The man he killed
"The Man He Killed" by Thomas Hardy is a poem about war it talks about how one soldier can kill another soldier. The speaker in this poem is a soldier relating his wartime experience. The quotation marks indicate that he is involved in a conversation probably with another soldier, and he is probably of English working class because he talks about being out of work and selling his traps.To Hardy the speaker represents all soldiers who go to war even when they don't want to or don't understand all the reasons their country is going to war. Deep down the speaker is talking about every soldier, all most no human being wants to kill another human, and that's exactly what war is. The speaker and the person he kills are both victims of society, neither one of the two men want to kill the other but they have to it's beyond their understanding or control it's war.
The second stanza ends with the speaker telling how he killed him in his place. The first thing a soldier has to do before going to war is deface his enemy, he cant think about weather his enemy has a family or his a good person. " This is the second stanza the tone changes drastically to a more serious tone, however the meaning is still the same. He is still saying that if circumstances were different he wouldn't have been shooting at this man but it's war and some one has to die. The first line also says that if they would have met at an inn or some place besides the battle field things would have been different. "Had he and I but met by some old ancient inn, We should sat us down to wet. But when the speaker really starts to think about it he doesn't know to much about his victim except that he is a lot like him out of work and a soldier. In the last stanza the speaker becomes calm again and really gives the reader a new look at war and how wrong it really is. This poem does an excellent job showing you how a soldier does this, but at the same time it shows how it's not human nature to kill another human and it's still wrong even if your at war. In order to kill with out a second thought you have to look at your enemy as though he wasn't even human. " Is the first line of the poem, the tone is smooth and calm to show the speakers confidence that he only did what he had to. However war doesn't always solve the problem and it never solves the problem completely, so why do we go to war I have no solid answer just like the speaker has no solid answer of why he killed his victim besides they were at war. War is a part of life it's been around as long as humans have and it's not going away any time soon. The speaker calls war quaint and curious, you shoot any fellow down with out a second thought. The third stanza starts with a new tone the speaker is trying to explain himself and why he killed the other soldier he has no good reason besides he was his foe and they were at war.
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