How Does Wilfred Owen Provoke Sympathy for His Protagonist in ‘Disabled
How does Wilfred Owen provoke sympathy for his protagonist in ‘Disabled?’
Owen provokes sympathy for his main character throughout the book and in every stanza. In the opening stanza Owen connects the reader with the main character, by making the reader feel sorry for him. The boy feels as though he is ‘waiting for dark,’ this makes the reader feel pity on the boy, as he knows he is waiting to die. By connecting the reader with the protagonist they feel more sympathy for him and they feel upset when he feels lonely and isolated. ‘Voices of play and pleasure,’ tells the reader that the boys in the park are happy and the boy in the wheeled chair probably used to be like that, but now he is in a wheeled chair he will never be able to get his youth back. This makes the reader feel sympathy as the main character will never be able to be a child again and experience his youth. Owen shows the reader that ‘sleep had mothered them from him,’ he said this to show the reader that he is some sort of monster and children need to be saved from him. This provokes sympathy in the protagonist because he is unable to be seen normally by people now he is in a wheeled chair.
In the second stanza sympathy is created in a different way to the first, in the second stanza, Owen tells the reader about what the boy in the wheeled chair misses. The boy misses girls, he think he will never feel love or intimacy again, ‘never feel again how slim girls’ waists are,’ Owen uses never as a hyperbole to exaggerate the boys sadness about never being able to be with a girl. The boy feels all the ‘girls glanced lovelier,’ as he can’t have any of the girls anymore he feels as though they are all beautiful and he wants to be with all of them. ‘All of them touch him like some queer disease,’ Owen uses "all of them," a hyperbole, is used to show that the soldier feels alienated from everyone, specifically women, who his disability repels. This makes the reader feel sorry for him because he will
Owen provokes sympathy for his main character throughout the book and in every stanza. In the opening stanza Owen connects the reader with the main character, by making the reader feel sorry for him. The boy feels as though he is ‘waiting for dark,’ this makes the reader feel pity on the boy, as he knows he is waiting to die. By connecting the reader with the protagonist they feel more sympathy for him and they feel upset when he feels lonely and isolated. ‘Voices of play and pleasure,’ tells the reader that the boys in the park are happy and the boy in the wheeled chair probably used to be like that, but now he is in a wheeled chair he will never be able to get his youth back. This makes the reader feel sympathy as the main character will never be able to be a child again and experience his youth. Owen shows the reader that ‘sleep had mothered them from him,’ he said this to show the reader that he is some sort of monster and children need to be saved from him. This provokes sympathy in the protagonist because he is unable to be seen normally by people now he is in a wheeled chair.
In the second stanza sympathy is created in a different way to the first, in the second stanza, Owen tells the reader about what the boy in the wheeled chair misses. The boy misses girls, he think he will never feel love or intimacy again, ‘never feel again how slim girls’ waists are,’ Owen uses never as a hyperbole to exaggerate the boys sadness about never being able to be with a girl. The boy feels all the ‘girls glanced lovelier,’ as he can’t have any of the girls anymore he feels as though they are all beautiful and he wants to be with all of them. ‘All of them touch him like some queer disease,’ Owen uses "all of them," a hyperbole, is used to show that the soldier feels alienated from everyone, specifically women, who his disability repels. This makes the reader feel sorry for him because he will