The Wars and Band of Brothers

In time of wars, most can acknowledge the fact that nobody is safe and anything can change in a matter of seconds due to the aftermath of war and its contribution to humanity. Throughout history, war has taken many lives of soldiers, created debts for the government, and have caused destruction to countries and also to all kind of relationships. In other words, war can impact many relationships by separating families apart, creating a gap in friendship, making society fall into depression, and making oneself behaving differently. Out of all these relationships, war creates the biggest impact on friendship due to the fact that it disconnect friends from each other, as well as ending the lives of many companions. Nevertheless, many can disagree

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

We have all seen or read about the political and social upheavals caused by war. Some may have even experienced it first-hand. Throughout history war has had negative psychological implications on those effected. However, there is no greater negative impact of war than the psychological and emotional turmoil that it causes individual soldiers.

War can destroy a young man mentally and physically. One might say that nothing good comes out of war, but in Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, there is one positive characteristic: comradeship. Paul and his friends give Himmelstoss a beating in which he deserves due to his training tactics. This starts the brotherhood of this tiny group. As explosions and gunfire sound off a young recruit in his first battle is gun-shy and seeks reassurance in Paul's chest and arms, and Paul gently tells him that he will get used to it. The relationship between Paul and Kat is only found during war, in which nothing can break them apart. The comradeship between soldiers at war is what

For instance, it is during the time in the infirmary at Shorncliffe that Robert is acquainted with Harris, who is very ill. Robert befriended him on a ship when both men were sick. Harris is a storyteller, and recounts tales of sea creatures and men out lost in ships in winter storms. Most importantly, Harris tells Robert that humans are born and come from the sea. Harris says, “Everyone who’s born has come from the sea. Your mother’s womb is just a sea in small. And birds come of seas in eggs…. We are the ocean—walking on the land” (117). When Harris speaks of the sea he is expressing the connection between humans and animals. The sea binds these two elements together. Robert does not agree with the idea that humans evolve from a sea of water. Instead, Robert says, “We were always men” (116). Ross’ point of view seems to be a paradox because he makes this statement, despite his strong connection with animals. The perception that all living creatures originate from the sea explains that water creates and sustains life. Another example that emphasizes the need for water to survive occurs when Robert demands that his soldiers urinate on their handkerchiefs. Both, Robert and his fellow troops go through with their plan and survive the gas attack, by placing the handkerchiefs on their noses. The quote states: “Robert dribbled all that was left in his bladder into the handkerchief and he too lay down— like a pilgrim in the clay” (140). Water is a component of urine that is released from the body. The liquid proves to be the difference between life and death. Robert’s heroics as a leader, and Bugler Willie Poole’s experience prove to be vital for the group of soldiers. Without, the liquid Robert Ross and the remaining soldiers would have suffocated to death. For these reasons, water imagery is used to signify life and the hope for

There is no doubt that when war occurs, every single human being is affected by it even if it is just a little. In the novel, “All Quiet on the Western Front” written by Erich Maria Remarque, a group of teenage men, who also appear to by classmates, are in the German army of World War I because they have chosen to leave their adolescence at home and school for grown up work at the army. Throughout this fictional novel, they face many challenges that result in them not seeing each other ever again because of death. War affects individuals by leaving behind necessities such as education or jobs, not being able to watch over others such as their health, and injuries that soldiers receive while they are at war.

Even though the soldiers join the war as naive youths, the war rapidly changes them and they develop into young men. Surrounded by death, the boys are bound to foresee the fragility of their own lives and are stripped of the carelessness and brazenness of youth. The dreadful horrors around the boys bound them to consider a world that does not accommodate to their childish and simplistic view. They want to only see a separation between what is right and what is wrong, they instead find moral doubt. Where they had wanted to see order and meaning, they only found senselessness and disorder. Where they wanted to find heroism, they only found the selfish instinct of self-preservation. These realizations destroyed the innocence of the boys, maturing and thrusting them into their manhood.

Contrast is an integral part of everyday life. Without contrast, everything becomes one-dimensional and bland. In a traumatic experience, such as during a war, the very nature of it creates and amplifies these contrasts within the human spirit. Timothy Findley’s The Wars is an excellent example of how contrast is created. Some examples of these contrasts are kindness and cruelty, courage and cowardice, but the most important contrast created by Findley in the novel is the one between loyalty and betrayal.

Joseph Conrad once observed that “a belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.” As a result of the violence that is necessary during wartime, soldiers are permitted to engage in savage behavior that is normally forbidden in society. In The Wars by Timothy Findley, however, soldiers act in violent ways even when they are not actively engaged in battle. The inherently savage nature of humankind is evident when Robert Ross kills the German soldier after the gas attack, when Robert is raped in the baths, and when Robert kills Captain Leather. These violent events that occur outside the direct action of the war demonstrate the evil inherent in

In this essay I will analyze two Cold War American Films, War Games and Dr.Strangelove. Both of these films portray the cold war era, where it was uncertain when and if nuclear fallout would happen. I will start off by giving a brief summary of both films. Then talk about some cold war culture such as posters, TV shows, and historical events discussed in class, as well as some aspects of plot in the films, such as the leaders in power in each film and finally compare both films to the culture shown and argue that they both accurately portrayed it.

Robert Ross is a sensitive, private boy; last person you would expect to sign up to fight in World War One. In The Wars by Timothy Findley, symbols are used in conjunction with Ross’ story to cause readers to reflect on symbols in their own lives, and to allow then to dive deeper into the world of an innocent boy who is placed into a cruel war. The various symbols in The Wars provide for a graphic and reflective reading experience by emphasizing Robert’s connection with nature, his past, and his experiences during the war.

The soldiers face loneliness, isolation, the heavy burden of fear, and the weight of their reputations. The soldiers carry such a heavy weight from the past, in the present, and for the future. Even after the war, the psychological burdens the men carried during the war continues to define them. Those who survive the war carry guilt, grief, and confusion.

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.

World War I was viewed as a new sort of war. Before World War I, wars generally did not involve nonstop fighting over a period of years. In the past the armies mostly consisted of hired mercenaries, or professionals who fought seasonally. However, the soldiers in this novel are volunteers. For Paul and his classmates, the army has become an expression of patriotic duty; they do not perceive it as a career. Outside the classroom, young men of their age faced condemnation from society if they did not join the war

When shipped overseas to Japan, Robert was assigned to be a part of the division known as ordinance maintenance. This division was basically the mechanics and people with the technical know-how to repair all kinds of broken devices, ranging from batteries to automobiles. His work, as he remembers, helped him through the many cold nights. He talks about how difficult it was to be given such responsibility for the camp: