Analysis Of The Lion In Winter By Sebastian Junger

In Michael Ondaatje’s In the Skin of a Lion, the play of light and shadow are reoccurring motifs that identify and relate to the general themes of remembering and forgetting. H. Porter Abbott has defined motif as “a discrete thing, image, or phrase that is repeated in a narrative”, where in contrast, a theme “is a more generalized…concept that is suggested by… motifs” (237). Abbott emphasizes that “Themes are implicit in motifs, but not the other way around” (95). In In the Skin of a Lion, Ondaatje emphasizes the class struggles endured by the immigrant workers and the internal struggles faced by the central characters. The motif of chiaroscuro, the play of light and shadow, reflects how the characters try to forget their past and personal burdens, and strive to recall joyful memories, which aides them in embracing new beginnings and creating new memories. I will argue that the motif of light relates to the theme of remembering and the motif of shadow identifies with the theme of forgetting. I will show these relationships by analyzing the imagery and context of four central scenes in which light and shadow play a significant role. Firstly, I will discuss the event of the nun falling off the unfinished bridge. Secondly, I will consider the candle-light vigil held for the deceased bridge works. Thirdly, I will discuss the working conditions of the tunnel workers in the section “Palace of Purification”, and lastly, I will analyze the concluding scene in which Patrick and Hana

Chapter 2 sums up the war in a different fashion, showing the contrast between the uselessness of past knowledge and the “raw and emotional skills necessary” in the trenches (20). The duties imposed on the camp by Corporal Himmelstoss symbolize the hours of work and duties done before enlistment that mean nothing during the war. Being “put through every conceivable refinement of parade ground soldiering” shows how schoolbook tasks were diligently performed only for fear of how society would perceive the boys if they were to do otherwise (26). Himmelstoss himself is the embodiment of previous responsibilities that only make the men “howl with rage” at present (26). The death of Kemmerich goes hand in hand with the death of innocence, Kemmerich’s shiny boots being the small glimpse of hope that keeps the men going. Baumer receives saveloy, hot tea, and rum from Muller for salvaging the boots. In return for giving Muller a sense of hope, Baumer receives a more needed sense of comfort and satisfaction. His hunger, one “greater than comes from the belly alone” (33), is thus satisfied. Chapter 7 directly reinforces this transition from an old life into a new one. Baumer “feels an attraction” to the

Throughout Canadian history, Issues of ethnicity and race have been a prevalent problem as a multicultural society. The novel In The Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje, Ondaatje shines a light upon to the forgotten immigrant workers by creating intersection between history and fiction effectively shows us the overall poor treatment the forgotten immigrant workers who built Toronto’s waterworks and viaducts because of racism, marginalization and difference while also highlighting them in a positive light.

In “Under the Lion’s Paw”, Tim Haskins is a young farmer with a family whose farm had been destroyed by grasshoppers. He comes across an older farmer named Stephen Council who decides to help him by loaning seed and helping him rent a farm from Jim Butler, the leading land owner in the area. Haskins works hard to improve the farm for his wife and kids, and plans to buy it, but is tricked by Jim Butler who wanted a higher price after seeing the improved farm. In his anger, Haskins plans to kill Butler, but stops himself after seeing his little daughter playing.

This essay will try to answer the question: should Ernst Junger’s book “Storm of Steel” narrative describing his personal experiences during his service in German Army on Western Front of WW1 be consider anti or pro war?

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.

Determination is an important foundation in human lives. Each time an individual or society faces great adversity, one tends to develop an aspect of their identity that showcases a strong link to the significance of determination in people’s lives. Determination is a trait that each individual possesses. However, the degree of this characteristic varies for each individual and depends on the person’s capabilities and willingness to attain a goal. In the Night, author Elie Wiesel provide the readers with an insight of how determination became the guidance for the Jewish people who suffered dreadful torture and endured a horrid lifestyle under the Nazi’s fascist and anti-semitic regime. Furthermore, due to

The ultimate purpose in creating an opinionated article is to assert one’s idea as incontrovertibly true. In the case of one Washington Post article focused on a video that emerged appearing to show four U.S. Marines urinating on several dead Taliban fighters. Author, Sebastian Junger makes an effort to present the faults in the public’s reaction to the video. He composed such article dubbed “We’re all guilty of dehumanizing the enemy” on January 13th, 2012, in which he employs strategic rhetoric to emphasize the effectiveness of his argument. Junger questions the ironic nature of the public’s outrage; the American viewers prosecute troops for desecrating the enemy while maintaining that it is okay to torture the living. This notion is so wrong, yet the American public can’t seem to realize it. Through his use of rhetorical appeals, being ethos, logos, and pathos, Sebastian Junger energetically analyzes the controversy in the topic of dehumanizing the enemy.

It is obvious from the opening chapter that this novel will center on the war and the effects it has on a young group of soldiers, none of them more than twenty years of age. They are all friends and former classmates of Paul Baumer, the narrator and protagonist of the book; they have enlisted in the German infantry because their teacher, Kantorek, had painted for them a glorious picture of fighting and saving the homeland from destruction during World War I. In this first chapter, Baumer and his friends are away from the front lines, relaxing a bit after two weeks of fierce fighting. As each of the young men is introduced, it is apparent that they are tired, hungry, angry, and disillusioned over the war.

He touches on their tragic deaths compared to their hopeful letters of going home and seeing their loved ones. He describes his astonishment as he realizes that none of these men actually showed hatred or abuse towards the German, they simply believed and had conviction in the justice behind their cause. This letter illustrates the feelings of a once happy man, now stuck at war. He says, "War hardens ones hearts and blunts ones feelings…"(p.68). This young soldier has lost all signs of the happy life he led back home. The harshness of war got to him just like the rest of the soldiers out there and if they so much as dreamed about accepting the reality around them, they would have gone either insane or surrendered and he could not give himself that luxury so onward he went.

Storm of Steel provides a memoir of the savagery and periods of beauty that Ernst Jünger’s experienced while serving the German army during the First World War. Though the account does not take a clear stand, it lacks any embedded emotional effects or horrors of the Great War that left so few soldiers who survived unaffected. Jünger is very straightforward and does remorse over any of his recollections. The darkness of the hallucinations Jünger reports to have experienced provides subtle anti-war sentiment. However, in light of the descriptive adventures he sought during the brief moments of peace, the darkness seems to be rationalized as a sacrifice any soldier would make for duty and honor in a vain attempt for his nation’s

In Ernst Junger’s memoir, Storm of Steel, the first remarks are of him stepping off the train at Bazancourt, France. Junger eliminates any details about his life before the war, already contrasting most war memoirs written. This serious demeanor that Junger takes on, one that removes emotion from the equation, persists throughout the memoir and can be clearly seen by the way Junger processes the death of his comrades. By getting down to brass tacks, Junger is able to give a detailed recollection of what the life of a soldier in the German Army was like. Ernst Junger’s accounts in the memoir Storm of Steel show the reality of what World War I was truly like, and how he slowly realizes that there’s more nuance to war than he anticipated.

The last Thursday in November, also widely celebrated as Thanksgiving in the United States. The smells of sweet corn, stuffing, and mashed potatoes with gravy swirl around the households of many Americans. Thursday night the family cleans their leftover turkey and mashed potatoes off the table while listening to the radio station. An all too familiar genre of music starts to play on the radio. Christmas music has been a tradition for many years in the United States. Radio stations often start playing the catchy holiday jingles the second the average Thanksgiving dinner has ended. However, one song stands out in particular among the rest. Anyone with a radio during the Christmas season has heard this overplayed, subtly disturbing song.

U.S. Army.2 With this memoir in mind, Junger wanted to reach the American citizens as his audience to show just what mindset the American soldiers were placed in during their time in Afghanistan. Junger states that the “moral basis” of the war didn’t seem to interest

Retributive justice is a very common element found not only in literature but in almost all text that tries to evoke moral values. A nemetic ending is often used to provide the reader or spectator the satisfaction of seeing the hero be rewarded for his or her virtuous actions. Alternatively, the evil or malicious characters are usually punished thanks to the hero 's actions and thus brings a somewhat “happy ending” to the conflict. Many authors and playwrights would mostly hesitate to bring an unpleasant end to their stories so that the audience may leave their seats with a more positive outlook on the play. Nevertheless, it might be debatable if a standardized nemetic ending would transmit a more poignant message to the spectators, numerous plays that do not follow this norm are well known to have a very similar, if not equal, impact. To illustrate this tactic, we will mostly focus on the ending of “Snow in Midsummer” by Guan Hanqing that may end in a slightly ambiguous note rather than directly rewarding our hero Dou Er. Henceforth, we will also look over the case of Oedipus the King by Sophocles, that challenges the ideal retributive justice at the end of the play. We, as spectators, have a desire to connect with the characters and the issues they try to get through, as long as the heroes remain praiseworthy and villains fall and get defeated.