REVERSAL OF ROLES BETWEEN MEN AND MACHINES IN WILFRED OWEN’S POEM “THE LAST LAUGH”
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18485/bells.2023.15.12Keywords:
Wilfred Owen, Francis Bacon, utopia, WWI, personification, nihilism, soldiers, mechanical weaponsAbstract
The present article examines “The Last Laugh” by Wilfred Owen from the perspective of utopian studies. It explores the fact that, in this poem, the roles of men (soldiers) and machines (WWI mechanical weapons) are reversed compared to what they should be like according to the Baconist view of what a normal relationship between humans and machines should be like in a utopia. The said role reversal is based on the personification of weapons and the passivisation of soldiers. The author of this article argues that “The Last Laugh” victimises the three dying soldiers it presents and simultaneously makes their deaths seem futile. The latter, nihilistic message is particularly important because it is closely related to the poem’s anti-utopian aspect which, basically, boils down to the idea that mankind’s machine-making genius does not guarantee the creation of a perfect society but that it may instead only amass the quantity of human suffering.
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