Task 2

Point of View
The point of view of the poem could be said to be from the author Henry M Bechtold as he had most probably experienced the war itself. He wants to tell people how cruel war is and the bad of war as even innocent children are "taught to fight", to defend themselves, and the country. These children are not able to learn and do what the other normal children are doing as they are being used as soldiers. They are also not free to do what they want to do as "And these children are not free". They may lose their lives any time as they are in war. The words "dark" and "light" are used ironically both to show the bad side of war as the children could see no "light" (reference to hope).

Situation and Setting
The situation here, in this poem, is that children, at very young age are forced to fight for the country in war although they may not be willing to do it. The author portrays the evil of war through phrases and lines like "shines no light", questions in the third stanza on whether these children could be taught the basic stuff which they are supposed to learn at their age. This could be seen from "Could we give them half a chance" and "Or will a war consume them".

Language and Diction
The language used here is very strong and against war as the poem clearly states in the first line of the first stanza that "There are children in darkness". The word "darkness" is extremely strong and significant in describing the predicament of these children then. In the third stanza, "Or will a war consume them" clearly shows how much the children will suffer in war and how high the possibility is of them dying. Following that, "Will their life and blood be poured", "Down some endless thirsty hole" shows the cruelty of war and how bloody it is. It also show that blood is rampant in times of war. Lastly, "Back into the darkness", "Into which there shines no light" shows the hopelessness the children must be experiencing then.

Personal Response
Personally, I feel that these children who have been sent to war at such tender age are very pitiful. I feel extremely angry as these children should be treated fairly and be given the education they should have. War has a scarring effect and these children would most probably be scarred mentally even if they survived the war, not forgetting some, who will come out, feeling proud of defending the country, being a more confident and better person. From this poem, I understood how fortunate I am, not being needed to fight a war and having the chance to be educated.

Source:http://balls-are-my-life.blogspot.com/2010/05/task-2-analysis-of-poem-children-in.html

Task 1

This poem was wriiten by Henry M Bechtold when he was siting in his hotel room in Saigon just before Christmas 2009. The inspiration for this particular poem was from a news he was watching where the background was a photo of a small boy with a helmet and an automatic rifle and this sparked off his imagination as he began writing this poem, Children In the Darkness. He claims that he often goes back to Vietnam as his "soul lives there". From this, we can infer that he had most probably experienced the war and may even be one of the soldiers who fought the war. Although he survived, it seems like he could not recover from the trauma of war he experienced then.

In the first stanza, "there are children in darkness" shows us that the children are going through the war, and are forced to fight for the country, as the live in darkness, not knowing what is happening around them, showing the innocence of childhood then. This line somehow wants the reader to understand and sympathise these kids "who have not seen the light". As they are in "darkness", they are taught to "fight" and this shows how pitiful they are as this is the only thing they are taught in childhood. The irony of the poem is presented here as it wants to show that soldiers fight to protect the country willingly, knowing they will die, but these kids fought when they are unaware of what is happening around them.

The next stanza states "Chalk and blackboards will not be" and these shows the contrast of the the way a normal education a children should go through in school with how they are treated now. The last two lines of the stanza have strong words like "flee" and "free" which shows us that the children had no freedom of choice on whether they want to fight the war as they are not "free" to "flee" from the war.

The third stanza is filled with four lines of questions on whether these children could be taught what they are suppose to be learning at their age now. The words, "light" and "chance" further makes the reader feels sad for these children as they could not see the light and did not have the chance to learn what they are supposed to learn but are instead forced to face the crude reality at such a young age.

The fourth stanza answers all these questions by saying that they have no choice and they cannot learn what normal students are taught as "a war consume them, their body and their soul". The next two lines show how these children would be killed and the vocabulary used evokes a sense of "bloodiness" in the reader's mind, showing how bloody war is.

The last stanza somehow concludes the whole poem by saying that they are being banished into "darkness" where it shines no "light", a reference to them having no hope to live life like normal children of their age.

The poem is an anti-war poem as it shows how even children are being affected by the war, the unfairness present here as they are forced to war and lastly how much blood would be shed in a war.

Source: http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/2010warpoetry.html#Children_
http://keyserzone.blogspot.com/2010/05/poetry-analysis-children-in-darkness.html

24th September 1944
Dear Diary,
The war is still ongoing and I don’t know when or whether the war will ever stop. I live every day in trauma, careful of the words and things I do or say. Anything unpleasant to the ears of the Japanese would mean my head rolling on the ground. It is such a big blessing to be able to write this diary. I don’t know how long more I could continue to write this diary.
Propaganda leaflets could be seen flying around the streets and fellow neighbours are captured and brought to the concentration camp every day. I am praying, praying very hard that my family members would not be the ones being caught as it would be as good as death when being caught.
I go to school every day, learning Japanese, hearing Japanese, writing Japanese and singing Japanese national anthem. In school, I was taught to be loyal to the emperor of Japan, something which I hated the most but I had no choice.
After school, I could only stay at home to help my mother with the housework as Japanese soldiers come to “collect” ration. We could hardly meet ends meet but could not oppose them. We could only taking a day at the time as we try to get through.
I am currently hoping that the war will end soon so that all our sufferings would stop…