PUT YOUR MASKS ON!!!

World War 1 issued gas mask

        The quote, "Put your masks on!" (Findley 123), is shortly after the start of part 3. Robert along with seven men are setting up a mortar turret in a big crater. Half way through setting up this turret all the men get a sense of uneasiness when a bird flies over chirping away. Seconds later they see an ominous noxious green cloud floating there way down into the crater. This is when Robert takes charge and yells for his men to put there masks on. But none of the men have been issued gas masks. "Robert didn’t even think. He just yelled: ‘Jump!’ and leapt into the air. Looking back at the gas and seeing nothing else was to be done."(Findley 124). The men all jumped to the bottom of the crater where there had been many dead corpses rotting. Their death was imminent as the green, pool reeking hands of death sank closer and closer to them. Robert quickly remembered learning in school that urine turns chlorine into crystals. " Piss on them!!!"( Findley 125),Robert yelled to his men. He made them urinate on their shirts and hold it over their mouths as they breathed in the gas it neutralized the toxins. Two men did not survive one inhaled the gas and one died from the shock of braking his legs falling down the crater. This was one of my favourite parts in the novel. Robert really took charge of his men and acted not so innocent and childish for once, he took the lead and saved his men. This is another example of how awful war can really be. Chlorine gas when inhaled burns your insides and your body creates so much saliva and mucus to counteract the burns you basically suffocate yourself in a very painful way. Biological warfare is one of the most scary things to witness and be a part of. This is another reason that war can really make a man go crazy through it’s terrifying soulless acts of death.

Axis soldier shooting chlorine bombs out of a mortar gun