The first recorded war was fought in 2700 BCE. Countless wars have been fought since. Like all issues, people have an attitude toward war. Stephen Crane, the author of “War is Kind” and “A Mystery of Heroism,” has a negative attitude toward war. “War is Kind” is a poem describing the results of war. “A Mystery of Heroism” is a short story centering on Fred Collins, in the midst of battle. Crane uses irony is “War is Kind” and “A Mystery of Heroism” to reveal his dislike of war and its outcomes, thus reflecting his negative attitude toward it.
First, Crane reveals his dislike for war and its outcomes in “War is Kind.” These two points show his negative attitude, which is expressed using irony. The speaker of the poem says, “Do not weep. / War
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Before these lines, the speaker tells of the travesties of war. Then, these lines. The quote is verbally ironic, which is similar to sarcasm. The verbal irony is in the speaker saying, “don’t cry, even though these wretched things are happening, due to war, it is okay, war is good.” Crane doesn’t really mean that war is good, despite, or maybe because of, the terrible events war brought on. He wants to be contradicted, to make the reader realize that war is not good. This verbal irony is reflective of Crane’s dislike of war. He also expresses his dislike for war’s outcomes in the poem. The speaker says, “Little souls who thirst for fight, / these men were born to drill and die.” This excerpt contains both verbal and dramatic irony. This part of the poem uses verbal irony because the speaker doesn’t really mean that soldiers’ only purpose is to …show more content…
In the midst of battle, Fred Collins from Company A says, “’Thunder! I wisht I had a drink. Ain’t there any water round?’” This is situationally ironic because the last thing one would expect someone to worry about, mid-battle, is their thirst. Crane’s dislike for war is exemplified in this quote, using situational irony, because it leads the reader to thinking that Collins should not be worrying about his thirst, but about the danger he is in. Crane is making a statement about the fact that war can desensitize people from danger, as well. By leading readers in this line of thought, doubled with his statement of desensitization, Crane expresses his dislike for war. He also expresses his dislike of its outcomes, as well. After conveying his thirst, Collins is goaded by fellow soldiers to go get water from a nearby well. He decides to go ask his colonel if he can go; the colonel says, “’if you want to go, why go.’” Again, Crane uses situational irony. This is not what one would expect the colonel to say. Due to his easy acceptance, it is up to the readers to confront the perils of war. Collins risks his life for very little, maybe because he has gone numb to the danger war offers. This desensitization is a result of war. Parallels also exist between Collins needlessly risking his life for and other
The author was giving a message then at the end of the poem it changes. He was giving the message that war happens to everybody and that they will have to go to war at some point in there life. The problem is that they don’t know the bourdon that it puts on the people that he has supported and been supported by until his son is sent of. He gets a totally different feeling when he doesn’t know what could happen to his son. He gets his message across by proving that every body has something to do with war wether they like it or not. Your parents might have been to war, if not them then your uncles, cousins, friends, or your neighbors(old men). Then if it isn’t them it could be your child who is going and the feeling is different, you lose the feeling of security when you cant protect your child. He
The poem was written to show that war is a waste of human life as the soldier knows he will die one day as well as the men around him, just some quicker than others. This can be evident in stanza four of the poem: “I know I’ll join them somewhere, one day.” The language used is more casual than formative, this is effective as it shows the personal feelings and thoughts of the soldier during the time
This quote in the first chapter of the book sets the overall tone. The author Tim O’Brien uses his language through out the book in an extremely straightforward manner. He does not sugar coat the way going to war and being in a war is. He does not use stories of heroes,
In the story, Crane uses literary techniques such as logos and ethos to describe the harshness of the Civil War and of life. The story tells of a Civil War lieutenant who is shot in the arm while parting out coffee for his troops, and despite the lack of severity of the wound, his arm must be amputated. The lieutenant uses logic when he struggles and denies the fact that his arm requires amputation, but the doctor insists. The story tells of his struggle by saying, “‘Let go of me,’ said the lieutenant, holding back wrathfully, his glance fixed upon the door of the old schoolhouse, as sinister to him as the portals of death.” This shows the seriousness of life and the unfairness of it because the lieutenant was not engaged in battle, yet a stray bullet hit his arm. The story also shows emotion when the lieutenant’s arm is unjustly amputated and he must sooth his family by telling them that his situation is not as serious as they make it out to be, although he himself felt it was unfair. He faces life with dignity and realizes the seriousness of
The author, a war veteran himself, is very familiar with the trials and tribulations of war, and knows of the social aspects of being with the other soldiers first hand. In the book, using many different examples of characterization, the author explores how soldiers think of courage and are afraid of not being courageous in a time of war; making it not only a physical war, but a mental one as
1. Crane appeared to be enthusiastic, as he used a fresh approach, to write about the war. There are two quotes, from the story, which, exactly, reveal this. From the first of the quotes, ("...As the landscape charged from brown to green, the the army awakened, and began to tremble with eagerness at the noise of rumors..."), we can tell, that something exciting, in a dramatic way was going on. We can, also, begin to see, that the army seemed to be fighting for something big, since it is mentioned, in the text, that they were awakened, suddenly. The army was fighting, for something they, probably, wanted, badly, as we can see, that the army "began to tremble with eagerness"). The second quote, from the story, which reveals Crane's fresh approach, was ("He was swelled with a tale he had heard from a reliable friend...").
With this in mind, a not so shared emotion when it comes to war is pride. People often associate “bad” emotions like anger and hate with wars, but there can be some “good” emotions like happy or hope. Pride is can be positive and negative. Anyways, Bull Run illustrates the fact that war can be associated with war. In Flora Wheelworth’s chapter, her daughter Susannah sent of her husband by yelling (Fleschman 10), “Do try not to soil the coat!” In this phrase, there was no signs of worry. Instead, she was proud that her husband was fighting in the war because she believed that her husband will win. Addition to this, in A.B. Tilbury's chapters, there was a chapter where A.B. Tilbury’s regiment was slacking off and not taking anything seriously. Some soldiers in his regiment were chasing chickens! When someone has a lot of pride, they tend to underestimate their enemy and act over confident like A.B.’s regiment right now. When there is too much pride, this emotion turns into a bad thing like this case, but when there is the right amount of pride, people can go
From another perspective, the simile in the line further indicates that the soldiers had also lost their human rights, not to mention their basic funeral rights. The soldiers had been brutally slaughtered like cows. This hints at the extreme brutality and savagery of the war. Pointing out this fact, Owen reveals his dismay about the reality of war. In conclusion, using the rhetorical question and simile, he portrays the war as a place, where innocent youths are being wasted and discarded. He implies his negative and skeptical perspective on this aspect of
Jordan Hist 102H Document Questions Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front 1) Who is Paul Baumer? Describe his background and experiences prior to the war. In what ways does he represent the "typical" soldier in WWI? In what ways is he exceptional? How do his views about the war and his reasons for fighting change over time?
War forces young soldiers to grow up quickly. In Stephen Crane’s Civil War novel, The Red Badge of Courage, Henry Fleming is no exception. He is faced with the hard reality of war and this forces him to readjust his romantic beliefs about war. Through the novel, the reader can trace the growth and development of Henry through these four stages: (1) romanticizing war and the heroic role each soldier plays, (2) facing the realities of war, (3) lying to himself to maintain his self-importance, and (4) realistic awareness of his abilities and place in life. Through Henry’s experiences in his path to self-discovery, he is strongly affected by events that help shape his ideology of war, death,
“War is hell, but that’s not the half of it, because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love. War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling; war is drudgery. War makes you a man; war makes you dead.” (80)
The overall message in this poem is a drill sergeant educating young soldiers and preparing them for the harsh reality of war. He is not playing ‘Mr. nice guy’, he is being tough and strict to give the soldiers no easy way out.
The poem “War is Kind’ confused many readers of this poem, because the title leads the reader to believe a totally different thing than the body of the poem. Poet Stephen Crane is notorious for writing poems on the civil war. The weird thing about Crane writing about the civil war is he was born after the civil war. There are three main themes to the poem “War is Kind”, Warfare, The Home, and Patriotism. All three of the themes have to do with Crane saying one thing and meaning and meaning a completely different thing.
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.
The poem starts with similar word choices as ‘The Soldier’ but written in the perspective of the mother. The mother tells his son that when he dies he will be in a place of ‘quietness’ and free from the ‘loss and bloodshed’. This reinforces the fact that the battlefield was full of horrors and death. The poem then moves onto how ‘men may rest themselves and dream of nought’ explaining that the soldiers do not have to fear for their lives after their death. This illustrates how they feared for their lives and had negative connotations.