HANA SMITH 10C

Do the writers make the readers feel sorry for the characters of the veteran from 'Disabled' and the grandvizier from 'King Schahriar and his Brother? Both sympathy and pity can be created from several techniques as it has been shown in these two rather different pieces. The poem Disabled by Wilfred Owen, a well -known English poet, is based upon an exserviceman and the translated extract of King Schahriar and his Brother is the opener before all the tales are told from the Arabian Nights (also known as A Thousand and One Nights). Although there is pity for the veteran and the grand-vizier there are also many factors that cancel out the pity felt by the readers. The poem Disabled tells the story of a veteran who lost his limbs and is in hospital and is waiting to be put to bed and he looks back to when he was a boy and how he ended up in the situation he is now. Wilfred Owen uses numerous techniques to draw pity on the soldier: strong vocabulary, the pure structure of the poem and comparisons between several experiences. The strength of Wilfred Owens vocabulary has an effect on the audience as he uses harsh and descriptive language to sway the readers. The title of the poem sets an image of despair and with background information of the poet you would know that Owen wrote a lot about the war and stayed in hospital for a while thus giving an initial impression of loss. In the first line, one of the first adjectives is dark; this is an ambiguity as it has several meanings-night/sleep or death. This one word gives a sense of morbidity and the reader begins to feel sadness for the man. The unwanted sense of isolation that is created by Wilfred Owen and the use of his vocabulary allows the readers to feel sorry for the veteran. Furthermore, in the first stanza the audience feels sympathy for the miserable situation the soldier is in. The description which the readers are presented with sets a doleful atmosphere. The poem begins with the veteran in a hospital where he sat in a wheeled chair whilst waiting to be put to bed and heard voices of boys which was described as saddening. Normally when people hear children playing it makes them rejoice and reminds them of their childhood, however, the ex-serviceman was waiting for dark. This allows the audience to question: why is he so regretful? and we immediately understand that the reason for this is because he simply does not want to remember his youthful decisions. The order in which the poem is told makes the reader feel sorry for the veteran. The poem is distinctly split in to three where the first part is the introduction/description of the soldier which is then followed by his past and finally the reality of his situation. The longest part of the poem (second til the fifth stanza) represents his joyful years as a youth when he used to swing so gay. However, this is then shortly forgotten by the readers as the last stanzas are a reality check and they describe his worthless life now. When the poet describes the boys blissful life before the war which is contrasted by the life he leads now the reader can see the awful circumstances hes in. An example of the two contrasting times is when the veteran describes the way that girls glanced before whereas now, All of them touch him like some queer disease. The contrasts of the exservicemans life is quite extreme which sets a gloomy feeling for the readers which usually leads them to feel sorry for him. As mentioned above the middle of the poem represent the days of the veterans youth. As he thinks about his past the readers get an idea of how he and his life was. He enjoyed girls, football and going out for an occasional peg and this makes the readers feel pity for him as he is still young therefore he should still be doing these things. Also in the fifth stanza the audience is upset by the fact that the boy was illegally signed up

HANA SMITH 10C

to be a soldier and that he should never have been disabled in the first place. The veteran is bitter and quite upset by the fact that women avoid touching him and that he will never experience a physical relationship as all of them touch him like a queer disease. This makes the readers feel sympathy towards him as the audience understands his loneliness and feeling of rejection. Also to make him and the reader feel worse the only person who cared is a solemn man who brought him fruit. This is little consolation to what he really needs which naturally makes the reader feel sorry for the veteran. When the soldier returned the readers feel a lot of pity for him as he wasnt treated fairly compared to the line before which describes the joyous atmosphere he left with. He went to war hoping to return as a hero and full of glory but instead he returned disabled. However, many would say that the last stanza of the poem has the most effect on the reader as Owen creates pathos for the young man when he noticed how the womens eyes passed from him to the strong men that were whole; the women only feel pity that he is no longer physically and mentally whole. The boy whom is now represented by an older man is fully dependant on other people and yet ignored. The poet returns to the image at the beginning with the soldier sitting alone in his wheelchair waiting for someone to put him to bed. In addition there is a repetition of why dont they come? which naturally shows a sense of desperation, the reader cannot help but feel sorry for the soldier. The young soldier used to be a ladies man, handsome and flirtatious but now he is old and he will never again feel how slim girls waists are, or how warm their subtle hands. This may make the readers feel sorry for the veteran but the poet made the sadness of the young mans life casual as in the larger context he was actually showing how nave and senseless he was. This is proven when he enrolled as he hadnt thought it through and wasnt fully lucid at the time. Also it illustrates the foolishness of the boy as when he recalled the past he could not remember why he joined but he remembered believing that he would please his Meg and hes look a god in kilts. This proves that when the boy joined the war he wanted to gain the womens attention, Aye that was it, to please the giddy jilts but instead he was brought back disfigured rather than returning with his head high and welcomed with cheer. The extract from the Arabian Nights, King Schahriar and his Brother, tells a tale of a king who killed a fresh wife every day and how the daughter of the Sultans server believed that she could save the town from its greatest horror. Compared to the poem Disabled by Wilfred Owen, in King Schahriar and his Brother the character the readers feel pity for is one of not the main roles. In this extract the vizier has to choose between his loyalty to the king and his love for his daughter whereas in Disabled the veteran had already chosen his path as a youth and the sympathy is about his meaningless life in contrast to the difficult decision. This makes the reader feel sorry for the vizier as they sympathise towards the ultimatum he must face and they dont know the outcome which can make them scared for him aswell. As this extract was translated from a collection of stories written hundreds of years ago based upon old folk tales, the written language is more traditional and less sharp as to the vocabulary which Owen used. This doesnt automatically draw the reader to feel sorry for the grand-vizier as it is more subtle. However as the tales were originally told orally a lot is over dramatized and within the lengthy sentences there are certain words that would have the obvious emphasis when spoken. These words can draw the reade rs attention and

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make them feel sympathy towards the characters. In this extract much of the sympathy is placed upon the grand-vizier whose duty it was to provide these unhappy brides for the Sultan. The readers feel sorry for the vizier as there are several mentions of him with no escape because although he respects the king and will do anything for him, he will also be executed if he cannot fulfil his tasks. Furthermore he has no escape with his daughter who is his delight and pride. Instead of obedience to the king he has loyalty and love for his daughter, Scheherazade, which puts him in an ultimatum between the sacrifice of his child or himself. The love for his daughter, Scheherazade, is so outsized that he could not deny her and the vizier had to grant her, her wishes. This situation makes the reader feel sympathy for the grand-vizier who feels bereavement for his daughter who he believes will not have succession in defeating the fiend of a king. To make matters worse, the viziers allegiance to the king was almost as significant as to the faithfulness to his daughter. This composes the readers to feel pity because he obeys the Sultan even though he fulfilled his task with reluctance. Some may argue that there should be no question about what you should do when your child is potentially going to be endangered-no matter what they say- and that the fatherly figure should step forward and either deny the rights of his daughter causing harm to herself and her family or refuse to kill her and sacrifice his own life. Moreover it is said that Scheherazade was clever and courageous and her father had given her the best masters, therefore people would question why detriment your daughter who is of the highest degree when you have another daughter who has no particular gift to distinguish her from other girls? although it is ruthless to ever have to pick between your children; it is also imprudent to risk losing a child who has an opportunity to make a difference in life. Both the veteran and the grand-vizier have pity from the readers but they also feel sorry for themselves. The soldier who is described to be no longer whole compares himself with the men the women look at who are whole in their minds: therefore content and happy unlike the old man who is miserable and self-indulgent. On the other hand, the vizier bowed down with grief to Scheherazade to make her feel guilty. This stops the reader from feeling sympathy towards him as he is aware of the situation and he had/ still has an opportunity to stop his daughter from the greatest horrors of the king. In conclusion both writers create pity for the characters of the veteran from the poem Disabled and the grand-vizier from King Schahriar and his Brother using different techniques. There is possibly more pity for the soldier, nevertheless Owen implied that the ex-serviceman through away his life by going to war, yet with all the false propaganda which was given out in that time the boy would not have truly known what he was enrolling into. On the contrary, the vizier was unwise and although he had a challenge to face he could have easily dealt with it and he did not have to martyr his daughter. Despite there being reasons for the readers not to feel sorry for both characters it can be said that pity and sympathy was created.