In addition to the setting, the novel was completed in 1946. From this date, we can deduce that it must have been written in the end of the year of World War II. Therefore, the novel was written during World War II, and has positioned the reader for subsequent events.
The narrators’ utilization of a variety of vivid descriptive words and imagery evoke pictorial images that allow the reader to identify and explore various aspects of the circumstances surrounding. Line 6 effectively illustrates the church tower and its color. The narrator has chosen this particular description of the tower to be ‘blood colored brick’, which allows the reader to automatically picture the color of the bricks. This statement also has another meaning. Seeing how the all the events throughout this extract are of blood and death. This description is a reinforcement of imagery to build up on the readers.
Green continues with the portrayal of imagery, but now with the use of similes, which aid in the appreciation the readers have towards the extract. The simile ‘…when came a sudden up thrusting cackle of geese in a panic, the sound of which brought home to him a stack of faggots he had seen blown high by a grenade’ has a duel purpose; firstly and most apparently it describes the memory in which the character had of stack of faggots (a bundle of sticks tied together) which were blown up with a grenade, secondly, this explosion presumably resembling the loud cackle of geese in a panic.
The narrator has also used another useful and effective literary device, personification, which aid in the appreciation of the poem. The personification, ‘stabbing the air in a frieze’, describes that when the faggots where air born they were at such a rapid speed that they were stabbing the air. Here the author has given the sticks human capabilities of stabbing. This personification is effective in the sense that it helps the reader understand the aspects of an explosion rather than having to read about it.
The title of the extract is central to the extract. The return of the soldier to see his wife is the subject of the extract. The young man had been ‘repatriated’ from a prisoner’s camp, and now his first opportunity was to come ‘back’ home. The extract’s ability to have an impact on the reader wouldn’t remain without the mentioning of ‘back’. Also, the words inclusion brings more power and effectiveness to the exploration of the main events that are to follow.
Characterization in this extract is very limited, up to only one person. Charley is a soldier from a prison camp and was allowed to be free and go home. When he received this opportunity, the first thing to do was for him to go to a graveyard to see his deceased lover Rose. From this the reader grows a bond between him and the readers, because we feel that after a long time away from his family, when he gets his opportunity, he finds out that his lover/wife is dead. There is no indication as to how she dies, but we grow and sense of sympathy towards him. We also learn that he has a son, aged about six. Furthermore, the reader is invited deeper into the character, as we learn that Charley had great love for Rose, as he was returning to visit her in he grave.
The tone and mood of the poem is formed into sorrow and sympathy. The first 15 lines of the extract deal with the description of the church surrounding and when the words church and graveyard is read, the first thing that comes to mind, in terms of tone and mood, is sorrow and grief. In addition to the description of the graveyard and its surrounding, there is a direct link between them. It is described that the graveyards were covered with roses. Surely there is an element of irony formed in the terms ‘roses’ and ‘graveyards’. The irony here is that the deceased woman’s name is Rose and the graveyard in which she was buried is full of ‘climbing roses’. Hence, the linkage is formed. Rose is the protagonists’ lover and there is quiet a number of continuous references to roses.
However, the final section round the extract with the same tone, portraying the sorrow ness of the death of Rose and how much she meant to the protagonist, ‘her glorious locks abounding’ and ‘best of all in bed’ words with positive connotations, yet having a meaning of grief and sympathy. It attempts to soothe the reader from the pain and sadness of death by indicating that Rose, although meant the word to Charley, this was the nature of life.
The extract is written in a third person perspective, the narrator employing a narrative to communicate with the readers. The author is describing a sequence of events without getting involved. Furthermore, the statements indicate this style, ‘he had’ and ‘he felt’ and ‘he learned’.
The structure of the extract is written as one flowing piece. Most of the paragraphs are of equal length, however, the first to paragraphs are very short in length. This allows the reader to deduce that the first two paragraphs are concise and succinct and for this reason set a clear opening of the events which are to follow later in the extract. In addition, the rest of the paragraphs are increasingly longer, which means that the extract is full of description and great insight into the events of the extract. Also, the poem is of slow pace, not a rapid pace.
In conclusion, the reader is left with the lasting impression of how much Rose meant to Charley, ‘crying, dear Rose’. The narrator maintains a heartening attitude at the end of the extract, presenting the reader with the feeling the protagonist had towards his wife, and that life will continue even though nature can be cruel and we must live on.
