The+Hero

== =‘The Hero’= =Siegfried Sassoon=

The speaker of the poem tells of the fate of a young soldier named Jack, and the moment that his mother received a letter from the colonel informing her of her son’s death.

The mother reacts to the eloquent words of the letter with both pride and grief; the letter was ironic as the speaker continues to reveal Jack as a coward who in reality wanted nothing more than to return home. He is referred to as “cold-footed” (nervous), a “useless swine” about whose death no one cared.

The poem builds sympathy for both the mother and Jack; it also criticizes Jack’s comrades and the manner in which nervous soldiers were condemned. Like the mother in “The Deserter”, Jack’s mother will never know the truth and pain (both physical and psychological) of her son’s death.

THINKING POINTS

 * 1) Is Sassoon on the side of the Brother Officer or is he criticising him?
 * 2) what makes a hero?

Useful Quotations

 * 1) "Jack fell as he'd have wished"- by referring to the soldier by his name makes it personal.
 * 2) "of our dead soldiers"- its a way of life because its happened so often and people have to learn to live with it.
 * 3) "For while he coughed and mumbled"- the officer islying to make the mother feel good.

Mrs Ali's Powerpoint