The Toy Soldier And War

To be engaged in war is to be engaged in an armed conflict. Death is an all too ordinary product of war. It is an unsolicited reward for many soldiers that are fighting for their country’s own fictitious freedom. For some of these men, the battlefield is a glimpse into hell, and for others, it is a means to heaven. Many people worry about what happens during war and what will become of their loved ones while they’re fighting, but few realize what happens to those soldiers once they come home. The short stories "Soldier's Home” by Ernest Hemingway and "Speaking of Courage” by Tim O'Brien explore the thematic after effects of war and how it impacts a young person's life. Young people who

The rambunctious behavior of the soldier’s triumphant victory is a strong message visually for the viewer. These soldiers struggle to find their identity and once the war ends, the identity they’ve build at war vanishes, (McCutcheon, 2007). As a result, they essentially lose a part of them selves, (McCutcheon, 2007). When they return home, many soldiers struggle with psychological issues that prevent them from resuming their once regular lives, (McCutcheon, 2007). The images of soldiers celebrating at the end of war give the viewer a taste of this problem. This also allows the viewer insight to the deeper issues surrounding an American soldier’s mental stability and mentality. Through this image, along with many others throughout the film, the viewer is able to dig deeper and truly analyze what they are seeing.

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 title of my book is A Boy At War which is a novel of Pearl Harbor. The author of my book is Harry Mazer. The setting of A Boy At War was located in Honolulu, Hawaii. The time period of the book was December 7, 1941 and around the attack on Pearl Harbor. The main characters in this book is Adam Pelko, His father Emory Pelko, Marilyn Pelko, and Bea Pelko. Adam is a high school student, a military kid, good at sports, lives in New York, and has dark hair. Adam's father is Emory who is a Lieutenant commander of the Navy who is assigned to the ship Arizona. Adams mother who is Marilyn is a navy wife and is Adam and Bea's mom. Another character is Bea who is Adam's little sister. The summary of the book is that Adam meets a new friend named Davi

People both today and back then have been traumatized by war’s brutal combat, fallen victim to cruel soldiers, and had war cause sorrow and grief to them. Through characters seeing death, characters that are soldiers, and characters that are not in combat, Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See demonstrates that war affects individuals negatively, even if they are extremely

Toys can influence a child’s behavior, and his or her identity. Children are given toys that demonstrate different significance about aggression, different genders and how to interact with each other. An example would be guns and swords; these are geared toward boys, and endorse fighting, and battling In retrospect, guns and swords can help children in developing

Yoram Wolberger, made a life size toy green soldier that is on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. The piece was partly inspired by World War One veteran who placed the toy figures on several sculptures. Wolberger wanted to connect childhood fantasy with adult retrospection. The sculptures "ready to fight stance" also represents the haunting reminder that men and women can be called upon to fight for their country at any time.4 Wolberger did a brilliant job at tying together the seriousness of war, and the simplicity of childhood while still showing respect to veterans. He pokes fun at the institution of war, and not the warrior. Also Wolberger shows the unsettling reality that almost anyone can be called into duty at any time with the stance of the toy figure without manipulating it in anyway. War art is not always paintings of battle scenes or statues of child's toys. Memorials and Remembrances built in honor of those whose lives have fallen, or battles key to the success of a

War is a traumatizing experience for anyone, but especially for children. A Long Way Gone demonstrates how a child’s innocence can be taken away

Beginning my love of reading an early age, I was never the type of child who was drawn to fictional stories. As an 8 year-old child in West Virginia, I was recognized by the local library for my love of biographies, autobiographies and recollections of world events. This love has continued throughout my adult life, desiring to read novels such as “We Were Soldiers Once…and Young” by Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore rather than watch the major motion picture “We Were Soldiers” starring Mel Gibson. Even though the motion picture received multiple awards, when reading the recollection of Mr. Moore’s accounts, the feeling of loss, distress, anxiety and fear can be felt in each word that he has written while reliving this horrendous war.

After experiencing the death and destruction caused by World War I, young men and women were ready for a change. They wanted to forget about misery of wartime and instead, focus on enjoying themselves as much as possible. The youth of this time wanted to rebel against the restrictive pre-war attitudes of their parents and society. In an effort to challenge tradition, they exhibited

Memories and stories swarming the mind and twisted by imagination are the only glimpse of humanity a man can hold on to while at war. Through stories, men at war can share their thinning humanity with one another. The deafening silence of war defeats the human spirit and moral compass, thus it is not only man against man but man against sanity. Tim O 'Brien 's “The Things They Carried” provides a narrative of soldiers in the Vietnam War holding on to the only parts of themselves through their imagination. O’Brien employs symbolic tokens, heavy characterization, and the grueling conflict of man to illustrate how soldiers create metaphorical stories to ease the burden 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.

“The Things They Carried” provides a personal view into the minds of soldiers, and tells us the emotional and psychological costs of war. The soldiers may have carried physical objects, but some of these objects connect to a deeper psychological weight most do not see.

The mental implications of war on the soldiers challenged the way they functioned day to day. In the ‘Next War’ Owen demonstrates the mental implications through personifying death and engaging the responder with sensory imagery.

The New York Times Bestseller We Were Soldiers Once... And Young was authored by Lt. General Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway. In November 1965, Lt. Colonel Harold Moore commanded the 1st Battalion, 7th cavalry at the Ia Drang Valley-one of the bloodiest battles of Vietnam. He eventually retired from the Army in 1977 after thirty-two years of service. After his military career, Lieutenant General Moore resided as executive vice president for four years at a Colorado ski resort before founding a computer software company. Harold Moore currently lives in Auburn, Alabama and Crested Butte, Colorado.