Shoehorn Sonata Essay

674 Words3 Pages
Compare the ways the distinctively visual is created in The Shoehorn Sonata and one other related text of your own choosing. War is indeed an unconventional and traumatic experience that anyone would be ruined to endure. These experiences of war can be lived out through memory of hardships and war time acts of injustice and through the post-traumatic stress that is developed due to the experience. John Misto, play writer of “The Shoehorn Sonata” and Wilfred Owen the composer of “Dulce et decorum est”, have both undoubtedly condensed this thematic perception of war and how individuals can live out their experiences. This concept has been achieved through the employment of both visual and language techniques. John Misto clearly shows the concept of how the reminiscence of war times are a way of living out the experience. Memories of starvation and cruelty are brought to life through projected images on stage of malnourished women who are extremely haggard and emaciated. This reinforces the forced starvation that was subjected to Bridie and Shelia during their time at the prisoner of war camp. This notion is further emphasised through the use of jargon in the lines, “The Japs used to weigh us, to see how thin our bodies could get before we started dying”. This statement implies the nature of the camp to be brutal and unforgivable. Misto has incorporated both visual images and jargon to create an effective sense of authority to therefore relive their experience of war through memory. Likewise, the poem Dulce et decorum est by Wilfred Owen is how the post himself saw war with no knowledge, imagination or training which prepared Owen for the shock and suffering of front line experience. Its horrifying imagery has made it one of the most popular condemnations of war ever written. The composer deals with the First World War and it reflects very good what happens when
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