Faulks presents us with a moving series of letters home on the night before the first day of the Somme. Compare these to Roland Brittain's real letters to Vera. Does the fact that Birdsong's letters are fictional make them any less moving or powerful?

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Faulks presents us with a moving series of letters home on the night before the first day of the Somme. Compare these to Roland Brittain’s real letters to Vera. Does the fact that Birdsong’s letters are fictional make them any less moving or powerful?

It is the natural assumption that fictional work is generally more powerful in presenting emotions and events than real work, as the writer of fiction is able to exercise an element of ‘poetic license’ to emphasise certain points. Imagination is far more flexible and easier to mould than reality, so it is therefore not unreasonable to assume that the fictional letters are more moving and powerful than the real ones. That said, it is also true that when reading about real events happening to real people, the impact on the reader is greater than a few exaggerated points. The letters in Birdsong and those between Roland Brittain and Vera are all roughly centred around the same points; they are all just written differently.

The majority of the letters in Birdsong and the letters from Roland to Vera all feature some information of the attack; however the way in which they’re presented couldn’t be more different. The letters in Birdsong describe their attack as “absolutely thumbs up”, “unlikely that […] the enemy will survive (their) bombardment” and comparing it to “putting on a display like Firework Night”. The comparison of their guns to fireworks and the whole event as “absolutely thumbs up” show the reader that their view of the war, and their attack, was definitely positive. The conviction presented in the men’s letters is what has the reader empathising with their family. The reader knows these men won’t survive and that most of what they’re saying is for their families’ benefit, this is what helps to make the letters more powerful. In comparison to Birdsong’s positive and less than descriptive presentation of their attack the night before the first day of the Somme, Roland’s letters to Vera couldn’t be any more different. The matter-of-fact way in which Roland describes the attack is more powerful than the way Birdsong’s letters simply paints the positive picture of their attack. He talks about “heavy artillery”, the “scream of the shell passing overhead”, “German snipers” and “fragments blown back from […] bursting shells”. These words help the readers picture exactly what Roland is having to endure and his simply stating the events casually moves the reader as they begin to understand that “falling brickwork” and the like are the norm for these soldiers.

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The structure of the letters in birdsong seem to follow a similar pattern, in that all of them start, flesh out their letter and end it soon after. The fact that Roland had to stop and start his letter according to what was going on around him is acknowledged by the reader as the inevitable interruption of real life. The couple of hours between “lunch time” to “4p.m.” and then “after tea” plays a huge part in making the overall tone of the letters far more moving than the letters in Birdsong. Having those few hours between each entry creates ...

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