Chapter 19
Summary
In chapter 19, Turner continues his march toward Dunkirk. We meet him marching along with the column of other men going to Dunkirk. All of a sudden, a Stuka attack starts and everyone runs for the forest. Turner spots a struggling woman with her child who doesn’t know which way to run and he tries to pull her in the right direction. She doesn’t want to go with him though, and Turner, the woman, and the child are stuck in the middle of the field while 1,000 pound bombs are being dropped on the nearby city and column of trucks. Turner decides to leave them because they aren’t going to come with him. All of a sudden a bomb goes off nearby and Turner looks back and sees a huge crater where the woman and child were standing. He continues to run to the safety of the forest. Once there, he regroups with Mace and Nettle, and seeing that his revolver is no longer of use, leaves it behind.
Turner, Mace, and Nettle continue to march towards the sea. Turner begins to reflect while he is walking and he thinks about his father and whether he went to serve in WWI and died close to where Turner is or not. They eventually come upon a horrible smell and see hundreds of rotting horses, a mountain of uniforms, and men dousing Bibles with gasoline. They come upon a bridge, which is guarded by a last detachment of ordered men. Mace and Nettle carry Turner, pretending to be injured, so that they aren’t ordered to help hold the bridge against the Germans. It was almost sunset now; the sun was low in the sky, but they only had another seven miles to walk. When Nettle gets frustrated with his boots and throws them into a field, Turner start to feel strangely lightheaded. They continue marching to chapter 20.
Analysis
One interesting thing going on in chapter 19 is McEwan’s use of sentence structure in describing the Stuka attack. For the entirety of the attack, McEwan uses almost all simple sentences, and little to no commas. This creates a sense of urgency and sensory overload, as if all Turner can think of are little thoughts because he doesn’t have time to think. When Turner finally reaches the forest, McEwan’s sentences start to lengthen a little bit.
Also in chapter 19 is a building of suspension. “The sights were familiar, the inventory was the same, but now there was more of everything; vehicles, bomb craters, detritus. There were more bodies,” (pg 227.) This sentence creates a feeling of suspense. It suggests that a climax is about to occur when Turner finally reaches Dunkirk. Also building on the suspension are the men destroying the bibles, uniforms, horses, and machines on page 228. What kind of destruction are they about to walk into?
Something interesting to note in this chapter is that this chapter and the beginning of the next chapter impossible occur at around the same time. At the end of this chapter, Turner notes that the sun was low in the sky and they still have seven miles yet to walk. In chapter 20, when they reach Dunkirk, the sun is still up for at least another couple hours, even though it clearly must be dark out by then because walking 7 miles would take anywhere from 2-4 hours in the condition they are in.
Another important detail to note is that at the end of the chapter Turner is starting to feel strangely. “He felt weirdly lightheaded,” (pg 231.) We will find out why in the next chapter.
- You bring up some excellent points in your analysis, and I would love to see them connected, both to one another and to the larger themes that the novel explores. Excellent work on establishing the "what' of the analysis, though.
In chapter 19, Turner continues his march toward Dunkirk. We meet him marching along with the column of other men going to Dunkirk. All of a sudden, a Stuka attack starts and everyone runs for the forest. Turner spots a struggling woman with her child who doesn’t know which way to run and he tries to pull her in the right direction. She doesn’t want to go with him though, and Turner, the woman, and the child are stuck in the middle of the field while 1,000 pound bombs are being dropped on the nearby city and column of trucks. Turner decides to leave them because they aren’t going to come with him. All of a sudden a bomb goes off nearby and Turner looks back and sees a huge crater where the woman and child were standing. He continues to run to the safety of the forest. Once there, he regroups with Mace and Nettle, and seeing that his revolver is no longer of use, leaves it behind.
Turner, Mace, and Nettle continue to march towards the sea. Turner begins to reflect while he is walking and he thinks about his father and whether he went to serve in WWI and died close to where Turner is or not. They eventually come upon a horrible smell and see hundreds of rotting horses, a mountain of uniforms, and men dousing Bibles with gasoline. They come upon a bridge, which is guarded by a last detachment of ordered men. Mace and Nettle carry Turner, pretending to be injured, so that they aren’t ordered to help hold the bridge against the Germans. It was almost sunset now; the sun was low in the sky, but they only had another seven miles to walk. When Nettle gets frustrated with his boots and throws them into a field, Turner start to feel strangely lightheaded. They continue marching to chapter 20.
Analysis
One interesting thing going on in chapter 19 is McEwan’s use of sentence structure in describing the Stuka attack. For the entirety of the attack, McEwan uses almost all simple sentences, and little to no commas. This creates a sense of urgency and sensory overload, as if all Turner can think of are little thoughts because he doesn’t have time to think. When Turner finally reaches the forest, McEwan’s sentences start to lengthen a little bit.
Also in chapter 19 is a building of suspension. “The sights were familiar, the inventory was the same, but now there was more of everything; vehicles, bomb craters, detritus. There were more bodies,” (pg 227.) This sentence creates a feeling of suspense. It suggests that a climax is about to occur when Turner finally reaches Dunkirk. Also building on the suspension are the men destroying the bibles, uniforms, horses, and machines on page 228. What kind of destruction are they about to walk into?
Something interesting to note in this chapter is that this chapter and the beginning of the next chapter impossible occur at around the same time. At the end of this chapter, Turner notes that the sun was low in the sky and they still have seven miles yet to walk. In chapter 20, when they reach Dunkirk, the sun is still up for at least another couple hours, even though it clearly must be dark out by then because walking 7 miles would take anywhere from 2-4 hours in the condition they are in.
Another important detail to note is that at the end of the chapter Turner is starting to feel strangely. “He felt weirdly lightheaded,” (pg 231.) We will find out why in the next chapter.
- You bring up some excellent points in your analysis, and I would love to see them connected, both to one another and to the larger themes that the novel explores. Excellent work on establishing the "what' of the analysis, though.