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Example research essay topic: Prisoner Of War Childhood Innocence - 1,064 words

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... submissive body language and he stutters slightly while he tries to talk to Peter. The two begin to talk about the fight that just happened between Peter and Willie. Donald appears to be extremely cowardly and the stage directions repeatedly say gulping or he swallows. By doing this Potter is controlling the audiences feelings and how they react to Donald.

During the scene the topics quickly swop and change around. Peter starts to oppress Donald and finally they start to talk about jam-jars. By doing this Potter has evoked a slight feel of tension within the audience. We are shocked as Peter is to realise Donald is not devious but almost criminal in his activity. Peter You know what " ll happen, does't?' Donald (anxiously) What? Peter You " ll go to gaol, won't you?

Oy. That's what " ll happen. This realisation, to both Peter and the audience, is reinforced later on in scene 13, when Potter uses strong imagery and stage directions to convey the idea that Donald is deviant and potentially dangerous in his actions and thought of mind. Potter also suggests in his stage direction that Donald is a very disturbed character. Donald doubles up in a paroxysm of strangely frightened giggling. He doesnt realise that he is doing bad, let alone breaking the laws of society.

The audience begins to wonder why no-one is helping Donald and supporting him. By revealing that the local community do not realise or act upon Donald's problems Potter involves the audience with the play. The community in the forties was very different to todays. There were no child support agencies to help Donald.

However Potter includes a contradiction to this. Peter Our mam says her wish as could have you. To stay, and that. ' Donald (excitedly) 'Do her? Do her?' This tells us that there are people in the community that do care about and have sympathy for Donald.

This stage direction shows us a different side to Donald. He becomes excited with the idea of someone that would welcome him into their home. Donald uses fire and devious behavior to separate himself from the community, almost as a self-defence. Potter is again playing with the audiences emotions.

He takes us from feeling horror and fear towards Donald and then we feel instant sympathy towards him. This sympathy is strongly reinforced in scene 14 when Donald, referring to the Italian prisoner of war, says I hope they don't catch him. By saying this Donald is showing he doesn't want anyone else to suffer. It gives him hope that his father, who is also a prisoner of war, might one day escape and return home. This hope is also symbolized in the game Donald is playing in scene 23, where he is trying to light a fire. The warmth and flame of the fire are symbolic to the warmth Donald feels towards his father and if the fire does not light then the Japanese have won and his father is dead.

Ironically this becomes the fire which kills Donald. In scene 24 Potter foreshadows Donald's death when Peter (referring to Donald) says, frighten him to death. If the audience becomes aware of this, the technique can evoke strong imagery and fear for the audience. The last four scenes have been made deliberately short and the dialogue is considerably short this is to add tension and drama.

The stage directions are also very important in the build up, as the have strong imagery and descriptive language. The flames seem to swell and belly out suddenly. Donald, in alarm, scurries for the door. And slams shut-bang! the fire in which Donald is trapped could be a representative of Donald's life, out of control. Ironically the following stage directions are the complete opposite.

giggling with excitement, the other six have slammed shut the door, putting the stone back against it, and further holding it shut with six pairs of hands. As the play develops the audience watch on in despair, as the one character that they can relate to is trapped in a burning barn, by his own friends and his own flames. As the six other children run away the barn implodes, killing Donald. They run back into the tall grass of the field trying to hide themselves. Potter is showing their shame, their personalities are being blanked out and they are torn apart. They have wrecked their lives and their friendships, but even worse they have lost their childhood innocence, they must face reality and life is no longer a game for them.

Potter has encouraged the audience to reach out for Donald as the other children dont try to help him, or to get help. Instead they sink down and tell lies and pass the blame. Peter I but going to get the blame for it. I never did anything. I wasn't even holding the door. Audrey you was with me, Peter.

Wasn't you with me? Willie we was all together Angela Miles away! The children lie to each other and themselves, they even begin to make up an alibi. This shocks the audience as it is an adult reaction to the situation, we do not expect children to act in this way.

It shows the children have lost their childhood innocence and they will never get away from this day, they are mentally scarred. However the children do realise what they have done and they eventually begin 'to cry overwhelmed, ' and the play ends on a very sombre note, with Dennis Potter reading a poem written by A. E. Houseman.

The poem represents what the children have lost, and not just youth but all that is associated with youth. it kills the idealism and naivet of youth. It is this naivet and youth which can appreciate the countryside for what it is, and does not question perception of it. This naivet of youth is now a lost land, implying that age is malcontent and yearning.

We are no longer able to behold that land with candour, but instead must merely accept that we can no longer return there. Youth has passed, innocence is replaced with cynicism. By reading the poem himself it and the play summarise, for me, the moral Potter has hidden in the play, that our culture has long since acknowledged that childhood is not transparent with innocence.


Free research essays on topics related to: donald, stage directions, strong imagery, childhood innocence, prisoner of war

Research essay sample on Prisoner Of War Childhood Innocence

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