In World War II spheres made of steel and plexiglass were the home of ball turret gunners on their B-17 bombers. These planes were large and not very maneuverable for dog fights with other enemy planes. The main purpose for these planes was to simply drop bombs on enemy targets (vccslitonline.cc.va.us/ReadingPoetry/callahan.htm). “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” by Randall Jarrel is a poem about the duties and life of a ball turret gunner. The meaning or theme in this story is that World War II ball turret gunners chances of death are highly probably. Jarrel demonstrates this by the language of the central character, the setting that is portrayed, and the tone of the overall poem..
The central character may also be the speaker in this certain poem. We get this idea from the language that is used throughout this work. The speaker is obviously familiar with these airplanes and most certainly is or was a soldier at one point in time. In line two he speaks of his jacket and how “my” as in “his” fur froze leading us to believe he actually has experience with a ball turret in combat at these altitudes. “Loosed form its dream of life” is a phrase in line 3 in which this character lets us feel that if you are in a ball turret in combat that you are somehow in a different realm.
You are not thinking about everyday things that normal people do such as “what’s for dinner?” or “I hope I get that raise at work”. In fact, it is almost that Jarrel is saying you are focused on living and surviving the trip into combat and home is a million miles away, even if you have time to think about home. When awakened by the “black flak” and “fighters” he describes as “nightmares” (line 4) gives us the idea that he is scared and that the feeling of death is upon him. The language in the last line, line 5, is the icing on the cake. “When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose”, the writers’ straightforward no holding back description of how these gunners that got killed were removed their turrets is blunt. The fact that they washed them out them out with a water hose lets us know it wasn’t something out of the ordinary and definitely wasn’t rare. They had no certain way to get them out or make a big deal out of it, but rather they washed it out for the new gunner which would probably end up the same way.
The setting in this poem is one that is associated with death, solitude, and the end. The end being that of life or end of faith that you will return to your ordinary life “6 miles” below you on earth. The actual setting of this poem takes place in a B-17 army airplane. As I read the poem it gave me the feeling of old metal creaking with the engine noise at an unbearable level. “I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters” (line 4) gives me the sense that it is still night time out. This is no place I would ever want to be at night or any other point in time. Darkness, being night, is associated with death and the way he describes the enemy planes as “nightmare fighters” lets me know he is in fear.
The tone used in this poem is very mellow and murky. There is no excitement or rejoicing in it and there is no happy ending. The tone helps us to realize how serious being a ball turret gunner is and how unlikely it is you will return from your mission alive. Jarrel knew he had to be serious with the tone of this poem because in order for the reader to understand his point. His point is to let the reader know that ball turret gunners have a seriously scary job and there is no fun in it, but rather total seriousness and no room for anything else. “From my mothers sleep I fell into the State” (line 1), this line opens up the poem and gives you a mellow feeling. When read about the character as he “falls into the State” you get a stern feeling of serious from it. I really think the tone used for this poem is effective because this is a poem of death and the tone is dry with no sense of life, like death.
Leaving everything you have always known behind you and going into a turret for which you know there is a good chance you will never return is truly honor. This poem let us know the chance of death in these ball turrets in these planes was very high and Jarrel was very precise with his writing. His use of language with the central character, the setting that he portrayed on the reader, and the overall tone of this poem was highly accurate and easy to understand.
