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Paul Scott's The Mark Of The Warrior

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While researching The Mark of the Warrior by Paul Scott, my research came across a couple authors who wrote about the 1940’s in India. These authors often spoke of the little world knowledge of India in World War II and the sacrifices they made to help with the war. India was a very important part of the Invasion of Italy liberating them from Nazi control and they also played a significant role in defeating Japan by supplying huge armed forces and massive production of weapons. Although Indian troops compiled our largest allied troops, with more than 2.5 million all over the world, many were never taught of their sacrifice and bravery. This idea of forgettance forms the way the book was written and why Paul Scott chose this time for his book. …show more content…

In this specific novel John Ramsey and his younger brother Bob Ramsey join the Army as a volunteer solider. The story first takes place in a cadet training school in India during 1939. Major Craig attempts to train the men into killing machines that adapt and overcome the task of death. Bob Ramsey soon finds out the news that his older brother was killed in the act of war and gets transferred to Officer Cadet School. Craig sees the same thing that he once saw in his older brother, “the mark of the warrior.” The ability to remain calm and survive at all cost no matter what happens. As his time passes in school, Ramsey designs a strategic attack on a compound as his last project and far exceeds the other students in the school. These skills are flourished and are later shown in key battles. In the late parts of the novel Paul Scott writes about Ramsey being into multiple scenarios in which his instincts as a warrior saved not only himself but everyone in his squad. Throughout the story Scott keeps implying that the mark of the warrior is not learned but is genetically given as Major Craig assumes John Ramsey’s brother is also calm in dangerous conditions and a good leader. This turns out to be true as Ramsey leads his men into countless safe zones and eventually dies instinctively in order to save a member of his team. Scott is attempting to give light onto a subject that is not spoken much about. The story tells the time period in which they were in multiple times but never spoke of Hitler and the World War that was going on. The Indian solider was fighting for the well-being of his family but soon was fighting for a different cause. They were fighting for the people that couldn’t fight, the child who was being forcefully kidnapped into a camp or the old man who had not the strength or the will to fight. They were fighting

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