Question

Which two parts of this excerpt from Wilfred Owen's "Dulce Et Decorum Est" imply that war has made soldiers apathetic? Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind. Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!–An ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time; But someone still was yelling out and stumbling, And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime...

Answer 1

Men marched asleep." and "All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots of tired".

Answer 2

The two parts of this excerpt of "Dulce Et Decorum Est" which imply that war has made soldiers apathetic are: "Men marched asleep." and "All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots of tired".

After feeling like "old beggars under sacks", it is told about the soldiers that they began to walk slowly, with heavy steps, toward their distant rest. They were so exhausted they gave up even on cursing, and just "marched asleep". That sentence, "Men marched asleep", can be considered one of the two parts from this excerpt which imply that war has made men apathetic. If they were marching asleep, they were already responseless, and it can also be understood from the excerpt that being extremely tired and hopeless is what took them to this state of numbness, where they walked "asleep", marching in lethargy, without even realizing they had lost their boots and that their feet were bleeding.

"All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots of tired" is the second part of the excerpt from which it is possible to imply that war has made soldiers apathetic. A lame person is one that walks with difficulty because of an injury or illness. So, the soldiers are told to have gone lame, "blind", "drunk with fatigue" and "deaf". The lost of senses is due to fatigue and their apathetic conditions, which changed them into a responseless state of being. They could not see, nor hear, and were considered drunk, just wondering, denying even their exhaustion. Hence, this can be considered the second part of the excerpt which implies that war has made soldiers apathetic.