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Women in War

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Submitted By Tophoj
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During the American civil war lots of men where forced into the battlefield. They had to obey orders. Several men very killed, other turned into cold-blooded murders. Men who used to be good working fathers, where thrown into the war. ”The thing you want” is a short story written by Jack Trammell. The short story deals with the topics; war, desire, madness and power. It pictures a man after the war and the consequences of his participation in the American civil war.

The short story is told though a third person narrator and he is using past tense. “At that moment someone else entered the room. Cabe had the sixth sense common to survivors of war…” At some points in the text the third-person narrator seems omniscient, because we have access to the characters feelings and mind. “They assumed it was abandoned…” “No one asked any questions. Something inside of him was dead, though, and at the same time, a tiny spark was flickering.” There is used direct speech in the story “,,Looking for food, sir” ,, You won’t find it in her dress, Private”” This narrative mode gives a “filmic-twist” to the story, because we often connect direct speech with manuscripts.
The short story starts in medias res and takes place in the real world, in continuation of the Great War (WW1). It elapses chronological and lasts no longer than 1 hour in the “great brick house”.
The language is formal and very describing. “A withered, languorous old woman stared at them blankly.” The sentences are very long and the text is filled with imagery, metaphors and similes. “Now he looked at the sun colored dress, which made her velvet hair look like a flowery disk surrounded by daisy petals…” “She was frozen in a moment of unbridled fear…” Adjectives are especially prominent in the text. Adjectives and imagery have one thing in common - they both appeal to the reader’s feelings. Jack Trammell could have in mind to appeal to the reader’s feelings, because the short story pivots on the theme war, which is a very sensitive topic.
Cabe, the man who assaults the girl, used to be a good man, but during the war he has seen such terrible actions, that his mind has been broken. He can never be the same man again. I think that is why he brushed the old woman aside without hesitation. The war has left deep wounds on the soldier’s minds, which draw them to insane actions. The short story ends with a moral “No one deserved what they got.” The ending of the short story could be the message. The soldiers, who fight in war doesn’t deserve to be insane for the rest of their lives, and the women doesn’t deserve to be a victim of their insane actions and domination.

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