The Man in the Dead Machine: High on a slope in New Guinea the Grumman Hellcat lodges among bright vines as thick as arms. In 1943, the clenched hands of a pilot glided in here where no one has ever been in the cockpit the helmeted skeleton sits upright, held by dry sinews at neck and shoulder and webbing that straps the pelvic cross to the cracked leather of the seat and the breastbone to the canvas cover of the parachute. Or say that the shrapnel missed him, he flew back to the carrier, and every morning takes the train, his pale hands on his black case, and sits upright, held by the firm webbing.
1. Describe the world situation in 1943 as you know it. Why might the pilot have been in New Guinea? Why has the wreckage of the plane remain undiscovered?
2. What does the skeleton in the cockpit appear to be doing? What causes this appearance?
3. How is the appearance of the man described in the third stanza similar to that of the Skelton?
4. Find one simile in this poem.
5. This poem consists of three stanzas. What does the writer establish in the first stanza? How does the second stanza develop from the the first stanza?
6. PUN: What two meanings of the word “form” might fit the idea of the last line in the poem? How does this pun help to develop the meaning of the poem?
7. What is ironic about the fate of the man described in the third stanza? How do the first two stanzas help to develop this irony?
8. THEME: through the description of the man in the third stanza, what is the writer making about the fate of some people in the business world?
9. Compare and contrast the poem and the novel lord of the flies. Be sure to identify as many similarities as you can as well as differences.
Anything helps!!!