A Comparison between the Sentry and Regeneration

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Both Pat Barker and Wilfred Owen are superb at developing our sensory perception of what it feels like to be in distressing or horrifying situations. Write about how this is achieved in the Sentry and the extract in Regeneration when Aldeburgh is attacked by a violent storm that drives Burns almost to suicide (pages 175-180) Consider: • The Sight and smells • Physical and mental affects on the participants that reflect the reality and their situation • How do we get the sense of being there The Sentry by Wilfred Owen is very similar to the extract on pages 175- 180 in Pat Barkers novel, Regeneration in exemplifying what it feels like to be in distressing or horrifying situations during the War. In order to develop the readers sensory perception of experiencing the characters pain and anguish felt in the novel and the poem, both writers use sound effects to create an impact on the audience. Using harsh sounding onomatopoeic words in The Sentry such as ‘whiz’ and ‘slush’ is a good technique by Owen to emphasise certain phrases of dislike and distress caused to the characters set in the poem. Which similarly highlights in Barker’s novel Regeneration where onomatopoeia is used to stress to the readers the character’s horrifying situations; this is evident in River’s boot that had ‘squelched’ on fish guts. Without the use of using strong onomatopoeic words, the writer’s effect on the audience would not have been as great as there would be a minimal chance of the readers developing their sensory perception based upon the sound effects. When verbally spoken, both the novel and the poem have strong sound effects that have been purposely included by the writers. Strong uses of assonances are observed in The Sentry as Owen describes how the soldiers ‘choked up the steps too thick with clay to climb’. The strong use of ‘choked’, ‘thick’ and ‘clay to climb’ all
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