The Sorrow of War: Book Review

In the fictional novel The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien vividly explains the fear and trauma the soldiers encountered during the Vietnam War. Many of these soldiers are very young and inexperienced. They begin to witness their acquaintances’ tragic demise, and kill other innocent lives on their own. Many people have a background knowledge on the basis of what soldiers face each day, but they don’t have a clear understanding of what goes through these individual’s minds when they’re at war. O’Brien gives descriptive details on the soldiers’ true character by appealing to emotions, using antithesis and imagery.

The text, ‘The Things They Carried', is an excellent example which reveals how individuals are changed for the worse through their first hand experience of war. Following the lives of the men both during and after the war in a series of short stories, the impact of the war is accurately portrayed, and provides a rare insight into the guilt stricken minds of soldiers. ‘The Things They Carried' shows the impact of the war in its many forms: the suicide of an ex-soldier upon his return home; the lessening sanity of a medic as the constant death surrounds him; the trauma and guilt of all the soldiers after seeing their friends die, and feeling as if they could have saved them; and the deaths of the soldiers, the most negative impact a war

Death; destruction; crawling, bloody men without jaws; and a child in the middle of it is just a glimpse of the grotesque short narrative “Chickamauga” by Ambrose Bierce. Chickamauga Creek is an area near Chattanooga, Tennessee and northwestern Georgia, plagued by war, suffering, and bloodshed from the Civil War (Bohannon). Bierce served in the Union Army during the American Civil War (Campbell). Many Americans then, and today, romanticize war with glory, heroism, and patriotism. Bierce defied literary status quo, creating graphic accounts of war, in an age of sentimentalism and melodrama (Morris). Lesser publicized were the perspectives, thoughts, and realities of the soldiers after serving and surviving in the civil

“The Tragedy of war is that it uses man’s best to do man’s worst” wise words from Henry Fosdick. When it comes down to the time where an individual hits rock bottom, a man either do its best or do its worst. Although, Man can do its best and do its worst at the same time. There are many reasons how man’s best can result to man’s worst. Henry Fosdick statement is both true and false.

Bao Ninh's portrayal of postwar Vietnam also fosters a more objective viewpoint of the war. After the war, the Americans took their twisted memories back home, to an unscathed country where nearly everyone had something to go back to. For North Vietnamese soldiers, home was where the horror had been, and in many ways still was. He is plain in his message: "The recent years of war had brought enough suffering and pain to last them a thousand years." (75) Kien's slow, painful demise is brought on by the heavy sorrow of war as he is haunted by an "eternal past." (88) During the war North Vietnamese soldiers were but "insects or an ant" who

During battle and wartime, in the experience stage, all of the frivolous emotions and concerns are melted away as this newly realized proximity to death brings a new appreciation for life and the truly important things. The things that truly matter to a man may vary and some of them, such as love, fear, comfort, and compassion, are intangible. And yet it is these intangible things and not direct orders from a commander that drive a man onward during war. Unfortunately, war not only reveals the innermost truths of a man’s character, it also destroys his capacity for leading a normal life upon his return home. Once a man has confronted his personal demons and come to some sort of understanding regarding his place in the universe and the inevitability of death, he has an extremely difficult time acclimating himself to civilian life once the war ends. Of all the novels read in War Literature, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and two Tim O’Brien novels: Going After Cacciato and The Things They Carried, best illustrate the inability of a soldier to deal with his original settings after returning from war. By studying the actions of Marlow, Paul Berlin, and Tim O’Brien (both the author and the character) after they leave the war, it is clear that they each use their own unique war experiences to deal with

“Journey’s end”, a play written by R.C Sherriff he describes the horrendous effect of war on the soldiers. They play was written after Sherriff was sent home wounded in 1917. The play gives you an idea about the life of soldiers in war and how they survive; it portrays their feelings and emotions being there while witnessing the misery. Being an officer, R.C Sherriff understands the feelings and emotions of the officers in war. The three characters: Stanhope, the leader of company “c”, Raleigh and Hibbert which are two officers from the same company are affected by war and the change of circumstances. R.C Sherriff successfully shows the horrific effect of war on the officers by changes in their personality.

In the novel, The Sorrow of War we find that Kien is telling the story from his point of view as a North Vietnamese soldier during the Vietnam war. The Author, Bao Ninh, tells his experiences and memories of the war through the Character known as Kien. Through these memories, we can find some ideal differences between North and South Vietnam.

While reading “The Man He Killed”, by Thomas Hardy, I knew the speaker was talking about his past experience during war. He has killed a man,and that this man still lingers in his thoughts from time to time. The conversational tone, along with the simple language highlight many of Hardy’s ideas concerning war. The dialogue itself portrays the overwhelming consequences inhumanity can have on the soul, ultimately destroying anything man has ever know.

Lim is trying to get the readers to understand the effects of the war. She does this because the impacts of the war were so great on Korean society. This story is very effective in showing the readers how the war shaped the people and their way of life. In the story, it is also very clear that she wants the readers to understand that war is inherently a negative event.

The style of writing used by Bao Ninh in The Sorrow of War is also highly significant because almost every occurrence involving Kien was chaotic and highly unorganized. Throughout the novel, Ninh includes several flashbacks in which Kien almost entirely involuntarily revisited a memory of his, generated from his personal experiences during the Vietnam War. By including these flashbacks, Ninh inevitably merges the past and present. This further illustrates the fact that the past experiences of trauma still linger with their victims in the present. An example of this is found in the beginning of the novel, when Kien was trying to sleep but couldn't. Every time he closed his eyes, he would see the faces of dead soldiers. Because Kien is constantly

War is an entity such that its destructive nature can wear away at even the strongest of people. Through Sorrow of War Bao Ninh attempts to describe the effects of war to convey his message of the destructive and warping nature that not only soldiers but anyone involved or affected by the war. Ninh created broken characters with an erratic structure to reflect the North Vietnamese progressive mental deterioration. Using the Vietnam War (1962-1975) and the novel’s protagonist Kien as well other characters such as the main heroine Phuong, Ninh focuses reader’s attention the physically intangible causalities war. He begins with the creation of a sense endless separation from other through characterization.

Lim is trying to get the readers to understand the effects of the war. She does this because the impacts of the war were so great on Korean society. This story is very effective in showing the readers how the war shaped the people and their way of life. In the story, it is also very clear that she wants the readers to understand that war is inherently a negative event.

Bao Ninh is a Vietnamese war veteran and the author of what is said to be "one of the most moving war novels of all time" (Gareth Smith), The Sorrow of War. In the epic tale, Bao tells the story of Kien in a nonlinear narrative, weaving in and out of stories of young love and war, each failing to complete its own objectives: to come home and live in peace with those they love. It compares the 'sorrow of war' to the sorrow of love, both nostalgic as Kien looks back on what has been lost, and the heartbreak created. Bao compares the two sorrows by intertwining flashbacks and events occurring in the present.

For many centuries the best stories that have been told were of battles in war. It is as if humanity gravitates to conflict and suffering. The Iliad was one of the first great stories of war and was composed three hundred years ago. It illustrates the cause and effects of the Trojan War. After all that time we wonder why so many military schools and scholars still refer to it for a background reference to what is to know about war. Many believe the war was glorified in this tale and others believe it was not. If it wasn’t a war of glory, why is it such a reference board for even military schools?