The glorified act of war is often staged in historical literature by idolizing the soldiers who partake in the event. Soldiers are made to seem intrepid, ruthless and muscular, each with a ceaseless desire to fight valiantly for their countries. Timothy Findley and Kurt Vonnegut discard this typical hero archetype in their anti-war novels by portraying the soldiers who fight in the war as the men they are, not as the templates of heroes they are expected to fit, in furtherance of strengthening their anti-war stances. Findley and Vonnegut illustrate their protagonists as a tragic hero and an anti-hero, respectively, in order to juxtapose the atrocities of war with the flawed humanness of man and to challenge the stereotypical image of a …show more content…
Guided by his undying love for his sister, Robert’s call to action is intrinsically motivated by an ironic catalyst that leads to his own eventual death; the desire to preserve life. At the climax of the novel, Robert’s courage tempers out his Achilles’ heel of introverted moral justness. His ascendance to the position of officer is only natural considering that his resilience and persistence strengthen significantly as he begins to imitate the hero archetype upheld by most war novels, though his concealed struggles with morality and obedience as exposed by his actions confirm him to be a tragic hero. Even with his elevated position, Robert demonstrates many instances of nurturing as he develops into a strong man weathered by the war, as opposed to the typical hardening experienced by most men on the front lines. The telltale quality of morality demonstrated only by a tragic hero is a tragic flaw in itself, as it forces acts that would otherwise be self-indulgent to take on an air of humility. “The man with the broken legs was lying by the water’s edge. He was already the colour of death. … ‘Put that [gas mask] over his face.’” (124) Robert’s dangerous, selfless acts for those who are arguably hopeless are not only consistently futile, but they endanger him and jeopardize
Where innumerous catastrophic events are simultaneously occurring and altering the mental capability of its viewers eternally, war is senseless killing. The participants of war that are ‘fortunate’ enough to survive become emotionally distraught civilians. Regardless of the age of the people entering war, unless one obtains the mental capacity to witness numerous deaths and stay unaffected, he or she is not equipped to enter war. Kurt Vonnegut portrays the horrors of war in Slaughterhouse Five, through the utilization of satire, symbolism, and imagery.
The topic of war is hard to imagine from the perspective of one who hasn't experienced it. Literature makes it accessible for the reader to explore the themes of war. Owen and Remarque both dipcik what war was like for one who has never gone through it. Men in both All Quiet on the Western Front and “Dulce Et Decorum” experience betrayal of youth, horrors of war and feelings of camaraderie.
In contrast, the author uses George as a metaphor for those who would fight, kill, and die in the war; this element is an important part of the author’s persuasive strategy. W.D. Howells wants to appeal to the values and the emotional sensibility of his audience, for this reason, Howells portrays George as passive and unsure of himself. George is fearful of the war and he sees no glory in it. He believes that God is peaceful and the idea that God would advocate for war runs counter to George’s belief in peace. In short, the author uses George’s story to illustrate the consequences of war for the reader. This strategy works to persuade a resistant audience to relate to George, hence, lowering their resistance to the anti-war message of this piece.
Kurt Vonnegut is able to put a man’s face on war in his short story, “All the King’s Horse ”, and he exemplifies that in a time of war, the most forgotten effect on nations is the amount of innocent lives lost in meaningless battle due to unjust rulers fighting each other against a nation’s will. As Americans, we are oblivious to the fact that we have people fighting every day for our country. In addition, we ignore the fact that we do a lot of collateral damage and hurt innocent people unintentionally in order to get what we want. Vonnegut shows the reader in Pi Ying’s own sadistic way of demonstrating how he feels about war brings attention to the point that war, while unruly and cruel, is nothing
The excerpt The Ending the War: The Push for National Reconciliation by David Blight, edited by Hoffman, Elizabeth Cobbs, Edward Blum and Jon Gjerde, in Major Problems in American History: Documents and Essays (Wadsworth, Cengage Leaning 2012) Blight argues historical memory that holds more importance than that of the Civil War. Like the Revolution, the memory of the Civil War played a role after the conflict. The concurrent issues in American society after the Civil War and against legislation to increase not decrease the racial problem in the South. Newly freed African Americans struggling to assimilate to society and be accepted as equal citizens in the reconstruction of the Union. This excerpt is rhetorically effective with statements on
In the incredible book, All Quiet on the Western Front written by Erich Maria Remarque, the reader follows Paul Baumer, a young man who enlisted in the war. The reader goes on a journey and watches Paul and his comrades face the sheer brutality of war. In this novel, the author tries to convey the fact that war should not be glorified. Through bombardment, gunfire, and the gruesome images painted by the author, one can really understand what it would have been like to serve on the front lines in the Great War. The sheer brutality of the war can be portrayed through literary devices such as personification, similes, and metaphors.
Despite the fact that the German has let the rest of the soldiers escape unharmed, Robert’s innate violence triggers the death of an innocent soldier. Thus, Robert’s actions reveal the inherent savage nature of humankind.
Since the beginning of time, humans have sought after power and control. It is human instinct to desire to be the undisputed champion, but when does it become a problem? Warfare has been practiced throughout civilization as a way to justify power. Though the orders come directly from one man, thousands of men and women pay the ultimate sacrifice. In Randall Jerrell’s “The Death of a Ball Turret Gunner”, Jarrell is commenting on the brutality of warfare. Not only does Jarrell address the tragedies of war, he also blames politics, war leaders, and the soldier’s acknowledgement of his duties. (Hill 6) With only five lines of text, his poems allows the reader to understand what a soldier can go through. With the use of Jerrell’s poem, The Vietnam War, and Brian Turner’s “Ameriki Jundee”, the truth of combat will be revealed.
Despite Robert’s distant relations to the concepts of violence, on the S.S. Massanabie he is forced to confront his fear of human cruelty in order to establish his position and ability as an officer. He remarks that his every move will be reported on and his survival as an officer depends on his ability to act like one. Ironically, in defence of Rowena’s rabbits, Robert had shouted at a soldier standing by: “What are soldiers for?” A statement that questions the purpose of war and the role of a soldier, yet Robert is now succumbing to the act in which he had held to be an absolute atrocity to human nature, shooting an innocent life and relinquishing his views of kindness and compassion for a ranked position. Shooting the horse with his colt handgun is the beginning of Robert’s gradual corruption, marking his downfall from purity and innocence.
Kurt Vonnegut's novel Slaughterhouse-Five; or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death is, as suggested by the title, a novel describing a crusade that stretches beyond the faint boundaries of fiction and crosses over into the depths of defogged reality. This satirical, anti-war piece of literature aims to expose, broadcast and even taunt human ideals that support war and challenge them in light of their folly. However, the reality of war, the destruction, affliction and trauma it encompasses, can only be humanly described by the word “war” itself. Furthermore, oftentimes this term can only be truly understood by those who have experienced it firsthand. Therefore, in order to explain the unexplainable and humanize one of the most
In this essay, I will discuss how Tim O’Brien’s works “The Things They Carried” and “If I Die in a Combat Zone” reveal the individual human stories that are lost in war. In “The Things They Carried” O’Brien reveals the war stories of Alpha Company and shows how human each soldier is. In “If I Die in a Combat Zone” O’Brien tells his story with clarity, little of the dreamlike quality of “Things They Carried” is in this earlier work, which uses more blunt language that doesn’t hold back. In “If I Die” O’Brien reveals his own personal journey through war and what he experienced. O’Brien’s works prove a point that men, humans fight wars, not ideas. Phil Klay’s novel “Redeployment” is another novel that attempts to humanize soldiers in war. “Redeployment” is an anthology series, each chapter attempts to let us in the head of a new character – set in Afghanistan or in the United States – that is struggling with the current troubles of war. With the help of Phil Klay’s novel I will show how O’Brien’s works illustrate and highlight each story that make a war.
Kurt Vonnegut’s anti-war novel, Slaughterhouse Five, illustrates the ghastly experiences within World War II and the journey through the universe and time of the main character, Billy Pilgrim. Although war is a sensitive subject in most cases, Vonnegut’s sarcastic, dark humor on the matter helps bring light to the fact that war is horrendous. Slaughterhouse Five demonstrates the reality of war throughout its major themes, historical accuracy, and Kurt Vonnegut’s personal experiences within World War II that shines light on the horrendous acts of war that has plagued an abundant amount of countries for centuries.
For an event, which has impacted a whole generation to fight a war, Pearl Harbor does not always hold up to the word infinity. In the past seventy years there have been countless books, articles and movies written about World War Two and Pearly Harbor. Each book brings a different approach to the impact of Pearl and how it has impacted the world since. In the book, The Best War Ever, by Michael Adams, and A Date Which Will Live, by Emily Rosenberg both tackle the issues of memory after the war and myths, which have been, proceed by the war. In smaller circles school newspaper is a good source to study to see how one school remembers events such as Pearl Harbor and the memory of it.
Ambrose Bierce is noted as a literary genius for his short stories on the civil war. His military experience during the Civil War allowed him to write some of his most memorable short stories. He is most noted for his story, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.” It is a story of a man’s last thoughts before being hanged. The story tells about a man, Peyton Farquhar, who was deceived and is condemned to death for doing what he thought would be helping the Confederate Army. In the moment before Farquhar’s death, Bierce paints the reader a colorful description of what goes through Farquhar’s mind. Through what he saw and experienced in the Civil War along with his
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,