Malouf’s utilization of emotive language, riddled with negative connotations, serve to convey the gruelling conditions of war, and the emotional toll it takes. The reader is revealed to the barbarous quality of life in the trenches in Europe as World War 1 progressed, as the soldiers are described as “crawling, moving on their knees, squirming at corpse level.” (page 91) This specific example displays the emotive nature of Malouf’s interpretations of war, the image of soldiers perpetually lowered showing their beaten down physical and mental states. Similarly, the connotations intrinsic to “at corpse level” showcases the ever-present nature of death in war, and reduces the soldiers to walking corpses themselves. The emotional effect war takes
