Class 11 New course

The Gift in Wartime

by Tran Mong Tu

 

The poem presents the different thing a war victim should give up in wartime. The poem is a=ironical in the sense that there is use of positive diction ‘gift’ to present the catastrophe of the war. The verbal irony implies in the poem presents the contrary in its theme than the word used in the poem. The word gift stands not for positivity, but for grief and loss. The poem has implied different figurative language like anaphora, metaphor, and apostrophe.  It grieves the futility of war, employing the visual imagery of roses, clouds, and the body of a corpse.

 

    The speaker offers the beautiful roses. The speaker even offers the marriage gown until the grave covered with green grass. The offering of red rose denotes that a soldier can get respect and honor in their life.. It denotes the speaker offers his love and strength of life for the soldiers who gave up their life for the nation.

 

    The speaker addresses that the soldier has given her the medal that he got after he fought bravely in the wartime. The medal is with her after his death. It reminds her about him. However, the medal are not so important for her though it is like a signing star. The word ‘ unused and still signing refers that there is no utility of the medal. The word Silver Star stands that they are signing. It reflects his bravery in the war. He got recognition as he gets medal. However, it is not so useful in his physical absence.

 

    The speaker has offered her youth. She was in love with him. She desired to live with him throughout her life. She was delighted with him. She was happy. The sentence ‘ I offer you my youth’ presents her yearning for living together. It is her in-depth wish loaded in core of heart. She has not imagined her productivity of life in his absence. The line of the poem, ‘my youth died away when they told me the bad news’ presents her inner desire to be with him. She anticipates the productivity of life has connection with him. It also confirms the devastating effect of the war. The speaker views that her youth died away after she has heard the bad news. Probably, ‘the bad news’ refers to destruction of the war. A family gets motionless, speechless and completely broken when it gets the information of member being injured or dead. It explains the devastating effect of the war and catastrophe of the war.

 

    Ironically, the speaker opines that she has the smell of the blood. She smells the blood from uniform of her lover, who is a soldier. The smell of the blood presents the labor or sacrifice a warrior has to do for the nation in the battlefield. It also moves ahead to clarify the death of the soldiers in war. She comes closer and meditates. She finds it does contain the blood of enemy too. It goes in the line to explain the devastating effect of war. It tells that war is the game of losing. Everybody loses in the war. The line ‘your blood and your enemy’s so that I may be moved’ explains the deeper sense of understanding of war. It has negative impact on the both side. The speaker presents sympathy to both parties as there is use of the word ‘enemy’. The use of apostrophe in enemies presents absence of people in war.

 

    The speaker offers the cloud. It means she is here to offer different aspects or changes. She is here to offer her unwillingness  of sending her husband in war. She has hoped to get better life in days to come. She has to go through such tragic condition in between of her happy life. She expresses her dissatisfaction towards war.

 

    The speaker ironically presents the gift of the war. She gets her lover back from the war. The body has returned from the war. The lines of sixth stanza:  ‘lips without smile’, ‘arms without tenderness’, ‘eyes without sight’, ‘motionless body’ present the catastrophe of war. It presents the death of the warrior.  The life of the soldier has not returned in the same pace after he returns from war.

 

Finally, the speaker asks for apologies. She has promised that she would meet him in the next life. She would take scattered body of bomb as token that would help recognize each other the time they meet each other.

Considering this summary, it seems that Tran Mong Tu’s poem is mainly about all of the things that a victim of war is forced to give up. Perhaps the “you” in the poem is war itself. That might be why the “you” reacts to the speaker’s offerings with a mix of violence and indifference.