My Dearest Jim Analysis

“Facing it” by Yusef Komunyakaa and “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen, are two powerful poems with the graphical life like images on the reality of war. It is apparent that the authors was a soldier who experienced some of the most gruesome images of World War I. In “Ducle et Decorum Est” Owen tells us about a personal experience in which he survived a chemical warfare attack. Although he survives, some of his fellow troops do not. As in “Facing It” Komunyakaa is also a soldier who has survived a war. Komunyakaa response to his war experience is deeply shaped by his visit to Lin’s memorial. Inspired by the monument, Komunyakaa confronts his conflicted feelings about Vietnam, its legacy, and even more broadly, the part race plays in

In Otto Dix’s “Shock Troops Advance Under Gas”, Dix presents the brutality of war for everyone to see. From the barbed wire snagging a troop’s arm to the gas masks, this work illustrates true horror. Dix’s illustration of war helps display that war truly is not something to write home about with pride. Thus, I present the argument that war is not something to be patriotic over, and it is not something we should be thanking the troops for. They are brave individuals, but the duties they perform are not – they are the product of cowardly nations. The purpose of this paper is to convey my personal feelings towards this work, war and how it is not the answer, and tying in my visit to the McNay Art Museum back to aspects of war.

how beautiful ideals were painted for our boys who were sent out to die. In War is a Racket, the

Comparatively Lindsay Murdoch presents an article, They were only 19 ... and some were even younger published by the Sydney Morning Herald on the 16th of February 2012. It explores the non-fictional sorrowful memories of the Australian veterans of WWII stationed at “Singapore, the Fortress of the Empire” before being captured. The visual is of the five men along with their evocative but accurate comment drawn from memories of an absolute reality. Ultimately, these texts provide the individual histories of men and women that were captured by the Japanese during WWII. Thus displaying their joint suffering on and off the battlefield as that is the reality of their situation.

Penned during two distinctly disparate eras in American military history, both Erich Maria Remarque's bleak account of trench warfare during World War I, All Quiet on the Western Front, and Tim O'Brien's haunting elegy for a generation lost in the jungles of Vietnam, The Man I Killed, present readers with a stark reminder that beneath the veneer of glorious battle lies only suffering and death. Both authors imbue their work with a grim severity, presenting the reality of war as it truly exists. Men inflict grievous injuries on one another, breaking bodies and shattering lives, without ever truly knowing for what or whom they are fighting for. With their contributions to the genre of war literature, both Remarque and O'Brien have sought to lift the veil of vanity which, for so many wartime writers, perverts reality with patriotic fervor. In doing so, the authors manage to convey the true sacrifice of the conscripted soldier, the broken innocence which clouds a man's first kill, and the abandonment of one's identity which becomes necessary in order to kill again.

An artist's job is to interpret, and express the aspects of life in a creative fashion. War has played a big part in shaping our human history, and many artists have portrayed their feelings about art through paintings, and even monuments. Whether it be to show; the joy of victory, the sorrow of defeat, or to educate the public on the gory realities of war. Art about war can also show us a great amount of history of the kinds of weapons that were used at the time. It is necessary for artists to interpret, and criticize all aspects of life; even ones as tragic as war, It can make the public more aware of what goes on in times of war.

War can destroy a man both in body and mind for the rest of his life. In “The Sniper,” Liam O’Flaherty suggests the horror of war not only by presenting its physical dangers, but also by showing its psychological effects. We are left to wonder which has the longer lasting effect—the visible physical scars or the ones on the inside?

Memoirs of war often reflect the positive or negative experiences endured throughout battle. Considered by many to be one of the best memoirs of World War I, Hervey Allen’s “Toward the Flame”, recalls his own experiences of battle. His recollection of events shows that he had a negative image of war and that there was nothing glorious about it. What started out looking like a man’s greatest adventure turned into a shell-shocking reality that war is actually horrible and trying. Allen’s experiences with consistent hunger, mustard gas, and artillery shellings led to his disillusionment with war, and left him with a permanent hatred of battle.

World War I was a war that shocked the world and brought about new emotions that created a large wave of “-isms” as well as the “lost generation” of writers. Modern art was catalyzed by World War I and without a thorough study of the various forms of art that resulted from it, modern art and the tremendous effect that World War I had on the people of the world cannot be fully understood. This historical investigation will cover a few aspects of the art that resulted from World War I so that a general idea of the emotions shared by the people of the world can be known. A few paintings that represent specific movements will be studied to understand the artistic movement. A number of museum exhibitions will be studied along with government websites, databases, and museum websites, especially from the Museum of Modern Art.

Intensively striking war imagery emerges throughout the course of the text and therefore effectively joins its underlining fore.  Graphic images of the grotesque face of war characterize and develop 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 exhibit contained upwards of 20 photographs and at least 60 paintings. One of the most agreeable things about the works of art that I witnessed is that collectively, they assisted in recounting the sentiment that gripped the country during the war that threatened to sunder it. One could almost feel the initial enthusiasm as the war broke out, that was swiftly prolonged by numerous clashes over a period of years. There were works that alluded to an impending war, ones that depicted that war, and numerous ones that hinted at a hoped for ending in which the mightiness of the country would someday be restored.

knowing what he had done is what hurt him the most "An unreflective man, Jim Steele had only ever known himself by the things he had done"(287). Jim Steal goes through a period in which Rhodesia becomes Zimbabwe; that means slaves are being freed and it's no longer under britain rule. Jim Steal during this time became a very church orientated individual "Steele devoted his time to his church, becoming an elder and lay preacher"(291). taking on a new purpose; Jim Steele felt he had created himself new. Feeling psychologically threated; being one with god is what Jim felt he had to do.

Tremendous technological advance and tremendous slaughter leave an artistic waste land of atrocity, emasculation and pointing posters used to manipulate the public into recruiting men to join the military around the globe. Skilled illustrators in America, less inventive but artistic allegory’s in Canada and France and plain typography in Britain leave many artists busy with supporting the war effort. On the outskirts of war were a contingency of international peoples with little means and a negative view of European culture and war that chose to defect to Switzerland where they created the art movement known as Dada.

Do you often wonder as you look up in the darkened sky at night; trying to see past the stars and say to yourself – someday.