Michael Dombrovsky
Mrs.Healy
ENG2DI-03
26 October 2015
End to War: Dream or Impossibility
American president John F. Kennedy once said, “The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission”. War has been an everyday occurrence in the lives of ordinary people in developing countries. Ever since the invention of the sword, nations have waged war on their enemies. Through a combination of various fiction and nonfiction texts, the Interface English textbook by Joan Green, explore the theme of “Freedom from War: DREAM or POSSIBILITY?”(83). This unit explores the history of war, people 's experiences of war, and the aftermath of war. Freedom from war is but a dream. In a world where people are shooting each other, tolerating violence towards each other, and bombing each other, freedom from war is clearly not a possibility.
Gun violence is an inherent part of human nature. To begin with, ever since the explorers discovered North America they were shooting everyone. Written as a poem about the past, Jeannette C. Armstrong explains in “History Lesson” what happened after the first European explorers got off Christopher Columbus’s ship. “Out of the belly of Christopher 's ship a mob bursts… Shooting buffalo, Shooting each other left and right”(85). This quote is an allusion to the many wars and conflicts that happened since the explorers came to North America. The most famous of
War has always existed. Although the purpose of war varies, the outcome is the same; many lives are changed and ruined. War is often used to gain power, resources, and land, but it disregards the lives of those fighting the fight. Martin Luther King stated, “The past is prophetic in that it asserts loudly that wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.” In three selections, “Medevac Missions,” “A Journey Taken with my Son,” and “At Lowe’s Home Improvement Center,” readers come to understand the truths of wars’ impact on the lives of those surrounding the soldier. Their friends change, their physical and psychological states change, but the hardest truth is adjusting to life back at home. Soldiers experience many life changes during active
Whether it’s war or terrorism, children who want to grow securely is living amongst the affected nation. War is obliterating those talented individuals in their childhood who can radically transform the world itself. The two disputed countries may also have justifications to protect the welfares of their own people. There can be wealth and nuclear weapons to demolish this world as a whole. However, peacefully negotiated approach is coveted to compromise on each other. No country can rationalize weapons of mass obliteration and debacles. Often, it is a foolish decision of the pioneers of the country, making it a pretext for the combat. It’s the upright soldiers and their families who need to survive the demise and serious injuries from the weapons. For the last centuries, the spontaneous overflow of poetry has portrayed human emotions concerning wide range of universal issues. Both the poets Donald Bruce Dawe and Wilfred Owen exemplify this cataclysm of losing your families and the conditions the soldiers face, through their notable poems Homecoming and Dulce et Decorum Est.
Wars are often glorified in tone to give praise and respect for those on the battlefields. There is an overall understanding that there are sacrifices needed in order to accomplish a larger goal. Excluded from this understanding is the realization that the effects of war
War leads to oppression and leaves negative implications on all people and societies by impacting the poor, women, children, and nations as a whole. "War is a state of violent conflict between one or more groups" (Rasenberger 3). Rasenberger defines war as a state of conflict between one group within itself or several groups in combat with each other, what is not mentioned are the after-effects of war. War itself leads to many civilian and military deaths, an estimated 1.5-3.8 million people died during the Vietnam War and an approximate 500,000 people died in the Iraq war. The biggest tragedy of War is that it always results in fatality, but another key, negative, factor to understand is that after the War many adverse implications arise. Post-war ramifications in the nation fall upon the poor, women, and children, making them weaker and less motivated leading to the downfall of a society. Regardless if a nation wins or is defeated in war they have to deal with consequences of war and find solutions to the impacted people and society. It is essential to understand that there is never a true victor in war because regardless of the outcome, fatality and a fall of morale within society on both sides are inevitable. War has often been the solution to situations that required force or violence, but in recent times this has
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 idea of war has been around for centuries and yet humanity is still doubtful as to what causes us to be so engaged in war. Could it possibly have anything to do with the feelings and emotions that come along when dealing with an actual war? In “The Ecstasy of War”, Barbara Ehreneich argues that war brings such powerful and uplifting feeling that it seems to resemble a religious experience. War exposes a lot about human nature and why despite the destruction caused by war, we still manage to participate. It is important to understand the origins by acknowledging the repetitive and compulsive behavior that arises in human beings at war. By changing the perspective on war, humanity can begin to take the first step to freedom. I will examine
A statement such as ‘War is unavoidable’, for some leave a bad taste in their mouth, as if the person stating such a claim was the devil himself, for others it is a way of life. “Facing It” by Yusef Komunyakaa a poem that takes place where most refuse to tread; a journey which displays the interpretation of each viewer and the memories and images the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial evokes. They erect various Memorials and Monuments which help individuals associate memories and the meanings; but only someone who went through it or experience a personal lost, will find release from conflict, memories left untouched for years, “I said I wouldn’t / dammit: No tears.” (3, 4)
In the 21st century, raging riots are common in the United States of America. In fact, the diversity of opinions often leads to dissension and discord, and with these unstable circumstances, crimes of passion can occur quite frequently. Specifically, terrorists, murderers, bombers, and other mentally incompetent people remain discreet predators among the innocent. However, many would argue that guns, especially the rise of automatic weapons, have only led to the increase of such violence. Concisely, guns, whether hand guns, rifles, or shotguns, have led to a multitude of problems for both those that wield them and those that fear them because of the dangerous situations that can result.
Why do we engage in war? Is there ever a significant outcome?Just like the Korean War, the story Interlopers by Saki, share similar themes and outcomes. In the Interlopers, the author Saki conveys a theme of don’t waste your life on engaging in hatred cause death will follow, using the literary techniques of situational irony, imagery, and foreshadowing.
John F. Kennedy was one of the most influential presidents ever; The decisions he made during the Cold War evaded the chance of a nuclear holocaust during his presidency. His had to make many life changing choices during his presidency. Many of them could have extreme impacts on the public 's opinion of him, the American economy would be affected. And the war with the Soviets was extremely costly to create new technology to protect ourselves. John F. Kennedy influence on the American people was profound, and his decisive actions changed history during the Cold War.
The collection of poems “Theater”, “Water”, and “Safe House” by Solmaz Sharif shows the varied viewpoints of how war affects the speakers and how death is all too common in the midst of warfare. The author uses a spectrum of literary techniques to enhance the experience of the reader, so we can fully grasp the severity of each speaker’s plight. All of Sharif’s poems differ in form with the use of white space and indentations in “Theater”, colons in “Water”, and a style of abecedarian using the letter S in “Safe House”. While her diverse use of forms generate different emotions from the reader, they share the same notion of how violence is problematic. Each poem has a unique outlook to the sight of war: “Theater” being in the position of a victim and an assailant of war, “Water” explaining a war mission and fatalities in terse terms, and “Safe House” as an observer of an activist against war. Sharif’s strategy to exemplify the effects of how war affects the victim and the civilian is particularly critical because mass media tends to hide the collateral damage of war and only illustrates why we should attack the “enemy”. Another approach the author uses to critique the speakers central conflicts is by arranging words from the US Department of Defense 's Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, to concur with the message of the several ways war influences the lives of those who are unwillingly encompassed by it. Sharif uses poetry as an outlet to show the underlying tone
This paper will explore the history of guns, myths and realities of gun violence. Gun violence is a hot topic in America today and some may believe that America was built on gun violence. This country was colonized by the use of violence with guns. We’ve had wars since the invasion of this country. The violence has been around also with the well-known 1775 speech from Patrick Henry, “Give me liberty or give me death” (Jr.). Give me death is a very strong statement that to me means this is of a violent nature. Since then violence with guns would only escalate from taking land to taking lives whether it be homicides, suicides or threats of violence against one another. With the violent history of gun violence in America and so many different opinions, who or what is responsible for the destruction on self and society and what are the some of the ways to discourage these behaviors.
Everyone kills, and everyone eats. Not everyone eats what they kill, but these remain two of the most intimate forms of communing with our environment, whether we recognize them as such, or not. Almost 40 000 Americans are killed each year as the result of homicidal, accidental, and suicidal uses of guns; in all, Americans wielding guns intimidate, wound, and kill hundreds of thousands every year. These were the kinds of ideas impressed upon me as I grew up in my urban home: Guns were beasts, as were knives, arrows, spears, indeed anything could become a weapon if held in a particular way. We sprayed each other with the hose instead of water guns, and spent many long hours as a family "communing with nature" through long walks on the
War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, written by the talented author Chris Hedges, gives us provoking thoughts that are somewhat painful to read but at the same time are quite personal confessions. Chris Hedges, a talented journalist to say the least, brings nearly 15 years of being a foreign correspondent to this book and subjectively concludes how all of his world experiences tie together. Throughout his book, he unifies themes present in all wars he experienced first hand. The most important themes I was able to draw from this book were, war skews reality, dominates culture, seduces society with its heroic attributes, distorts memory, and supports a cause, and allures us by a
From the 1880s until World War II, France governed Vietnam as part of French Indochina, which also included Cambodia and Laos. The country was under the formal control of an emperor, Bao Dai. From 1946 until 1954, the Vietnamese struggled for their independence from France during the first Indochina War. At the end of this war, the country was temporarily divided into North and South Vietnam. North Vietnam came under the control of the Vietnamese Communists who had opposed France and aimed for a unified Vietnam under Communist rule. Vietnamese who had collaborated with the French controlled the South.