Study+Questions+The+Living

Student Questions Study Guide for //The Living//

Q: What does the medal and the sensations that Joe receives represent? The medal that the general pinned on his nightshirt is the only recognition from the military he receives and is in fact the only recognition he will receive as his wish to have his story heard and his message received is denied. The weight that Joe feels from the pin represents the burden that Joe still bears from the military despite leaving the service. The coolness on his skin from the medal shows that despite it’s intentions the medal makes Joe feel like he has gotten the ‘cold shoulder’ from his government and that the medal doesn’t really mean anything

Q: Why does Joe feel that he’s not being heard? When he asks for his story to be heard, the doctors tell him it’s not regulation, and he is silenced. When the nurse try’s to sexually satisfy him, he try’s to shake her off, and she is aware of this and ignores him. Also, when he’s trying to beep with the Morse code, the nurses try to hold him down, and say he’s insane. The right to be heard, and the right to free speech are basic rights that need to be held by humans around the world. For this to be taken away from someone who was fighting for these exact things is PERPOSTEROUS!

Q: Does Joe feel pleasure from the nurse's sexual favors? No, he feels that what is being done to him is out of pity and it makes Joe feel worthless and ashamed. The Nurse also represents medicine and science and because she if forcing herself upon him he is metaphorically having his rights raped and violated by medicine and science.

Richard, Steven, Trevor 's questions and answers!!!!!! Q : What did the old day nurse do to Joe that makes him think about the girls he had spent time with during the old days.

A : The nurse masturbates for him.
Q: What did Joe feel the when the new day nurse finally communicated with him? A: He fet a kind of hysterical happiness and the feeling of being reborn.

Q: How does the idea of exhibiting Joe's body contribute to the story and what is the response? A: By exhibiting Joe's body to the public means that he is showing the reality of war to the citizens. The response that Joe gets is "That is against regulations", therefore, illustrating government's view of war---positive.

mitch luke vincent Q: How does Joe's body represent the consequences of warfare A: He is in a pickle LOOLOLOL DOUBLE ENTENDRE WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Q: Why did Laurette not arouse Joe? A: because he viewed her as a regular person and didnt know who she was or what she looked like  Q: What was Joe’s one mistake? A: he thought people would listen to him Ya thats right ...

Q: What does the old nurse represent compared to the new nurse? Answer = the old nurses symbolizes maturity and experience, while the new nurse symbolizes sympathy and innocence in the way she try’s to communicate.

Q: Why does Joe view the war as the oppression of the working class? Answer= because the working class are the men actually fighting where as the upper classes are the ones who started the war for their own profitable reasons.

Q: How is Johnny shown to be reborn from his death like state? Answer = The use of Morse code that Joe uses to communicate reconnects him with the world.

Q -How does Joe know the difference between the people in the hospital room? A - The day nurse gives heavier vibrations while the other nurse gives lighter vibrations, also how the touch him is different.

Q - How does Joe regain communication? A - Uses his head to tap

Q - What does the merry Christmas on his chest symbolize? A - He is still being cared for and he’s not in the phase of the dead anymore.

Q - What does Trumbo use the new nurse to represent? A - Trumbo uses the new nurse to represent rebirth. She offers him the chance to live again through communication

Q - What poem does Joe remember in the beginning of Book II and how does he feel about about it? A - He remembers snatches of Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade". Joe's narrative uses the scraps of these songs ironically revealing their ultimate absurdity and inability to comfort recognized suffering and pain.

Q - Who is Lazarus and how is he related to the conflict? A - Lazarus is a German who is shot at and killed by the English Regiment. In the Bible, he is a man who is resurrected by Jesus after lying dead in his tomb for 4 days. The German Lazarus is "resurrected" by a bomb, throwing him from his burial place back onto the wire. In a sense, Lazarus is similar to Joe who is "revived" as well.