Personal Narrative: Juxtaposing Innocence With War

Whether it’s war or terrorism, children who want to grow securely is living amongst the affected nation. War is obliterating those talented individuals in their childhood who can radically transform the world itself. The two disputed countries may also have justifications to protect the welfares of their own people. There can be wealth and nuclear weapons to demolish this world as a whole. However, peacefully negotiated approach is coveted to compromise on each other. No country can rationalize weapons of mass obliteration and debacles. Often, it is a foolish decision of the pioneers of the country, making it a pretext for the combat. It’s the upright soldiers and their families who need to survive the demise and serious injuries from the weapons. For the last centuries, the spontaneous overflow of poetry has portrayed human emotions concerning wide range of universal issues. Both the poets Donald Bruce Dawe and Wilfred Owen exemplify this cataclysm of losing your families and the conditions the soldiers face, through their notable poems Homecoming and Dulce et Decorum Est.

Juxtaposition, a literary device in which two or more people, places, or ideas are placed side by side for the purpose of contrasting them, is frequently used in Erich Maria Remarque’s war novel titled All Quiet on the Western Front to exaggerate the brutal nature of war. Remarque often offsets these grotesque descriptions with portrayals of nature and everyday beauty, and utilizes this juxtaposition of war and nature to portray the true horror of war. When Paul Baumer describes the significance of the latrines and how they provide a distraction for the men from the war, he paints a picture in the reader’s mind of a beautiful carefree meadow filled with flowers and butterflies, but the reader can infer that danger still lurks at a distance

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.

A similar idea is used In Bruce Dawes poem “Homecoming”, he uses vivid imagery and other poetic techniques to display his opinion on war. He uses his unique Australian cultural context that helps connect

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.

A prominent theme in A Long Way Gone is about the loss of innocence from the involvement in the war. A Long Way Gone is the memoir of a young boy, Ishmael Beah, wanders in Sierra Leone who struggles for survival. Hoping to survive, he ended up raiding villages from the rebels and killing everyone. One theme in A long Way Gone is that war give innocent people the lust for revenge, destroys childhood and war became part of their daily life.

     According to the author Tim O’Brien, people tend to readily accept the ‘facts’ presented of what happened during a war. People do not consider the existence of fallacies regarding the actual stories of what happens in wars, few consider that the ‘facts’ of an incident often change through people’s words. The film ‘Saving the Private Ryan’ by Steven Spielberg features both facts and seemingness part of the war story. Since it is so difficult to fully describe a war using human language, Spielberg ended up revising his stories to make sense out of it. Spielberg included parts that did not occur or exclude parts that did occur in order to make their stories seem more credible. According

People who have never experienced the war portray it as “grotesque.” (O’Brien 77) They’ve never truly listened to the soldier's stories, Tim O’Brien is able to find beauty within the “awful majesty of combat.” (O’Brien 77) The metaphor comparing the “trace rounds” to “brilliant red ribbons” illustrate the war in a completely different light. (O’Brien 77) The respect for “the fluid symmetries of troops” shows the organization of the war and the training and preparing that the troops do to serve our country and protect Americans. (O’Brien 77) There is beauty within these individuals and their stories of why they decided to risk their lives to protect us. Tim O’Brien’s simile comparing a “bombing raid” or “artillery barrage” to “a killer forest fire” or “cancer under a microscope” explains the “aesthetic purity” within the war. (O’Brien 77) Tim O’Brien puts the war into an idea that his readers can understand, he proves it’s possible to find beauty even in a

In the text, “How to Tell a True War Story” Tim O’Brien expresses his thoughts about the true war story and how the war story is changed according to the person who tells it. Jon Krakauer illustrates Chris McCandless’s journey into the Alaskan wilderness and reasons for McCandless’s gruesome death in an isolated place, in his book “Into the Wild.” O’Brien relates introspection and a soldier’s war story by saying that the war story portrays the feelings of a soldier. A soldier’s war story is not the exact war story; it is the illustration of that particular soldier’s perception. Narrating a war story is not like inundating others with facts and numbers however, it is about the introspection of a soldier, because that soldier determines

Over the years you’ll learn hatred is not born within you, but adapted. You would want to take the pressure that evolves with others, unfortunately without a doubt you are going to meet an obstacle that could potentially take you within the waves. If the obstacle were to overcome you may be broken down into depression or perhaps you won’t resist and conquer with aggression. Peace isn’t given, nor is it easily obtained. Peace still hasn’t shown its existence to the world, but it’s yet to come and show its tranquility that is beyond the capacity of our imagination. As I have fallen, failure has shown its superiority against me, despite my efforts towards the world I yet still can not find the way to build the Utopia everyone could desired and

2 yards was the distance from the tree and I. The foreign feeling of confidence was pumping through my veins. Like the lemonades they consistently offer us when it’s too warm outside. To my left, with a slightly slower pace, was Gene. The look of unfeigned adoration in his eyes beamed down at the. Slowly encouraging me that everything would be ok. Which is the information I already knew from the beginning. With a pace to match a ferocious beast, Finny was to my right, running with a slight passion of endurance in his stride. He was eager to get this over with. The sooner we do, the quicker we can walk moxie to lunch. With the thought of food racing through my phlegmatic heart, my stomach let out a subtle growl. Gene let out a chuckle and

turning my head again I saw Simon dive to my aid. He did not utter a

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

So many Americans believe all the lies and propaganda to the point where they will readily support going to war with any state without ever thinking about the damage it causes to the innocent. There have been so many suicides since even the first Iraq war and no one questions if the soldiers honestly believed the wars were justified and provided for the common defense. All in all I believe peace cannot be achieved through war. We must always remember how hideous the face of war can be, and how pitiless it is to those caught in its path of

Kapoor's artworks often aim to stir up immateriality and the spiritual, a result he achieves either by carving dark voids into stone pieces, or through the sheer shine and reflectivity of his