The Ghosts of War During his time as a lieutenant in World War 1 (WWI), Wilfred Owen wrote many poems revolving around the reality of war, usually focusing on the perspective of the war that many did not discuss due to a sense of nationalism. Specifically, Owen elaborates upon the bravery of these young men, the conditions they endured, and the pieces of their souls that remain. In his poems “Dulce et Decorum Est,” “Mental Cases,” and “Smile, Smile, Smile,” Wilfred Owen characterizes World War I soldiers as courageous, yet damaged, heroes in order to reveal the gruesome reality of war. In “Dulce et Decorum Est” and “Smile, Smile, Smile,” Owen criticizes the propaganda that brought English youth to either death or trauma.
He portrays many of his own views on war through Paul's character. Thus allowing the reader to be more engaged and connected to the experiences Paul's going through. He shows his readers that in order for a soldier to survive he must lose his sense of innocence. "I nod. We stick out our chests, shave in the open, shove our hands in our pockets, inspect the recruits and feel ourselves to be stone-age veterans" (35).
Kotze has forgotten what it is like to be a civilian, “Because I hate civilians” (51), due to living the armies way of life for so long. Through his authority, Kotze inflicts psychological damage onto the young soldiers, by creating a
However, while he reflects a lot on his gone friends, on the dead bodies, on the charred forests, heavily shelled mountains, and delves deeper into his own history, on the good days of his childhood. He somehow loses himself. He pays for his life by not losing it, by not taking up a gun and shooting himself or someone else, by not taking some damn position. He turns out to be the most damaged character who suffers in multiple
Because of this, Paul Bäumer is an everyman that stands for his generation lost to the deadly fighting of World War
Millions of men were killed in what was called the “Great War” and they left behind loved ones who would suffer just as much. The wives, children, parents, cousins, and aunts left behind faced a horror they could not fathom. A first person account, written by Vera Brittain and turned into a film, allows the reader to look through the eyes of someone who has lost a fiance, brother, and friend in the war. The movie helps to reinforce the idea from class that everyone was affected by this war and it takes the statistic from the textbook and gives it a face and a name. A first person narrative helps to create
What’s more, readers can also feel of the sadness of author, for he loses his best friend. In addition, author expresses the hate to the war. Last but not least, the line “The torch; be yours to hold it high.” also attracts readers. “Torch” means “hope”.
When the mental and physical effects of war are thought of, it is normally the soldiers on the front line in the trenches who are thought of. Rightfully so, but army doctors often get the cold shoulder when it comes to being recognized for what they endured throughout the first world war. First of all, William Dearden wrote a blunt but real article in Harper’s Weekly entitled Surgeons and the Trenches. In this article he speaks of these hardships doctors were going through describing the death of more than 125 german doctors after one year of the war. He also describes that “doctors themselves are suffering more than before”.
After Rwanda and seeing so many people die, Dallaire is no longer who he used to be which slowly destroys his home and work environment. Joseph and Dallaire have both lost their ability to be normal due to the gruesomeness of war. War inevitably brings loss from all angles. There are an infinite number of things war does to a person, country, or soldier.
Approximately ten million men died fighting in World War 1. Nothing can quite capture the horrific, putrid scenes, lingering guilt, and heavy memories of these hellish seven years as well as poems have. John McCrae, Laurence Binyon, Wilfred Owen, and Siegfried Sassoon are just several of the poets who have endured the war and lived to write of its horrors. They all use metaphorical descriptions and imagery to depict their grief and respect for those who’ve died. The poems selected have left their readers in remembrance and grief over what has happened over 50 years ago.
The events surrounding the creation of All Quiet on the Western Front, the authors start at the age of 16 to to write. Even though as a pacifist he served in the Army on the Western front until he had received severe wounds. he was wounded by shrapnel spent the rest of the war in a German hospital. Having spent time on the Western front he expresses his personal experiences through his characters. this work of fiction was not well received throughout Germany.
While being there soldiers faced the same changes in personality as the characters in the book, they unconsciously began to act upon their most animalistic and savage instincts. There was also a lack of defined rules for the soldiers actions towards the detainees, which lead them to enforce excessive violence. A couple of the soldiers that served at Abu Ghraib and gave their opinions at the documentary had a mutual opinion about their actions, and the way they made them feel. These soldiers stated that when they were given orders, they would follow them without hesitation, and if the orders were unclear they would figure out a way to have them make sense; they felt as if something inside them had been turned off, because they would act as robots. Well, what had been 'turned off ' in a sense was the capacity to feel empathy for the detainees, and instead of seeing the Iraqi people as what they were, people, they instead would view them as the enemy.
At the beginning of the war, soldiers were excited and enthusiastic about fighting and they saw the other side as non-human. However, over time, the soldiers were exposed to so much death and suffering that their views shifted to see the war as an unnecessary evil which destroyed valuable lives. As shown in multiple poems written during World War One, and in Remarque’s, All Quiet on the Western Front, through witnessing excessive suffering and death at the hands of society, people recognize their individual values over the values of their society. As the war began, soldiers were surrounded by glorifying propaganda and encouragement from society to get involved, this led to feelings of excitement and pride towards the war.
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.
Modern studies are revealing that soldiers returning home from war are experiencing psychological damage far more painful and damaging than the physical injuries that they endured overseas. PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder) is the term now given to soldiers that have trouble readjusting to normal life once they return home from war. In the days of World War I and World War II, this term was referred to as “shell shocked.” Ernest Hemingway masterfully depicts a clear image of what life was like for a shell shocked soldier through the eyes of Herald Kreb’s in his story Soldier’s Home. Kreb’s experiences over seas causes him to be emotionless towards girls and dating, afraid of complications, and this attitude reveals the truth that he has become heartless.