Full Title: Critical analysis of an extract from “Strange Meeting” by Susan Hill

This extract begins with an informative introduction to the town of Feuvry. This short history provides the reader with factual context for the coming events, enriching the environment. However, this style quickly changes to a more emotionally based one, describing the “superstition” which surrounds the town. The men’s reactions of “groaning” and “glancing… uneasily” gives the town an even more foreboding atmosphere. The men wonder what Feuvry would be like, attributing it to picturesque and even romantic scenes, with “red-brick… crumbling walls… already overgrown”. But this more pleasant image is swiftly discarded with the heavy, emphatic line “He was not prepared for Feuvry”. The mood change with this line begins the true description of the hellish town. Feuvry is described as being even more appalling than the sight of “the dead pilot”, a place worse than death itself. The deadened mood is reinforced by the numb shock reaction of the soldiers. Their “swaying” form “seeing nothing” in silence, “not singing”. Even the morale boosting songs of the soldiers could not lift their spirits in such a place.

The nature of the writing then changes to a letter addressed back home. These letters are a sign that the author is giving a truthful description of the moment, although some letters would have be censored by those writing them to dull down the horrors of their experience. However, this letter begins very solemnly, “This is a terrible place”. This is followed by rhetorical questions, which gives the letter a more personal feel, but at the same time reinforces the foulness of their new home, “How would you ever be able to imagine what I can see?” This also bears a hint of bitterness, the soldier perhaps wishes that he was still innocent and ignorant to the horrors of war, like to whom he is writing. The questions also suggest that the soldier has difficulty remembering the scenes, as though it were too horrific to be reminded of. This creates a sense of empathy with the writer of the letter. Following this, the landscape is described in more detail, the “holes in the ground, or piles of rubble”. This paragraph deals with the sense of sight, a visual picture of the area is built up.

The description then goes on to show the effects of the war on everyday life, with “chairs sticking out” and “coils from sofas” strewn. We are reminded that this was once and inhabited town and these were once people’s loved possessions, now reduced to “rubbish, rolling about in corners, rotting.” The alliteration in this line forms part of a stream of consciousness on the dilapidation of the town, emphasising it. This everyday debris then gives way to some more sinister images, “piles of blood-stained clothing” and “children’s toys” also litter the streets. The toys especially create a feeling of pathos, alluding the the common theme of the pity of war. This pity is also shown in the poem “Strange Meeting” by Wilfred Owen, from which this novel acquired its name. The poem is filled with language on this theme, “The pity of war, the pity war distilled”.

The sense of smell is then introduced in the description, “Everything smells, reeks”. This adds another dimension to the reader’s experience and enhances the sickening feeling of the place. The passage of the letter then dives into even more depressing squalor. The water system and sanitation is all “hopelessly polluted”. A symbol for the entire town being infected and beyond and hope of repair or recovery. The reality of war hits the reader hard here, with “so many dead bodies” left lying around. The fact that the ambulances are too busy “carrying wounded from the front lines” to clean up the dead also implies the dreadful conditions which are awaiting the soldiers on the front line. The description of one particular dead solider “blown up inside, but nothing had come out” adds disgusting and wretched detail. This physical description of death is also common through war literature, “Dulce et Decorum Est” also by Wilfred Owen contains some particularly disgusting language regarding this. He describes how a “hanging face” with “eyes writhing” lolls past on a wagon.

From this deathly image, the tone of the letter changes again as more trivial matters are discussed. The horses being “better off” than the men for example seems to ring true in other literature. This even suggests that the horses are considered to be more valuable than the men, as described in “All Quiet on the Western Front” by E. Remarque. Through the next conversational paragraph the conditions of the army are also implied. The “rationed” rum and “squalor” all contribute to this and the personal, lighter nature of the letter is reassured with the direct address “you wouldn’t like to see me now!” the author then describes what he thinks is coming “and it won’t be anybody’s idea of a picnic”. This reference seems satirical towards the propaganda poetry of Jessie Pope who also described war in this way, “it won’t be a picnic � not much” despite the phrases being almost identical.

A certain loneliness within camaraderie is also described with having “no time or place… to call my own”. The personal connection is then reaffirmed again, involving the reader “I have never been very good with loud noises, have I?” The letter then breaks as the narration cuts back in, describing the “stylish” house they are staying in. Words describing the former glory of the building, wallpaper “elaborate and expensive-looking”, juxtapose directly with the current conditions, “boarded up” with a ceiling that “sagged down”, showering the inhabitants with “flakes and splinters”. However, a completely undamaged flower urn also sits in the room, a symbol for the utter lottery of war, some things surviving others completely annihilated. Names scribbled on the wall, most likely those of dead soldiers, echo the roll call in Sebastian Faulks’ novel “Birdsong” (page 236). After a major battle asking for the “whereabouts of each missing man” would take too long. “He hurried from one unanswered name to the next”, indicating the sheer scale of death and destruction.

The narration here is interspersed with remembered action, “a shell had soared over” and they “raced for a doorway”. Limbs “aching” and eyes “smarting, in the smoke”, this draws attention to the condition of the character, building up empathy. The arrival of Hilliard also brings action to the scene as his movements are described with vigorous verbs. “Hilliard sat up at once” is an example of this quick action.

The extract finishes with a scene which echoes the end of “Journey’s End” by R. C. Sherriff. A Sergeant enters and requests the presence of an officer, just as Stanhope is called away from Raleigh’s side in the play. Barton had had “time to think all day”, a dangerous past-time for soldiers as a mental breakdown could result from too much thought dwelling on the war and the horrors witnessed.

In conclusion, this extract from “Strange Meeting” contains many themes which are common throughout war literature. Also, many different aspects of war are covered through the text, giving a broad description of the situation. The use of the letter within the text reinforces the personal connections of the soldiers and makes the reader feel more involved with the novel.

_{Mark achieved: 13\20}

_{Teacher’s comments: You are tackling this correctly but need to work on the fluency and clarity of your written style. Your approach is analytical and you have used a range of wider reading appropriately.}