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Birdsong english literature help

please give me some help and help me write a paragraph. Hi guys i would really appreciate it if you could help me. i am going to have my english literature coursework soon and my question is: Explore the portrayal of Male relationships.
I am not very good with english and only picked it because i want to do law when i am older. i can only think of one or two paragraphs, but i do have some ideas. I would really appreciate if someone can write me a paragraph with AO1,AO2 AND AO4 answering the question or offer any kind of help. My ideas are: Weir and Stephen, Stephen and Jack, Jack and Shaw, Brennan and his brother, possibly Stephen and Levi, and Jack and Levi's brother when they get buried together. these are some ideas but i just dont know how to put them into very good paragraphs :/
Original post by Gold D Roger
please give me some help and help me write a paragraph. Hi guys i would really appreciate it if you could help me. i am going to have my english literature coursework soon and my question is: Explore the portrayal of Male relationships.
I am not very good with english and only picked it because i want to do law when i am older. i can only think of one or two paragraphs, but i do have some ideas. I would really appreciate if someone can write me a paragraph with AO1,AO2 AND AO4 answering the question or offer any kind of help. My ideas are: Weir and Stephen, Stephen and Jack, Jack and Shaw, Brennan and his brother, possibly Stephen and Levi, and Jack and Levi's brother when they get buried together. these are some ideas but i just dont know how to put them into very good paragraphs :/


Moved to the english study help forum for you :smile:
Stephen and Weir
- Very much a brotherly/paternal relationship, 238-240 has some good stuff on them
- Weir asks Stephen to "hold" him (240) - demonstrates the breaking boundaries between men
- Weir seeks affection, security and warmth - ironic as Stephen is frequently referred to as "cold" (just past half way on 149 has a great quote about this - and it's said by Weir too!)
- Could describe their relationship as being a bit like 'no mans land' - unsure where they stand with each other, much like Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon (although it's assumed they shared more than just poetic ideas if you know what I mean...)

Also, maybe Stephen and Douglas? 155/156 is good, or Tipper? He features a lot on 147. It's important to remember that everyone Stephen shows any kind of affection/love to in the novel is killed!!! (Douglas, Shaw etc)

As a contrasting paragraph, you could talk about male/female dynamic relationships in the novel.
Stephen/Isabelle (I would focus on Part 1 - all the events of 'the red room', how even during sex their relationship is doomed (page 59, also a foreshadow for war - everything Stephen loves comes to an end), Stephen/the prostitute (205-207 "she was the possibility.....can't remember the quote....of future generations" stuck out for me, Stephen can't embark on a sexual relationship due to impact of war, spending time with so many men, purity women represent and also his everlasting love for Isabelle), Jack and his wife (who we don't meet but hear about through various letters, death of his son etc, unable to process and reveal horrors of war).

For AO4, talk about the changing role of women and how this effects men's relationships (independence, emancipation, getting jobs=not as much time for babies!), expectations of male relationships (men became more open with their sexuality, sought comfort where they could find it on front line, blurred lines of masculinity made it easier for men to form strong, tight relationships with other men), lack of understanding from the home front - in Not About Heroes and Regeneration it's mentioned that Wilfred Owen told his mother about the war - maybe she could take it. Many couldn't, take that into consideration when looking at the solidarity men found in one another.

Not sure what exam board you are, but I assume you need critics? I use http://books.google.co.uk/ as it's free - just type something like 'birdsong criticism' or a quote from Birdsong and something should come up, watch Birdsong (it's brilliant, believe me), watch The Passing Bell's (which was on BBC last week so will probably be on iPlayer now, highly recommend it) perhaps read Not About Heroes, Private Peaceful, Regeneration, Journey's End, or Oh What a Lovely War...Read some poetry by Wilfred Owen (Dulce Et Decorum Est, Exposure, Disabled, Anthem for Doomed Youth), Siegfried Sassoon (Glory of Women, Does it Matter? ... He also wrote something of immense historical value called 'A Soldiers Declaration' which is probably about a page long) Rupert Brooke, and Jessie Pope.

Hope that helps!

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