picture of war and the causes of death.
In this way, this poem presents the inhumanity and cruelty of war and its negative impact over a human with their dark future.
Understanding the text
Answer the following questions.
a. Who is the speaker addressing and why can that person not hear or understand what she is saying?
The speaker is addressing her husband. He cannot hear or understand what she is saying because he is dead.
b. What can you infer about the speaker’s feelings for the person addressed as “you”?
Her feelings for that person she addresses as “you” is full of love, affection and devotion. She has gifted him all the pleasures of life. She is saddened by his demise. Although he is no more in the world, she is still hopeful to meet him in their next life.
c. What is the speaker’s attitude toward war?
The speaker has bitter (negative) attitude towards war as she has lost her husband.
d. In what ways do you think this person’s fate has affected the speaker?
This person’s fate was to die in war because he was a soldier. The speaker’s happiness and youth ended with his death. Thus, the ill-fate of the person has made her helpless, loveless and miserable.
e. What does the speaker promise at the end of the poem? Why do you think the speaker does this?
At the end of the poem, the speaker promises to meet her lovable person in their next life. She wants to take shrapnel as a proof to show him the reason behind his death and their separation. I think the speaker does this because of her love for the absent person is so deep and she wants to be in love with him again and again.
Reference to the context
a. What is the theme of the poem?
The theme of the poem is the cruelty and inhumanity of the war and its negative impacts over humans. The poem talks about the tragedy caused by war. One life ends but many others are affected. After the untimely death of the soldier, his family and dear ones will suffer. Life is priceless, so there is no compensation for this great loss.
b. What imagery from the poem made the greatest impression on you? Why?
The poet has used several powerful images in this poem. Among them all, I liked the shrapnel image the most. It made it very clear what gift a war can give to human beings. The shrapnel does not only mean that it shattered the body of the soldier, but also shattered the life of the beloved. That is the deadly gift of the war.
c. Which figurative language is used in the poem? Explain with examples.
Figurative language is phrasing that the goes beyond the literal meaning of words to get a message. We find the use of irony, apostrophe, anaphora, and metaphor as the figurative language here in this poem.
Irony takes place when the poet talks about the gift which is not a real gift but of grief and loss. A grave and shrapnel as tokens of remembrance are the examples of it.
The poet uses imagery when roses are offered in her beloved’s grave, and her husband is described as a corpse with lips with no smile and eyes with no sight. The red roses traditionally symbolize love.
The next figure of speech is anaphora, which is the repetition of the same words at the beginning of a line. In the first, third and fifth stanzas, the poet repeats “I offer you” and coming to the sixth stanza where the speaker repeats “you give me” three times in a row. These are the examples of anaphora used in this poem.
The poem also utilizes the apostrophe literary technique that is addressed directly to a non-present person or an inanimate object. Like in the poem, the speaker confronts the dead corpse of her spouse.
d. What does the speaker “offer” in this poem? What does the person addressed as “you” give in return?
The speaker offers various things like roses, her wedding gown, her youth, clouds, cold winters etc. to her lovable person. The person addressed as “you” gives her the medals with shining stars, badge with yellow pips, the smell of blood from wardress, lips without a smile, arms without tenderness, eyes without sight, and body without motion.
e. An apostrophe is a literary device in which a writer or speaker addresses an absent person or an abstract idea in such a way as if it were present and can understand. Discuss the poem in relation to apostrophe.
An apostrophe is a literary device in which a writer or speaker addresses an absent person or an abstract idea in such a way as if it were present and can understand. Here in the poem, we can see the use of an apostrophe when the speaker addresses the dead body as if he can understand her. She offers him red roses and her wedding gown at his grave. Her youth has ended with his death. His badge, bravery medals and the blood from his dress make her sad. Her eyes are full like summer clouds and her life has changed from spring to winter. She wants to prove her deep love and respect for her husband by showing her sacrifice. Thus, this poem has shown the bitterness of war on behalf of the speaker using the apostrophe.
Reference beyond the text
a. One way to get relief from grief is to write or talk about it. In your opinion, how might the speaker in this poem have benefitted from saying what she did? Explain.
One way to get relief from grief is to write or talk about it. Grief is caused by loss. In emotional situation a person can get relief by talking with dear one. We can share our pain to other by writing poem, stories, etc. or sharing our experiences with other. The speaker in this poem has also chosen the same path. She has become able to reduce her pain and suffering by talking with her dead husband.
Happiness and pain are an inevitable part of human life. In our life, we must experience both sides of life. We must find a way to cope with the grief and move on with our life. The speaker is talking to her husband who was killed in war. She offers him red roses and her wedding gown at his grave. Her youth has ended with his death. His badge, bravery medals and the blood from his dress make her sad. Her eyes are full like summer clouds. Her life is changed from spring to winter. She wants to prove her deep love and respect for her husband by showing her sacrifice. In this way, the speaker becomes able to cope with her deep pain by talking with her dead husband.
b. Write an essay on the effects of war.
Effects of War
War is a situation or a period of fighting between countries or groups of people. War generally involves the use of weapons, a military organization and soldiers. War is a situation in which a nation enforces its rights by using force. War is the bitter reality through which the downfall of humans is created. It is good for nothing. War and its effects on humans are seen in both aspects: physical and psychological. War creates long term effects on humans. War invites a dark future for all. War never provides happiness to others but snatches the happiness of others. The victims of war always remain in fear. It snatches thousands of lives. Death, injury, sexual violence, malnutrition, illness, and disability etc are some of the most threatening physical consequences of war, while post-traumatic stress disorder (PSTD), depression, and anxiety are some of the psychological effects.
The effects of war are widely spread and can be long term or short term. Soldiers experience war differently than civilians, although either suffer in times of war, and women and children suffer unspeakable atrocities in particular. In the past decade, up to two million of those killed in armed conflicts were children. The widespread trauma caused by these atrocities and suffering of the civilian population is another legacy of these conflicts, the following creates extensive emotional and psychological stress. Effects of war also include mass destruction of cities and have long lasting effects on a country’s economy. Armed conflict has important indirect negative consequences on infrastructure, public health provision, and social order. These indirect consequences are often overlooked and unappreciated.
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