Warfare is one of the most, if not, brutal and cruel scenes one can observe.

In the eerie poem, “The

Death of The Ball Turret Gunner” by Randall Jarrell, the speaker describes and suffers from the casualties
of war. The author is depicting the very brutality of warfare through the use of percussive war sounds,
mother imagery, and diction.

Randall Jarrell shows how the soldier's life is rough and is in constant fear through the use of
sounds. The poem is about the war and the death of the ball turret gunner. The speaker talks about the bitter
condition of life in the ball turret where he “hunched in its belly” until “this “wet fur froze.” The phrase
“wet fur froze” contains three stressed single-syllable words which have a harsh sound; this induces the
feeling of harshness of the soldier's life in the “belly” of the ball turret. While the speaker “woke up to black
flak and nightmare fighters,” the reader also perceives the very dissonance of instruments of war - guns and
bombs - through percussive assonance sounds generated by “black,” “flak,” “night,” and “fight. Moreover,
the chaotic feeling generated by the free verse rhyme scheme of the poem also implies how the life of the
soldier is unpredictable - not knowing when they will die - and the chaos of war. However, amid chaos, we
find a rhyme between the second and fifth line, which help bridges the idea of the war machine - the ball
turret - and the mother’s belly imagery, and thus, heightens the brutalness of war as it sets up juxtaposition
mother imagery and warfare .

The author employs the imagery of the mother to further heighten the brutality of war. The poem
contains words such as “mother”, “belly”, and “life,” which give us a sense of mother and nurturing. This
offers a contrast between the caring nature of the mother and the cruelness of warfare, which further
emphasize the fact that war is cruel and the soldiers are not but a tool for “the State” to use to protect itself.
Unlike the mother’s womb which is safe and comfortable, the “belly” of the turret is freezing cold and
prone to dangers. Also in contrast with the mother’s womb which gives life and nurturing to a child, the
“belly” of the ball turret gunner harbors the soldier while they wait for the impending doom. Unlike a
mother that takes care of her children, the “State” simply “washed” out the dead soldier without care. The
imagery juxtaposes two contrasting pictures and highlights the brutalness of the war.

The author’s uses of diction illustrates the inhumane nature of war. The author clearly depicts the
harsh picture of the war through the line “When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.” The dry
and clinical tone shows little how much “the State” care about their soldiers by simply and casually saying
that the dead are just washed out, contrasting to the phrases such as: “From my mother’s sleep I fell into
the State”, “I hunched”, and “nightmare,” which filled us with a sense of innocence and baby-like quality
of the soldier. The tone emphasises the helplessness of the soldier and that they are being treated as just a
tool for the “State” to use, as the soldier “fell” victim. This puts on the spot the tragedy that innocent soldiers
who fought in war are not but a victim of viciousness and brutality of war.

In conclusion, the author uses imagery, sounds and diction to show us the brutality of warfare. The
speaker in the poem is viewed as just another pawn to be sacrificed for the sake of the state. The author
might be implying how the state prioritizes itself more than taking care and nurturing its own citizens.