As i near the end of the novel Life Class by Pat Barker, I've begun to analyze more and more the character Paul Tarrant. After leaving the safety of his art studio in England, Paul enlisted in the army and got involved as a doctor to those who were injured and close to death. This is a huge step for Paul because he goes from a sheltered life of probing questions of life to the real world that asks the question of 'life or death'. After dealing with many people dying in his arms, when Paul talks with Lewis his roommate, he recognizes his own change in tone of the topic of death. When Lewis asks a question about how many patients die, Paul answers in a statistics, and marks his own changing perspective, "Paul realized Lewis was questioning his coldblooded way of talking about [death]"(172) As a reader, I feel a distance from Paul as he becomes more and more desensitized to the emotional topic of death, this is the apparent goal of Pat Barker.
Continuing on this page, Barker further describes Paul's mind-process as he thinks nothing of 'who the people are' that are dying rather than thinking of numbers of open beds for more patients to be dropped off. Barker speaks through Paul's eyes, "He couldn't remember any of the people who died. Not their faces. Only their positions in the huts so that he could direct the next batch of bodies that were being delivered on stretchers to open-beds"(172). Paul refers to humans as "batches of bodies" and clearly illustrates his distance and isolation within the medical huts, as her works as efficiently and as unattached as possible.
Throughout the novel I've noticed Paul's ever changing perspective as he searches to find himself he many times gets lost in the ruckus of what's going on around him, especially when he's off working at war.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
NUMBER 5
As I get further along in the novel Life Class, by Pat Barker, the story takes a dark turn. Like I mentioned in the last blog, Paul Tarrant, the main character, has a recognizable change in the way he views himself and the others in his life. Barker illustrates this as she isolates the reader from Paul, now speaking in a third person narrative that excludes all emotion and thought, Barker narrates, "Paul undressed quickly and got under the blankets. He lay with his arms clasped across his chest, fingertips tucked into his armpits"(172) Paul is described without emotion as his actions show his distance from both the world around him and from the reader.
Another technique that Barker uses to represent Paul's changing charisma is by her choice of description. As Paul is pushed into the war, the change that has taken place in his character is obvious when Barker uses bland descriptions to speak through Paul's eyes, and describes Paul himself as being timid to provoking conversation. Lewis (Paul's roommate) and Paul eat and drink coffee as they think about the day ahead, Barker writes, "Lewis was sataring at Paul, a question on his face. Paul quickly looked down and away"(176) Before the war, Paul thrives to question and be questioned, always searching for the deeper meaning of things, but it seems now, amidst the war, Paul has turned away from "silly questions" and thinks only of survival and accomplishment.
This adds to the consistent topic of 'change of significance'.
Another technique that Barker uses to represent Paul's changing charisma is by her choice of description. As Paul is pushed into the war, the change that has taken place in his character is obvious when Barker uses bland descriptions to speak through Paul's eyes, and describes Paul himself as being timid to provoking conversation. Lewis (Paul's roommate) and Paul eat and drink coffee as they think about the day ahead, Barker writes, "Lewis was sataring at Paul, a question on his face. Paul quickly looked down and away"(176) Before the war, Paul thrives to question and be questioned, always searching for the deeper meaning of things, but it seems now, amidst the war, Paul has turned away from "silly questions" and thinks only of survival and accomplishment.
This adds to the consistent topic of 'change of significance'.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
NUMBER 4
As I continue reading the novel Life Class Pat Barker illustrates the life of Paul Tarrant, a young artist begins to see his life of studios, cafes and other young artists as insignificant to the war that is erupting. Paul leaves England to live with his mother in a small town up north. When Paul returns to meet Elinor in Cafe Royal (their usual place of meeting), he notices a change in the atmosphere, "There was an edginess about the place now: excitement and fear. Not fear of death--no the fear of being irrelevant"(147) The world of creativity and wonder had turned into a self-conscious corner of the world, throbbing for importance. Before Paul had been suffering to find himself as an artist amongst the great and famous faces of artists surrounding him, but now he felt this whole group was misplaced in a world of patriotism. Did he need to risk his life to find himself?
Paul has been a confused character throughout the novel and now in the midst of war, he goes to extremes to feel significant. The story moves quickly, as Paul signs up for war. He is rejected for being ill, which further pushes him to the depths of unimportance, but after pulling some strings, we see Paul working as a doctor on the front, picking up half-dead bodies to try to save as he's been trying to save himself his whole life. However, Paul finds significance and pride in what he's doing. When he is sent out to meet a new doctor, he notes the man, "he won't last five minutes. He looked gangly, all arms and legs. There was something about his expression--not just youth and inexperience, something else--that made Paul uneasy"(165). Paul has changed from the war, he's become aware of how small his attributions were before he joined the fight and in seeing this young man, he sees himself as he was before: unaware. Paul's questions of art have now altered to questions of medicine, his questions of life became answers of death. Paul has become dark and lonely as a result of his position in the war.
Paul has been a confused character throughout the novel and now in the midst of war, he goes to extremes to feel significant. The story moves quickly, as Paul signs up for war. He is rejected for being ill, which further pushes him to the depths of unimportance, but after pulling some strings, we see Paul working as a doctor on the front, picking up half-dead bodies to try to save as he's been trying to save himself his whole life. However, Paul finds significance and pride in what he's doing. When he is sent out to meet a new doctor, he notes the man, "he won't last five minutes. He looked gangly, all arms and legs. There was something about his expression--not just youth and inexperience, something else--that made Paul uneasy"(165). Paul has changed from the war, he's become aware of how small his attributions were before he joined the fight and in seeing this young man, he sees himself as he was before: unaware. Paul's questions of art have now altered to questions of medicine, his questions of life became answers of death. Paul has become dark and lonely as a result of his position in the war.
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