The poem “Facing It,” by Yusef Komunyakaa is a heart wrenching story of a man who was in the Vietnam War. He is recounting the lost and maimed of the war. The author himself served in the Vietnam War. This poem has many accurate depictions of the struggles felt by the veterans coming home from this highly controversial war. The personification seen in the story catches the attention of the reader in a way that almost makes the reader feel as though they themselves are in D.C. staring into the wall. First, this poem truly reflects the hardships the soldiers returning home had to face. In the poem the first lines state that the veteran sees himself in the wall. He feels he is within the wall himself because the war mentally killed him. He feels he should have his name on the wall because that’s where he feels he belongs. He has a longing inside to see his long lost friends. He states “I am stone. I am flesh [,]” this is the author describing the way he feels dead, yet he manages to live on. The reference to his reflection being, as a bird of prey watching his every …show more content…
He feels very alone, but then comes to terms with the fact that there are others fighting the same war at home as well. The standing reminder of a monument is of a great deal of importance. Not only does it show that these men are not forgotten to the pages of time, but it stresses the importance of the cost of war. The author was trying to show that war wares a heavy burden long after the last shots are fired. The author, Yusef Komunyakaa, set out with intent of painting a picture of what the men coming home from this war were encountering; as well as how it was affecting them physically and psychologically. Through his use of personification and metaphors it can really seem as though we too are there staring into that wall of so much misery and
“Facing It”, written by Yusef Komunyakaa, tells a story of the long list of names on the granite Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. The speaker is able to show a great deal of emotion which was able to bring forth emotions in me. After reading this poem I was filled with feelings of gratefulness, sadness, and pride. My grandfather is a veteran of the Vietnam War and I remember when I was a young child making visits to my grandparents house seeing my grandfather in uniform posted in frames on the walls. I remember seeing an American flag folded and laying peacefully in a glass box.
War can change a man’s life more than life can change a man itself. Many of us just simply don’t understand until we truly experience it. Tim O’ Brien, the author of “How to Tell a True War Story,” goes in depth in the day to day lives of American soldiers in their involvement in the Vietnam War. While American soldiers, highly regarded as the best throughout the world, the Vietnam War resulted in a failure that tarnishes the reputation that America was known for. To further justify the consequences, Tim O’ Brien describes the hardships and horrors that soldiers experienced through the use of profanity, asyndeton, and symbolism to convey on the realities of war.
Yusef Komunyakaa, the author of “Facing It,” is a Vietnam Veteran who appears to write as a means to express his grief, pain, and postwar experiences. Being a Veteran myself and having been to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. several times, I empathize with Komunyakaa. The first thing I noticed upon walking down the path to the monument was how quiet and peaceful it was, yet the sorrow and pain was deeply rooted. I located the names of family, friends, and the MIA Marine’s name “CAPT RICHARD R. KANE” on my MIA/POW bracelet. This experience sent chills throughout my body and was emotionally overwhelming.
Yusef Komunyakaa’s poem and Stephen Crane's excerpt factor similar and different events throughout their stories. While Crane’s piece is written from one man’s point of view, Komunyakaa uses the collective voice of a group of soldiers. In Crane’s excerpt, it talks more about fighting, what’s happening and going on in the war. In the poem, it talks more about what the soldiers do to mask their feelings and their emotions to stay strong and not get distracted thinking of memories of family.
When faced with war soldiers change, for better or for worse. Modern culture celebrates the glory of patriotic sacrifice. However, this celebration often leaves out the gritty details and trauma of violence behind war and the way it affects people. Homer’s The Odyssey and William Wyler’s The Best Years of Our Lives clearly discuss these details. Both debate the long-awaited return of warriors that went off to fight a war and the way the experience changes the protagonists.
With all of these soul-shattering, life-changing conditions, it is less of a war and more of a test of strength for the soldiers, here at Valley Forge. Some men were going home and not returning. Other men just completely deserted. Even George Washington’s position was uncertain, the members of congress didn’t trust him. Life at Valley Forge was obviously horrible, and the ugly truth is that it wouldn’t get much better.
In war, there is no clarity, no sense of definite, everything swirls and mixes together. In Tim O’Brien’s novel named “The Things They Carried”, the author blurs the lines between the concepts like ugliness and beauty to show how the war has the potential to blend even the most contrary concepts into one another. “How to Tell a True War Story” is a chapter where the reader encounters one of the most horrible images and the beautiful descriptions of the nature at the same time. This juxtaposition helps to heighten the blurry lines between concepts during war. War photography has the power to imprint a strong image in the reader’s mind as it captures images from an unimaginable world full of violence, fear and sometimes beauty.
This elegy is ultimately written for all soldiers of war and sends the ironic message that the soilders who have fought against each other and could have killed each other are now all floating on the same coastline receiving equal treatment and being buried with their enemy. The theme of anonymity is extensively portrayed throughout this piece as Slessor constantly refers to ‘unknown’ soldiers or ‘someone’. Slessor uses personification and dehumanization to depict the loss of identity within each of the soldiers and the obscured effects of war to show the continuous movement forward of the world despite losses and victories. Personification is shown in the second stanza, 'Between the sob and clubbing of the gunfire '; the use of this technique ironically emphasises that the guns seem to mourn the loss more than humanity does. This leaves the audience feeling distraught and pity for the soldiers as it gives them a sense of the emotions linked to war.
War and its affinities have various emotional effects on different individuals, whether facing adversity within the war or when experiencing the psychological aftermath. Some people cave under the pressure when put in a situation where there is minimal hope or optimism. Two characters that experience
The Vietnam War began in the year 1957 and did not conclude till the year 1975. However, the United States did not enter the war till 1965, and left by 1973 (Skinner 1). When the U.S. made the decision to go to war, not everyone in the country was pleased. The country was divided over the idea of the U.S. getting involved in a foreign-affair war. Some believed that the U.S. had a responsibility to assist South Vietnam, a U.S. ally.
The True Weight of War “The Things They Carried,” by Tim O’Brien, brings to light the psychological impact of what soldiers go through during times of war. We learn that the effects of traumatic events weigh heavier on the minds of men than all of the provisions and equipment they shouldered. Wartime truly tests the human body and and mind, to the point where some men return home completely destroyed. Some soldiers have been driven to the point of mentally altering reality in order to survive day to day. An indefinite number of men became numb to the deaths of their comrades, and yet secretly desired to die and bring a conclusion to their misery.
In this poem Long Soldier structures her poem so that it creates a box shape which ironically is what the poem is about. She writes, “This is how you see me the space in which to place me” (pg. 8). This poem creates, literal, imagery of land and territory. We can also see how Long Soldier feels as though people place her in a box whether it be physical, reservations, or metaphorical, Indigenous stereotypes.
The poem aims to glorify soldiers and certain aspects of war, it goes on to prove that in reality there really isn 't good vs bad on the battlefield, it 's just a man who "sees his children smile at him, he hears the bugle call, And only death can stop him now—he 's fighting for them all.", and this is our hidden meaning.
Do you ever wonder the way you would react after returning home from the war? Would you be the same person you were when you left, would your outlook on life completely be changed, would life as you once remembered it be the same? In Ernest Hemmingway’s story Soldier’s Home he effectively develops the theme of war changing people. By character, relationships and a lack of drive.
He shows how even the people risking their lives do not even care much for war and have become so numb to the horrors of their situation. The main character Fred Collins makes a journey through a death field risking his life for water that was then spilled by his comrades. While Fred was on his journey into the battle zone, “He wondered why he did not feel some keen agony of fear” and this is because he has become numbed to all the dead surrounding him. Meanwhile instead of being present in their state of being under attack, and put effort into their side of the war some of the men discuss “..the greatest questions of the national existence.” This showcases how even the men whose lives are at risk could care less about what is actually happening in the war around them.