"Here I am. Find me. Find me. Kill me. Kill me. Find me, and kill me. Kill me. Find me, and kill me. Find me, and kill me. Find me, and kill meeeeeeee."
Posted on 05/30/2007 7:03:48 AM PDT by kinsman redeemer
"I never saw my dear master again. I believe he fell dead from the saddle. I never loved any other master so well. I went into many other engagements, but was only once wounded, and then not seriously; and when the war was over I came back again to England, as sound and strong as when I went out."
I said, "I have heard people talk about war as if it was a very fine thing."
"Ah!" said he, "I should think they never saw it. No doubt it is very fine when there is no enemy, when it is just exercise and parade and sham fight. Yes, it is very fine then; but when thousands of good brave men and horses are killed or crippled for life, it has a very different look."
"Do you know what they fought about?" said I.
"No," he said, "that is more than a horse can understand, but the enemy must have been awfully wicked people, if it was right to go all that way over the sea on purpose to kill them."
(Excerpt) Read more at readingmatters.co.uk ...
Even a horse..... Horse sense?
I suspect irony on Sewell’s part.
Mrs VS
You’ve either completely missed the ironic point the author was trying to make...or you’ve taken it and are just trolling on a lazy Wednesday morning. ;)
Anna Sewell was a Quaker.
Mrs VS
The ironic point that the author, a bleeding-heart, prudish, Victorian Quaker, was trying to make...
Shirley you jest, Jeeves.
Enlighten us, please.
"Here I am. Find me. Find me. Kill me. Kill me. Find me, and kill me. Kill me. Find me, and kill me. Find me, and kill me. Find me, and kill meeeeeeee."
What difference does it make if Sewell was a Quaker?
To me, the plain message in the passage is this: "War is Hell. If killing is necessary, then the enemy must be 'awfully wicked.'"
That is exactly the point I was making.
Tell me, please, what message you think the author meant to convey.
BTW- I always missed the point in most of my literature classes. For example (I will always remember this exam question), "How did Lewis Carroll project himself into the character of the White Knight?" I STILL don't know. If you can tell me that also, it will relieve a burden I've carried for 35 years.
Thanks.
The statement is a clear example of literary irony - an example of the "tail wagging the dog". Thus, if we had to "go all the way over there" then the "wicked people" must have needed killing...but that conclusion does not follow from the "need to go over there." It's the kind of thing a stupid but endearingly loyal horse might think to himself to rationalize the action, but we more sophisticated readers are supposed to understand that "we went over there" for the glory of the British Empire or to get some new medals for the generals or some new contracts for British trading companies - and if anyone needed to be killed because they got in the way, then that's their own fault for daring to stand up to mighty Britain...so, By Jove, they must have been wicked people!
I don't know how much clearer I can make it. This isn't even subtle irony - even if you didn't know the author was a Quaker and therefore a pacifist who loathes war. It sounds like something a Bill Maher might say to mock Republicans. ;)
The message stands by itself.
Captain did not know the reason for fighting. He only knew, from experience, that going to war could only be justifiable if the enemy was 'wicked.'
My point was this: Our enemy is wicked and we should not lose our resolve to kill him.
I don't think Captain was "rationalizing" the war, as you say - just explaining it as best as he could.
Sewell may have 'loathed war' but here, gives a single justification - one that even a horse can comprehend.
In the context of the Th Century and an unjustified war, it may be irony.
I find it ironic that THIS nation, at THIS time, has already lost its national resolve to fight a wicked enemy.
“Th” = “19th” oops
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.