An Analysis Of Robert Leckie 's ' The Mystery Of The Universe '

The rambunctious behavior of the soldier’s triumphant victory is a strong message visually for the viewer. These soldiers struggle to find their identity and once the war ends, the identity they’ve build at war vanishes, (McCutcheon, 2007). As a result, they essentially lose a part of them selves, (McCutcheon, 2007). When they return home, many soldiers struggle with psychological issues that prevent them from resuming their once regular lives, (McCutcheon, 2007). The images of soldiers celebrating at the end of war give the viewer a taste of this problem. This also allows the viewer insight to the deeper issues surrounding an American soldier’s mental stability and mentality. Through this image, along with many others throughout the film, the viewer is able to dig deeper and truly analyze what they are seeing.

Where innumerous catastrophic events are simultaneously occurring and altering the mental capability of its viewers eternally, war is senseless killing. The participants of war that are ‘fortunate’ enough to survive become emotionally distraught civilians. Regardless of the age of the people entering war, unless one obtains the mental capacity to witness numerous deaths and stay unaffected, he or she is not equipped to enter war. Kurt Vonnegut portrays the horrors of war in Slaughterhouse Five, through the utilization of satire, symbolism, and imagery.

The nature of warfare is unfathomable to someone who hasn’t experienced it. Yet, “With The Old Breed At Peleliu and Okinawa” describes every aspect of war. Sledge describes his experience by giving the reader the idea of what war is like, the ability to picture it in their heads, and evoke some sort of emotions from his experience when he was there. In order for Sledge to describe the nature of his experience in the war, he needed to describe the essence of what it was truly like. “I asked God "Why, why, why?" I turned my face away and wished that I were imagining it all. I had tasted the bitterest essence of war, the sight of helpless comrades being slaughtered, and it filled me with disgust.” (Sledge). He goes into great detail of the physical

It’s no surprise that soldiers will more-than-likely never come home the same. Those who have not served do not often think of the torment and negative consequences that the soldiers who make it out of war face. Erich Remarque was someone who was able to take the torment that he faced after his experience in World War I and shed light on the brutality of war. Remarque was able to illustrate the psychological problems that was experienced by men in battle with his best-selling novel All Quiet on the Western Front (Hunt). The symbolism used in the classic anti-war novel All Quiet on the Western Front is significant not only for showing citizens the negative attributes of war, but also the mental, physical, and emotional impact that the vicious war had on the soldiers.

At the film’s start, Lance appears to be extremely laid back and ignorant to his position as a soldier. Like Mary Anne, he performs actions without rationalizing the potential consequences they could hold when done in the midst of a war. For instance, he is often seen, throughout the film, to be sunning himself as if he were relaxing at a resort, rather than armed conflict. Additionally, his delusional sense of reality can be seen through his attempts to go surfing in the middle of a heavily violent, or “hot” war zone. As the film progresses however, and Lance is exposed to greater conflict and the death of his fellow soldiers, he begins to degenerate. Where Mary Anne moves from the desire for a dream life to one of hard-edged reality, and craves the immediate rush that war can bring, Lance does the opposite. Rather than embracing his reality as a soldier, he attempts to escape from it through the use of drugs. His loss of innocence pushes his mind to seek a reality that is surreal and, for the latter half of the film, he appears to be distant from his actions and the state of the world around him. He becomes a shadow of his former self, just like Mary Anne Bell, and their destructive change represents the effects that the traumas of war can have on the structured state of the mind’s

Beginning my love of reading an early age, I was never the type of child who was drawn to fictional stories. As an 8 year-old child in West Virginia, I was recognized by the local library for my love of biographies, autobiographies and recollections of world events. This love has continued throughout my adult life, desiring to read novels such as “We Were Soldiers Once…and Young” by Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore rather than watch the major motion picture “We Were Soldiers” starring Mel Gibson. Even though the motion picture received multiple awards, when reading the recollection of Mr. Moore’s accounts, the feeling of loss, distress, anxiety and fear can be felt in each word that he has written while reliving this horrendous war.

The sniper brushes with death again when he throws his revolver down without thinking and it goes off. Bullets make a war very deadly, as they are much more precise than earlier and much simpler weapons (such as swords and muskets).

Since the beginning of mankind, war and the horrors that come with it have had devastating effects on both the minds and the bodies of human beings. Mentally, war drains soldiers of their ability to think properly. During a battle, soldiers witness bloody battles which frequently result in demise. Day after day of witnessing deceased fall to the ground, a soldier can do nothing but think about blood, gore, and his or her fallen comrades. Additionally, a war can be physically taxing on whomever takes part in it. Dodging or being hit by fists, swords, or bullets will inevitably cause pain and may disable somebody for the rest of their life. In All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque demonstrates through characterization, imagery,

When the United States entered World War II in 1941, it was commonly believed that the war was “America’s golden age, a peak in the life of society when everything worked out and the good guys definitely got a happy ending” (2), which is a direct result from Hollywood’s glamorization of the war. During the war, the film industry began to boom, using the war as inspiration for making movies. Lifeboat (1944) and The Moon Is Down (1943) for example, makes it clear who the enemies were because the enemies were always “…cruel, devious, and unprincipled…” (11). It was also clear who the good guys and heroes were. The film industry even glamorized how people died in the war. In these movies whenever an American died their death was quick, painless, and clean. However, when the

The outcome of war can distort a person completely, not just physically due to injuries, but also mentally and emotionally as the character Rat Kiley from The Things They Carried experienced. Kiley had been injured and

Every veteran of war you see went through something that changed them, either from their own experience or from their “brother’s” and in the book The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien it shows exactly what I’m talking about. While using the psychological lens, specifically, Maslow’s Hierarchical Theory of Human Needs and Holmes-Rahe Stress Scale, the reader can see in chapters “On The Rainy River,” “The Man I Killed,” and “Field Trip” that Tim O’Brien is emotionally unstable due experiencing the trauma of war.

War often has drastic and lasting effects on individuals; the violence and horror ages soldiers mentally and physically. World War I was a violent and distressing war; men came home with mental illnesses and never were fully able to sink back into society. Through these lasting effects common civilians with no affiliation were unaware to the consequences. In All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Remarque investigates the damaging effects of war on an individual’s identity using Paul Bäumer as a representation for all soldiers; he draws specific attention to the continuing loss of purpose and ability to relate to the rest of society.

War is a serious topic that has been around for as long as anyone can remember. Heller’s novel, is a comedy about soldiers during WWII. Yet, when observed closely, these “comic” scenes are actually quite tragic just as most things related to war are.

“Hello mother, father, this is your Louie talking. This will be the first time in two years that you’ve heard my voice. I am now interned at a Tokyo prisoner of war camp and I’m being treated as well as can be expected under wartime conditions.” As a viewer we can see the look of pure disgust and longing upon Louie’s face. It was evident that he wasn’t eager to read what was prepared for him as it depicted a false perception of what his wartime conditions were truly like. The fact that he had to make it seem like he was well when in fact he was anything but. I am now able to understand that what those in society often herd about their captured soldiers was quite often incorrect. The enemy wanted to portray an image that hid the true conditions and circumstances the American soldiers were subject to. I not only found this film inspiring as it showed the resilience American soldiers had whilst confined in the prisoner of war camps but also found it interesting as it showed the truths of war so vividly in way that could never be achieved through the use of written words. As a result of this film I am able to see how much we owe these men for our freedom, we were never truly able to appreciate the sacrifice made by those men and women until viewing this incredible film. They went through so much to ensure the freedom of many generations to come and if it wasn’t for these men who knows what our lives would be like today.

The horrors of war were depicted by the constant threats to the characters lives, the brutal conditions of the bad weather, hunger and combat. Soldiers had to battle the enemy along with nature. Soldiers would become stressed, paranoid and start losing their personalities. As Captain Miller says, “I just know that every man I kill, the farther away from home I feel.” This quote shows the mental toll on these soldiers.