Situational Irony In Jack London's Short Story 'War'

In everyday society cruelty is faced, weather yet another person is arrested for the killing of and innocent animal, or even the seemingly never ending brutality of the police forces going viral on YouTube yet again. Of course we have the do not touch subjects, such as war. The constant debate over is killing innocent people okay, just because it’s war. Jack London really brings this point alive in his short story “War”. In this thought-provoking piece of literature the odd uses of characterization, symbolism, morals, and irony lead a reader to an overall statement of theme that simply war is cruel.

While he desperately was trying to run away from the war he did not care where he was going just as long as he got away, like as he said, “We ran for hours, deeper into the forest. The path had ended, but we kept running until the sky swallowed the sun and gave birth to the moon”(Beah 98). Desperation to flee the war is something he has common with the people he soon would killed. He did not want to become a soldier as he saw what affects the Rebel boy soldiers had. Soon after he became a soldier he was transferred to a rehabilitation center where he then would become a soldier.

During a violent war scene, Paul Baumer, describes what war has done to the men fighting in it. He explains that they “have become wild beasts”, only focused on doing whatever they had to, to hang onto life a little longer (Remarque, 113). Remarque utilizes a metaphor to make apparent that war has turned these men into animals, who worry only

Irony plays a significant role in the story, “The Most Dangerous Game,” by Richard Connell. The most ironic part is when Rainsford believes the general is taking him hunting when really he is the one who will be hunted. This is a short story about a man (Rainsford) who is traveling to the Amazon, but suddenly falls overboard. When he reaches land, he finds himself on an island stranded! He soon found a home which was the general's home. He soon finds out that he must play a little game to get off of the island though, will he survive, or will he live the rest of his life stranded on that island? Three techniques the author uses to show suspense are the obstacles the characters go through, interesting characters, and the irony in the story.

“This is true.” (O’Brien, 420) – with this simple statement which also represents a first, three-word introductory paragraph to Tim O’Brien’s short story, “How to Tell a True War Story”, the author reveals the main problem of what will follow. “Truth” – when looked up in a dictionary, we would probably find definitions similar to sincerity and honesty on the one hand, and correctness, accuracy or reality on the other hand. When looking at these definitions, one can make out two groups of meaning: While sincerity and honesty are very subjective, correctness or accuracy are supposed to be objective by nature. One can be sincere and still not report the truth, due to the simple fact

Irony is not always funny; verbal, dramatic, and situational irony are often used to assert truth or to add depth to an author’s writing. In Erich Maria Remarque’s book, All Quiet on the Western Front, the reader experiences years of life on the front of World War I through the eyes of a young German man, Paul Bäumer, who has enlisted with his classmates at the expectation of their schoolmaster. Remarque uses irony throughout his novel, best displayed in the names of the characters, the various settings, and in the deaths of the characters.

"The world is made up of two classes - the hunters and the huntees.” In the short story The Most Dangerous Game which was written by Richard Connell there are two main characters, Rainsford and General Zaroff. Rainsford thought that General Zaroff wanted to hunt with him when in all reality General Zaroff wanted to hunt him(Rainsford) himself. Richard Connell uses irony, theme and characterization to develop the plot and characters. The use of these literary devices suggests that Connell wanted to make the story more interesting and suspenseful so the reader can enjoy it.

War can be considered a tragedy, but war can also signify bravery. So many men and women die fighting for their country daily. What really happens behind enemy lines? In “The Things They Carried,” a short story by Tim O’Brien, he uses various rhetorical devices to explain to his readers to help them truly understand what it is like to be in war.

“The world is made up of two classes - the hunters and the huntees.” In the short story ‘The Most Dangerous Game’ which was written by Richard Connell there are two main characters, Rainsford and General Zaroff. Rainsford thought that General Zaroff wanted to hunt with him when in all reality General Zaroff wanted to hunt him(Rainsford) himself. Richard Connell uses irony, theme and characterization to develop the plot and characters. The use of these literary devices suggests that Connell wanted to make the story more interesting and suspenseful so the reader can enjoy reading it.

In the short story Chickamauga the writer, Ambrose Bierce, uses his words to depict the gruesome reality of war and to put at rest the false dreams of heroism and glory that so often come packaged with war. Ambrose describes war as a “heritage” and that ordinarily one could not “curb the lust for war”. Describing the lust for war as being not able to be curbed makes it seem like an illness, unable to be stopped. The soldiers here are depicted as “desperate, stricken men” and are shown to be incapable of doing anything “naturally”. The soldiers being “desperate” and “stricken” are a direct result of their time at war. Similarly, Ambrose uses his words to discourage thoughts that battle is a glorious thing to partake in. The protagonist is “as

The gloominess of the surroundings foils Henry’s enthusiasm for volunteering to obtain courage and honor. Although Henry is immature, he realizes that war is not child’s play. When the regiment joins a battle against Confederate troops, Henry shows panic and disorganization of both mental and physical processes. While Henry proves to be inept for war, he decides to press forward to improve his position in war. However, when the enemy troops approach the regiment with full force, Henry begins grief-stricken and runs away in the heat of battle. The act of desertion defines Henry’s lack of understanding of war and ideal of self-preservation through all odds. He does not try to help his teammates and then finds a corpse near a chapel which causes extreme guilt. Henry meets the tattered man and sees Jim Conklin die due to battle wounds. The increasing guilt of both Conklin and the tattered man’s deaths proves to remove his naivety and try to influence his own behavior in a positive direction. The “red badge of courage” or a wound that Henry’s obtains from an enemy soldier is representative of a war wound that Henry had lied to the tattered man. The closing scene allows Henry to reminisce with his colleague Wilson on the self-growth that war allows people to have. While the war has not ended by the ending of the novel, the journey ends and

When the Youth began his journey into the war, he was light hearted, and only saw the good that could come of it. He began as someone who had only heard war stories, and had never actually experienced true struggle, and, “He had, of course, dreamed of battles his whole life,” (pg 3). The author sets the scene for the Youth, and as the story progresses, the Youth slowly transforms into one that no longer sees the glory in battle. This hierarchical structure is thus laid throughout the book to exemplify, with each chapter, how the Youth is becoming more despondent and more aware of the cruelty of the world. This is largely seen when the author write on captured prisoners near the end of the story: “One of the prisoners was nursing a superficial wound in the foot . . .

He is a frightened boy against the war because of the trauma he has seen at the battle with his dad being slain and the common being slayed to by the British

Not everything was as pretty as it seemed, their family had issues that they had to overcome and the fear of loosing the battle away and at home was something that he struggled with on a daily basis when he was young. His mother was left with the entire burden when his father left and it eventually became too much to handle. His mother became an alcoholic and he and his family suffered tremendously from his mother’s sickness. He felt like if he had let his father down when he came home to find this out. Living with all females and putting up with them was too much for him that he decided to convince his father to send him to military school. This was the best thing that happened to him, because from here on he lived an Army world.

Most poets use their unique gift of writing poetry to relieve stress or just to document their emotions towards a given subject. Others use it as a key to bring about social change and voice their opinion on modern events. This is the case in Stephen Crane’s War Is Kind. The speaker in the poem uses irony as a strategy to convince the reader of the harsh reality of war.