Death Of The Ball Turret Gunner Analysis

A Gunner and His Bomber “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” is a poem written by Randall Jarrell in 1945. It is centered on the ball turret gunner of a heavy bomber flying over Europe during WWII. Jarrell’s poem shows the stages of the gunners life all while he is in his turret. The air war over Europe during the 1940s was a dangerous one. Bombing was used to weaken the manufacturing capabilities of the Axis powers in an effort to prepare for the upcoming invasion of mainland Europe, in particular, Germany. Defensive positions on these heavy bombers were necessary because the long range escorts –such as the P-51 Mustang- could not follow all the way over enemy territory. Gunners were necessary to ensure that the bombers could

These are the first two lines of Jarrell’s poem. “From my mother’s sleep…”(Line 1) alludes the the plane itself; it has become a mother to the gunner. Like a maternal figure, it protects its “child” against the dangers of the outside world. The bomber protects her children (crew). Many bomber crews actually saw their bomber like a mother or other protective, nurturing female. Crews named their bombers and painted these names along with an accompanying figure on the nose for good luck. A famous example of this is a B-17 named “Memphis Belle.” Bombers specifically, hold the ball turret in the belly of the aircraft much the way a mother holds an unborn child in her belly. “And I hunched in its belly until...” (line 2) also characterizes the bomber itself as his mother. The gunner is hunched in the turret much like a fetus hunched in the womb. “…I fell into the State,” (Line 1) finishes the first line and the “state” is sleep. Crew member commonly fell asleep while flying to the target. The flights were 8 or more hours. Jarrell might also be describing another state of sleep. People sleep and dream. That is what Jarrell could be saying here; notice how he said, “state” instead of simply “sleep.” The ball turret gunner has fallen into a dream. The world around him has ceased to exist because he is disconnected, floating in his own

This last line is the most powerful of the lot. This man sacrificed his life to protect his brethren and country only to be washed out with a hose. This line tells us how bad the war was. The ball turret gunner who this story centers around gave his life to defend his brethren and country and all that the ground crew could do was wash out the mess his body left behind with a hose. They were unable to pay him the honor he earned that moment because they needed to prepare that aircraft for another mission. It shows the sad side on how the ground crew probably wanted to pay their respects but they couldn’t to the extent they would deem