Betrayal is a key point of the two poems as both victims had been betrayed by their own people. The boy was seen as only another death so no one cared about what happened since they were not the “ones dead” so they just move on with their life without any mourning. In “Disabled” the man was also seen as someone who is nothing as he is no longer “whole”. Where he was once a celebrated man, his life had completely changed due to his inexperience and naïve view on war. He shares a similar fate as to the boy in “Out, Out” His actions were noble but they don’t matter at all since he had gained nothing out of it, he wasn’t able to win his “Meg” and he only brought back scars from the war. He was left alone like garbage since the women moved away to the other “strong men”. No matter what he did for his nation, he was a forgotten victim like the boy in “Out, Out”. It explains that the lives of these two people are insignificant and it’s best just to move on.
On the other hand, both poems are both structured differently. “Out, Out” is a flowing story which has no stanzas. This structure allows the poem to be more fluid and keeps the pace of the story moving. It is seen through a third person perspective whereas “Disabled” the structure of the poem has stanzas and shows the perception of the past and the present. Robert Frosting juxtaposes the structure of the poem which aims to give a strong sense of contrast from one another so by using the past and the present, it is a very important role in the poem because one of the interesting part of “Disabled” is the main character as we can easily see how rueful he is due to his nostalgic days of when he was young. At stanza 1, it is hard to convince that the ruined man is the same person in stanza 3. He was known as one of the admired people as he was “silly” for his face. As he looked like a ‘god in kilts’ it is very contrasting to his future where he is in his “ghastly” suit.
However, even though they have a contrasting structure they have something similar in terms of events that are not mentioned. Both poems predict something dreadful is about to happen to the characters as the personification used in ‘Out, Out’ ‘snarled and rattled’ hints that that the buzz saw is planning to strike. The structure has an unusual change where it is first introduced to something unpleasant which is the buzz saw but then the tone quickly changes to a tranquil state. Then it quickly shows the mountain ranges ‘one behind the other’ and ‘under the sunset, far into Vermont’ it foreshadows the boy’s death as the beauty could symbolize heaven. The tone quickly changes from concentrated to something serene.
One other thing which is fascinating is that the poem has an image of society where society is cruelly creating the feeling of a forgotten victim just like the “women” in “Disabled”. The fact that both poems have the characters offering their body part creates an impression that they are worthless. It gives an idea that the body parts are no longer their own body. In “Disabled” he “threw away” his knees which is an unsympathetic manner to mention about his own legs “Out, out” is very comparable as he has “given” the hand. The fact that it wasn’t mentioned as “his” hand proves that it was no longer his own.
In the poems both protagonists are robbed of their youth because they are both thrust into a dangerous adult world. They are chosen to be killed and left alone even though they are young which gives a poignant feeling and the sense of being forgotten. They interestingly have the same characteristics because in ‘Out, out’ the boy is doing “a man’s work” which implies a sense of experience and doing work that is years ahead of his age. Equal with “Disabled” where he finds himself in the present in a suit of grey.
Similarly both protagonist in the poems portray the sense of being used by people because once they can’t achieve anything, they are no use to their leaders and society so they are left alone, isolated and gone from the world feeling betrayed as the boy was just basically used and the disabled man was rejected may assume that he threw away his life as well as he “poured” the colours down into shell holes.
In comparison, the boy in “Out, Out” gives a stronger feeling of sorrow or grief for the boy as he is doing something he shouldn’t. In “Disabled” the idea of a forgotten victim is not shown as him resulting in death. It is the opposite of the boy as he is longing for his death. A powerful word Wilfred Owen used was that sleep had “mothered” which is a personification that shows his love of sleep where he is nurtured and safe, it even implies that the man is depressed. It assumes that the disabled man wants to escape from reality and go to his own reality in his sleep.
Overall, the fragility and delicateness of life and youth mainly presents the idea of the forgotten victim. A forgotten victim is usually immobilized and helpless when they have lost everything. “Out, Out” and “Disabled” poignantly present forgotten victims. Even when doing a noble action like joining the army, a man can still be rejected among people. “Out, out” and “Disabled” were both written during difficult times and acquaints the reader to the atmosphere of the early 19’s. “Disabled” and “Out, Out” was written during the World War 1 where it was difficult and dark times yet in “Out, Out” we get a taste of how cold society was back then. Society can be cruel and filled with individualism where everyone is their own man so it plays a key point of making the two victims forgotten.
