Howard Nemerov's The War In The Air

The world chose to ignore war and it was only a reality to the soldiers fighting for their own lives. The passage brings forth the emotion and alienation the soldiers felt during and after the war. While the soldiers were hiding in a bunker in the unfriendly jungle of Vietnam, life continued without a second thought or concern. It was almost as if it was two completely different worlds that coexisted without the acknowledgement of the other which caused turmoil for the soldiers throughout the novel.

“The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” by Randall Jarrell is able to accomplish so many thing with so little lines-mainly through the use of metaphor and diction. It explains the terrors of wars in gruesome detail and explains the ways in which wars, in a sense “breed” and “birth” death. To some, this poem is seen as the ultimate poem of war, and rightly

“Facing It” a powerful sonnet, brings both exact and metaphorical meanings to the reader. As seen in “I see the booby trap’s white flash,” (18) where there is no room for a different interpretation, but a flashback; which invites the reader into the world of war. It is up to the vet to see himself as something other than a man of war and the Vietnam Memorial allows them to release their pain into the stone, the black granite; releasing the empty pain that is carried for years. “[H]alf-expecting to find / my own [name] in the letter” (15, 16) and the portrayal of “I am a window” (27) allows others to see through the vet what a veteran took away from the war. Not all came back whole either mind or body and Komunyakaa displays this within the reference of “his right arm / inside the stone” (28, 29) and how this soldier wishes the names and pain could be erased by the simple movement of a

. . . Like I was losing myself, everything spilling out” (O’Brien 202). Provided with only laconic, expository definitions, an audience cannot truly feel the pains of war. O’Brien utilizes descriptions which evoke all the senses and submerge the audience in the unique and powerful sensations of war. Witnessing war’s pains through the familiar tactile crunch of an ornament or the splash of liquid spilling, the audience can immediately understand the inconceivable pressure placed on the soldier’s injured body. O’Brien continues, “All I could do was scream. . . . I tightened up and squeezed. . . . then I slipped under for a while” (203). His abrupt syntax and terse diction conveys a quickness to these events. Not bothering with extraneous adornment, his raw images transport the audience to the urgency of the moment and the severity of the pain. Now supplied with an eyewitness’s perspective of war’s injuries, the audience can begin to recognize the significance of the suffering. O’Brien tells his audience, “Tinny sounds get heightened and distorted. . . . There was rifle fire somewhere off to my right, and people yelling, except none of it seemed real anymore. I smelled myself dying” (203). In the same frame, O’Brien paints the rumbling chaos of the big war juxtaposed with the slow death of the small individual. His description emphasizes the purposeless discord and confusion of war and seeks to condemn its disorder. He argues that war’s lack of

Actions tested there ethical and moral values. After this point these soldiers have to cope with the cause and effect from their actions. Coping can cause mental illnesses, and addiction but also you can cope with these some things plus more things such as love, and mortality. This is the most important struggle that had to take care of for their survival. But why is this still relevant to today's society? Tim o’brien used many methods while writing this book to help the reader to understand the soldiers experiences and feelings throughout the war. These methods include imagery, repetition, hyperbole, metaphors, allusions, and many

Throughout the chapter, O’Brien uses unendurable imagery. He creates images of the obstacles that the soldiers are going through and how hard it was to get through these obstacles. For example, the soldiers had to walk during the nights when it was pure black and so dark you couldn’t even tell you were blinking, “the blackness didn’t change,”(209). During the trail walks, Henry Dobbins and Norman Bowker were afraid of being separated that they rigged up a long piece of wire and tied it to their belts between them. O’Brien also creates images of the dead soldiers lying on the

“It’s not pretty exactly. It’s astonishing. It fills the eye. It commands you,” (81) is a quote from Tim O’Brien’s book, The Things They Carried. This quote shows how war can affect an individual through taking over one’s body and mind. War affects everyone in different ways, but it is impossible to understand how war affects each and every single person. The texts and forms of art communicate different ideas to the viewer. It is through interpreting these texts that humans get a better idea of the overall impact of war. When individuals experience war, they lose their innocence and morality. This will be evident through “How to Tell a True War Story,” “The Wound,” and “Machine Gun.”

During the movie you start to realise that none of the soldiers use their first names, all their last names and nicknames. This shows the close bond they hav with each other. The film also shows a few burials

Passage 1 shows a young soldiers view on war. Its shows the view of how from war you can reach maturity. He goes from a boy who brags about war to someone who has reached enlightenment. He sees his action during battle as a betrayal but he comes to terms with it. “Followed by the somber phantom of desertion in the fields.”(Line 3) “...Put the sin at a distance ….his eyes seemed to open to some new ways”. (Line 6) He uses words such as “tranquility” and “sturdy” to show how the soldier has matured into a man. The author’s use of diction is a guide through the characters growth.

“Attack” The poem “Attack” is about how the war is from the inside of the battlefield. The poem explains the battlefield like it is a terrible place to be in and experience. It explains war as this living hell where there is nothing but fire, smoke, loud noises and gunfire. The planes roaring as they hover over the battlefield and lower to the ground to drop bombs and gunfire, body parts are flying over the fields, tanks are slowly creeping over the hills, the only expressions on the soldiers’ faces are anger and fear; it’s chaos.

War is a huge part of world history and will always be a part of people's lives. War has been conveyed in many different ways such as books, songs, poetry and movies. Some of these representations create a positive picture of war and others give more of a negative depiction which challenges us to question the value of warfare. The novel composed by Erich Maria Remarque 'All Quiet on The Western Front' (AQOTWF) and the poem ' I Was Only 19' by John Schumann characterises the same experiences of war.

In the Novel “All Quiet on the Western Front”, many images and events had a profound impact on me. However, one image stands out the most. I often see myself looking back at the event where Paul accidently killed his own soldier then had to watch him pass away. The rollercoaster of emotions that Paul undergoes during this scene gives the reader a sort of anxiety and sympathy for Paul. First, Paul wants the man to die and when he does he is then relieved originally. Unfortunately, this feeling of relief does not last long as he later he feels remorse for killing the man. In addition, the imagery that the author uses gives the reader a very graphic idea of what is taking place. Finally, I think the author succeeded in his goal to portray the

Poets frequently utilize vivid images to further depict the overall meaning of their works. The imagery in “& the War Was in Its Infancy Then,” by Maurice Emerson Decaul, conveys mental images in the reader’s mind that shows the physical damage of war with the addition of the emotional effect it has on a person. The reader can conclude the speaker is a soldier because the poem is written from a soldier’s point of view, someone who had to have been a first hand witness. The poem is about a man who is emotionally damaged due to war and has had to learn to cope with his surroundings. By use of imagery the reader gets a deeper sense of how the man felt during the war. Through the use of imagery, tone, and deeper meaning, Decaul shows us the

The song expresses the soldiers loss. He states “Now that war is through with me , I am awake”. He noticed that the great loss of not much left of his body and he is in constant agony.

The point of the poem was to deliver the horrors of war to the public