Mockery of War Stereotypes and Acceptability

Rachael Rawlins

Dr. Jean Sorenson

English 1301.LTA

September 30, 2002

Analytical Essay

Mockery of War Stereotypes and Acceptability

Hardy writes about the satire in the manner we treat people based on stereotypes in his works “The Man He Killed”. The stereotype discriminated in this poem is that of an enemy— solely because of war opposition.
The speaker is a man and apparently a soldier as well. The man is in a bar recollecting the occasion when once he killed a man. He gives a brief relapse of his thoughts and lets us assume his attitude towards the situation. The poem is short but creates a vivid picture of the instance and a great understanding regardless to ones understanding of war. We realize that unlike the murderer he is, we’d like to portray him as a regular man of common prejudice. We realize that people base some of their actions on what we think is to be logical and with reason at the time, but then realize some actions are based on pu...