In Cold Blood Rhetorical Analysis

Although are many different definitions given to term “irony,” Blunden uses a very specific form of the literary device in his memoir. His version of irony can be defined as “the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning” (“Irony”). Alternatively, it can also be seen as “a manner of organizing a work so as to give full expression to contradictory or complementary impulses, attitudes, etc., especially as a means of indicating detachment from a subject, theme, or emotion” (“Irony”). Additionally, it can be used “draw attention to some incongruity or irrationality” (“Irony”). Overall, Blunden uses his version of irony throughout the memoir as a way to convey a message hidden by his words. However, without knowing

Given his apparently gentle and modest nature that was earlier established, it is surprising to see his general hostility towards the war effort as an organization. However, individually, Blunden warmly regards his fellow soldiers with a more positive attitude. He recounts that a captain of one of the army’s battalion’s “was obeying the expensive mandate, when he was hit and killed” (Blunden 16). Instead of going more in detail of the fallen captain’s war status and accomplishments, Blunden instead tells his audience that the captain played cricket for the county of Surrey. By doing so, Blunden puts more emphasis on the man’s achievements outside of the war effort, and gives the audience more information to construct a persona for him outside of being just a war soldier. The irony in this situation is that, by focusing on the man’s recreational hobby, Blunden creates a short obituary for this man that completely omits his military history, aside from the cause of his death, which was following the “expensive mandate” of

In the memoir, Blunden tells a story of rifle-training with an experienced Highland sergeant-major. During this session, the instructor, who claims to have never had an accident before, fires a grenade from his rifle to teach the new soldiers how to use the weapon. Due to a malfunction, the grenade detonates within the rifle, and the sergeant is left “lying with mangled head, dead, and others lay near him, also blood-masked, dead and alive. So ended that morning’s work on the Bull-Ring” (Blunden 5). Aside from serving as a brief moment of levity through dark humor, Blunden includes this incident to let his audience that the soldiers were prepped for what they would experience during the war. In addition to being trained how to handle equipment and weapons, the soldiers were mentally primed for the horrors that they would soon