No Trumpets Needed
“No Trumpets Needed” by Michael Morpurgo is about a cameraman who travelled to Palestine to view first hand the devastation there caused by war and conflict, which resulted in a 'Wall'. The writer deals with the theme of conflict and illustrates this by using symbolism, personification, metaphors and many more, allowing as the reader, to get the full impact of the conflict.
At the beginning of the story the author allows the reader to become submerged in the full impact of what the cameraman is walking into. He does this by using a list of images,
''The anguish of the grieving, the burnt out buses, the ritual humiliation of checkpoints, the tanks in the streets, the stone throwing crowds, the olive groves and the hilltop settlements, children playing in open sewers in the refugee camps- and now the wall. The wall to separate Palestinian from Israeli, Arab from Jew''
This is a powerful and thought provoking way to start the story. It let's the reader know it was set in the middle East amidst the chaos, devastation and conflict. It also emphasises through the list form that it is a never ending, all consuming situation and the divide that has been created through his techniques and choice of words. It is impossible not to see it in your minds eye, all the destructiveness and the effects of it all.
The author chooses to use a metaphor even before he sets the scene. This metaphor on it's own is very powerful at provoking an image of what's happening, ''Cauldron of Contention''. It is also alliteration of the letter C, which is a harsh sound, a sound together with the words cauldron and contention allows, as the reader, to envision a witch's cauldron. A big pot of something bubbling and brewing. Imagining the pot/cauldron to be the place and the conflict is what's bubbling and brewing- waiting to erupt and explode inside.
There are several references in the story to 'The Kite'. The author throughout has personified it, ''tugging