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The Gift in Wartime Exercise | Tran Mong Tu
Summary | Question Answers
Class 11 English
Neb English Notes
The Gift in Wartime by Tran Mong Tu
ABOUT POEM
MAIN SUMMARY
The Gift in Wartime by Tran Mong Tu
Write the summary of the poem "The Gift in Wartime" by Tran Mong Tu.
There are altogether seven different stanzas here in this poem. The main theme of this poem is the inhuman aspects of war and its effects on humans. The speaker has presented a terrible picture of war that has snatched all the happiness in her life.
In the very first stanza, the speaker is offering roses to be buried in the new grave of her lovable person (her husband, who is no more). The speaker wants to offer her wedding gown to cover his tomb, which is still green with grass. Here, in the first stanza, we find the speaker's deep love feelings for her lovable person. She offers him roses and her wedding gown to show her deep love and affection for him.
In the second stanza, she talks about the bravery of her lovable person and even his awards, which she has still kept in her memory. The gifts of war to his lovable person, such as the medals with the silver stars and the yellow pips on the badge, are still shining with the pride of his bravery. But these awards are of no use because the person who got them for bravery is no more.
In the third stanza, she relates to him about her youth days with him, where she offered her youth to him as a wife. They were in deep love in those days. Unfortunately, when she got the bad news from the officers about her lovable person's death, she also lost her youth along with the death of her dear one.
In the fourth stanza, she relates to him the inhuman picture of war and its gifts to humans. She tells him about the blood's smell and the blood of his enemy. For her, the dress of war only provides her with blood in return, so that she may be moved. Here, she wants to put forward her idea that the war only invites bad results for humans. It only invites terror, pain, destruction, blood, deaths, etc.
In the fifth stanza, the speaker reminds her lovable person about the clouds and cold winters that she has provided him. But she only gets eyes full of tears on summer days in return. Her springtime of life even becomes cold without him. The speaker shows her deep sorrows due to the lack of her lovable person.
In the sixth stanza, the speaker relates to her absent, lovable person all those things that she has gotten from him. Due to the bad impacts of war, her lovable person has left her lips without a smile, arms without tenderness, eyes without sight, and body without motion. This stanza has shown the pitiable condition of the speaker's lonely life without her lovable person.
In the final stanza, the speaker apologises to her lovable person and even promises to meet him in their next lives. She says that she will hold shrapnel as a token, which will help both of them recognise each other. Here, the speaker has presented the deep meaning related to the inhuman picture of war. She wants to hold Shrapnel as proof to show him why this inhuman war snatched his life and separated them.
In this way, this poem has presented the very bad impacts of war on humans.
QUESTION & ANSWER
a. Who is the speaker addressing, and why can’t that person hear or understand what she is saying?
Answer:
The speaker is addressing her deceased husband, who died as a martyr in the Vietnam War. Her husband is absent, so he cannot hear or understand what she is saying. This is an example of apostrophe. Her address expresses deep love and grief.
b. What can you guess about the speaker’s feelings toward the person addressed as "you"?
Answer:
In my view, the speaker has deep love for the person addressed as "you." This person is her husband, who died as a martyr in the Vietnam War. She remembers him every moment and feels incomplete without him. The speaker shows her deep love by placing flowers and her wedding gown on his grave.
c. What is the speaker’s view toward war?
Answer:
The speaker has a negative view toward war. She considers war inhuman and cruel. It took her husband and happiness, making her life miserable.
d. In what way do you think this person’s fate has affected the speaker?
Answer:
I think this person’s fate has made the speaker loveless and lonely. With his death, her youth and happiness ended. She received only the blood and pain of war.
e. What vow does the speaker make at the end of the poem? Why do you think she does this?
Answer:
At the end of the poem, the speaker vows to meet her husband in the next life and keeps shrapnel as a token to help them recognize each other. This is an expression of her deep love and anger toward the separation caused by war.
f. What is the mood of the poem?
Answer:
The mood of the poem is the inhumanity of war and its negative impact on human life. War brings death, blood, and sorrow. It is the pain of losing a loved one.
g. Which image in the poem has affected you the most? Why?
Answer:
The image in the sixth stanza (lifeless lips, loveless hands, blind eyes, still body) has affected me the most because it vividly shows the cruelty of war and the speaker’s pain.
h. What literary devices are used in the poem?
Answer:
The poem uses literary devices like irony (e.g., "gifts" as death), metaphor (e.g., clouds in the eyes = tears), anaphora (e.g., repeated "You give me"), and apostrophe (e.g., addressing an absent person).
i. What does the speaker offer in this poem? What does the person addressed as "you" give in return?
Answer:
In this poem, the speaker offers flowers, her wedding gown, her youth, clouds, and cold winters. The person addressed as "you" gives in return medals, silver stars, yellow pips on a badge, the smell of blood, lifeless lips, loveless hands, blind eyes, and a still body.
j. What is apostrophe? Discuss its use in the poem.
Answer:
Apostrophe is a literary style where the speaker addresses an absent person or thing as if they are present.
In "The Gift in Wartime," Tran Mong Tu uses apostrophe. The speaker (widow) addresses her deceased husband as "you" and says "you gave me this," expressing love and grief. This style makes the poem emotional and lively.
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