Chapter 14: Context

Ernest Hemingway, “Soldier’s Home”

  1. In the first paragraph the author writes that Krebs “enlisted in the marines in 1917 and did not return to the United States until the second division returned from the Rhine in the summer of 1919.” How does this information provide us with a specific context?
  2. In the 30th paragraph we learn that Krebs and his family read the Kansas CityStar. What does this tell us?
  3. In some ways, this story’s meaning is dependent on its context of the aftermath of World War I. In what ways can the story’s meaning be seen as universal?

Tim O’Brien, “The Things They Carried”

  1. How do we know that this is a story about the Vietnam War? Locate at least three examples.
  2. O’Brien divides the story into sections based on the different ways in which the soldiers carry things. Locate these divisions. What is their function? Why does O’Brien tell the story in this way?
  3. How does Ted Lavender’s death change the context in which Jimmy Cross operates?

Herman Melville, “A Utilitarian View of the Monitor’s Flight,” Herbert Read, “The Execution of Cornelius Vane,” Richard Eberhart “The Fury of Aeriel Bombardment,”and Sir Henry Newbolt, “Vitai Lampada,”

These poems present both particular and universal messages about the nature of war. In some ways, the poems are about specific wars, but in others, they send universal messages about the affects of all war. Compare and contrast these poems, paying special attention to the different particular and universal messages that they send.

e.e. cummings [I Sing of Olaf glad and big], Wilfred Owen, “Anthem for Doomed Youth,” Wilfred Owen, “Dulce et Decorum Est,” Carl Sandburg, “Grass,” Siegfried Sassoon, “The Rear Guard,” Siegfried Sassoon, “Repression of War Experience”

These poems are all depictions of World War I. What clues tell you that these poems are describing this particular war? Pay close attention to the weapons and places described. In what way do they all communicate a similar emotional experience?

Anne Sexton, “Courage,” and Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson, “I Sit and Sew”

These poems are both written by women. Is there gender reflected in the poems? Does is alter the way the poems’ meanings are perceived?