The worst injuries of war are emotional, not physical With reference to Disabled and Mental Cases to what extent do you agree?

Authors Avatar

“The worst injuries of war are emotional, not physical”

With reference to Disabled and Mental Cases to what extent do you agree?

        Through phrases such as ‘war and madness’, Mental Cases and Disabled establish themselves as a rebellion against the old tradition of not questioning orders. Owen’s poetry lashes out at the works of Jessie Pope and likewise propaganda, yet does so by not making a tirade about the nature of war, but by attempting to reason the consequences of it. Owen’s poetry exhibits the nightmarish truth of emotional and physical injuries, which both shock and sicken the reader. It becomes even more shocking that out of these injuries the physical injuries are conveyed as the worst.  

        Owen usually goes into great repulsive detail of the physical injuries such as ‘treading blood from lungs’ in Mental Cases. Contrasting this, the first stanza of Disabled plainly states the physical injuries of the persona in, ‘legless, sewn short at elbow’. Henceforth, Disabled concentrates on the emotional injuries of war by omitting focus on the physical injuries whereas Mental Cases concentrates on the emotional injuries of war by centralising around the physical injuries. Therefore in both Mental Cases and Disabled it is not what is being said, but rather what is not being said that is most significant. Taking this in account, it is for this reason that Disabled establishes that the physical injuries of war are the worst as is not the emphasis of the emotional injuries, it is the lack of emphasis on the physical injuries that makes it so striking.  

Join now!

        Likewise to Disabled, Mental Cases also portrays physical injuries as worse than emotional injuries. ‘Always they must see these things and hear them/batter of guns and shatter of flying muscles’ shows that these men are emotionally injured as they are being haunted by the horrors they have seen. The internal rhyme of ‘batter’ and ‘shatter’ is surprising because it is upbeat and an antithesis to the violence the actually words describe. As a result, the rhythm is supporting the mental disturbance of these men and consequently the worst of their suffering it would seem is due to emotional injuries. On ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

Here's what a star student thought of this essay

Avatar

The Quality of Written Communication is fine. There are no glaring problems with either grammar, spelling or punctuation, though it could be said that a lot of improvement could be made in the range of punctuation used. Using more complex punctuation points like colons, semi-colon and parentheses allow for the examiner to see a confident writer.

The Level of Analysis is entirely indicative of a candidate who's analytical skills are well-developed and can cope with commenting on a variety of poetic devices that Owen has used in conveying his message about War. There is successful commentary made on the rhyme scheme of both poems, but it seems the analysis of 'Disabled', whilst more sporadic than 'Mental Cases', is far more accurate and aligned with Owen's own influences. For instance, in 'Mental Case', the candidate states that: "Mental Cases also portrays physical injuries as worse than emotional injuries. ‘Always they must see these things and hear them/batter of guns and shatter of flying muscles’ shows that these men are emotionally injured as they are being haunted by the horrors they have seen. (sic)" and yet this contradicts itself by saying that 'Mental Cases' emphasises the physical injuries as worse than the emotional ones before then providing a quote and explanation that suggests the complete opposite. This is just one example of where the candidate makes a point and then seems to forget the nature of consistency, meaning their answer is very disjointed. Also, there doesn't seem to be a sufficiently thorough enough understanding of 'Mental Cases' particularly. Though the commentary on the fractured structure and how it is "disordered and lacks [...] pararhyme schemes" is good, the candidate could go deeper and discuss how this reflects the nature of insanity - that nothing is recognisable and often always causes physical (Owen goes on to explain that the breaking dawn is like a flesh splitting open afresh). So, whilst the question leaves much to personal interpretation, it is best if candidates do not contradict what the poet is saying in their poem. Owen was, in 'Mental Cases', saying that the emotional disturbance of a mental illness like Shellshock is so severe that is causes physical pain as a result. So it would appear that Owen believes the emotional injury of war was just as debilitating as the physical injuries soldiers frequently sustained. It was very good to see the analysis of the spiritual resonances of both poems, noting very astutely 'Mental Cases' original title or 'Purgatory Passions'. This shows independent, external research has been conducted into the context of the poem and examiners love to see that not all the analysis written down is regurgitated from the lesson.

This essay is a response to a question about whether or not the candidate believes that the physical or emotional injuries of War are the worst. To a very high extent, this candidate displays all the worthy accolades of a candidate operating at an A grade for GCSE, but their analysis and the commentaries on their analysis appear skewed, sometimes even contradictory to what they say earlier/later in the response. Because of this, there is not a clear understanding nor a clear judgement being made in response to the question, so whilst there is every indication this candidate could achieve higher, they are relegated to getting no higher than a low B for ignoring the steer of the question and providing a clear answer that does not contradict themselves or Owen.