Essay On The Charge Of The Light Brigade

“They carried the common secret of cowardice barely restrained, the instinct to run or freeze or hide, and in many respects this was the heaviest burden of all, for it could never be put down, it required perfect balance and perfect posture.” (O’Brien 77) Tim O’Brien clearly demonstrates to the reader that one of the most difficult burdens to bear is being a coward because even though carrying over fifty pounds of equipment is hard on the body physically cowardice is among the worst pain because you can never put that feeling down for even a second to relieve the pain. The novel The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, intends to show the reader how the platoons soldier’s cowardice and dread can effect them in the form of regret later in

In the novel The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien expresses to the reader why the men went to the war and continued to fight it. In the first chapter, “The Things They Carried,” O’Brien states “It was not courage, exactly; the object was not valor. Rather they were too frightened to be cowards.” The soldiers went to war not because they were courageous and ready to fight, but because they felt the need to go. They were afraid and coped with their lack of courage by telling stories (to themselves or aloud) and applied humor to the situations they encountered.

In battle, there are many ways to be put in the wrong position. A few erratic decisions can cause lifelong problems. In “The Red Badge of Courage” Stephan Crane shows the many situations in battle during the Civil War in 1860. Henry Fleming, also known as “The Youth,” made many notable decisions that would consider him a coward rather than a hero. Henry demonstrates a coward because he ran during the battle, deserted the tattered soldier, and lied to the other soldiers.

Courage throughout history has always been interpreted in many different ways; cowardice, defiance, and even idiocy. Often it is hard to recognize true courage until many years have passed. True courage is showing bravery and standing up for your beliefs and principles in times of strife. “Courage isn’t a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway” –Harper Lee. There are three characters that I believe showed true courage in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird: Scout, the tomboyish daughter of Atticus Finch who defended her family in times of hardship, Atticus Finch, the man who decided to defend a black man in court, much to the dismay of the town of Maycomb and Mrs. Dubose, the old morphine

Courage is the ability to try something not easy for one’s self. According to the Oxford Dictionary, courage is “The ability to do something that frightens one; bravery”. The theme of ‘courage and what courage brings’ was embroidered deeply in Tim O’Brien’s book, The Things They Carried. The book talks about the traumatic experiences Tim and his soldier friends had been through during the Vietnamese War. The soldiers in Nam were all showing different acts of courage. Norman Bowker and Lieutenant Cross were presenting a bold front for someone else –Kiowa and Martha. Tim O’Brien and Curt Lemon plucked up their courage for themselves. And all the soldiers in the war overcame their fears for their country. The book focuses on both the act and the result of the soldier’s bravery. As some of their courageous acts end in a glorious victory, some finish with a lugubrious way. No matter how the case of courage eventuates, bravery is bravery. Courage as a value is determined by the reason of your actions, not the outcomes.

During war, authors like Stephen Crane,Wilfred Owen, Tim O’Brien, and Kevin Powers use literature to protest war. There were also authors who experienced the war first hand.. These authors use irony, imagery, and diction to help their anti-war protest.

In Dulce Et Decorum Est, the main idea is that it should be lovely and honorable to die for one’s country but actually it is not. Throughout the whole poem, imagery and searing tone were

War is a transformative event due to the people at first believing war is exciting opportunity that they should not miss out but later it seemed to be frightening and gloomy which changed them emotionally as well they may get injured and transform the physically. As said by Stefan Zweig in The World of Yesterday which is about Austrians excitement of going into WWI, “the young people were honestly afraid that they might miss this most wonderful and exciting experience of their lives; that is why they shouted and sang in the trains that carried them to the slaughter”(Document H). At first it shows how excited everyone was but then they experience war which causes them to realise that war is not a great time but it is a horrific event that will

O’Brien also shows the reality that they were just young boys who were scared, and forced by shame and their social obligations to fight the war, which contrasts from a “traditional” soldier who is seen as a brave hero. From time to time, throughout the whole book, someone would say that he is just a young boy; this is almost their way of indirectly saying that: they are scared and not as brave as they try to be, and that, they were just boys who had dreamt of living a normal life. Also, right from the beginning of the book, in the chapter “The Things They Carried”, O’Brien illustrates how they try to act with poise and dignity but fails when there were times of panic. He says that “they were afraid of dying but they were more afraid of showing

America’s war heroes all have the same stories to tell but different tales. Prescribed with the same coloring page to fill in, and use their methods and colors to bring the image to life. This is the writing style and tactic used by Tim O’Brien in his novel, “The Things They Carried”. Steven Kaplan’s short story criticism, The Undying Certainty of the Narrator in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, provides the audience with an understanding of O’Brien’s techniques used to share “true war” stories of the Vietnam War. Kaplan explains the multitude of stories shared in each of the individual characters, narration and concepts derived from their personal experiences while serving active combat duty during the Vietnam War,

In times of war, soldiers must surpass obstacles and be ready to face challenges. Witnessing the valiant efforts of these men that throw their lives on the line instills an insurmountable sense of pride in the hearts of spectators. Both Lord Alfred Tennyson’s poem and Richard Caton Woodville Jr.’s illustration entitled “The Charge of the Light Brigade” incorporate literary terms to express their feeling of pride towards the Light Brigade. Tennyson exhibits this by using repetition to signify the danger of fighting in battle, in addition to imagery to help the reader imagine how terrifying war is, while setting a respectful tone. Woodville shows a feeling of pride through the setting, symbolism, and powerful imagery.

In some cases, reading can be done to help clarify what happened during some events, particularly historical. For example, the Battle of Balaclava can be clarified by reading the narrative poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. In addition, even more sources may be helpful. In particular, William Howard Russell’s “The Battle of Balaclava” and Amelia Johnson’s “Narrative Poems” can be used to provide further insight of the fight. In conclusion, other sources of information, in this case a narrative poem by Tennyson, can be used to assist in understanding what happened during the Battle of Balaclava.

A heroic couplet structure within the poem provides a degree of clarity while still asserting the chaos and cruelness of war. Once again, it can be inferred that Owen himself serves as the speaker. However, this time his audience is more focused on young soldiers and families rather than plainly the public in general. In contrast to the previous work, this poem is set primarily in a World War I training camp, signifying the process young soldiers go through prior to deployment to the front line. The tone of this poem is more foreboding and condemnatory, not only describing the training soldiers but outright degrading their forced involvement as morally wrong. With themes rooted in the brutality of warfare and loss of innocence, both “The Last Laugh” and “Arms and the Boy” express similar messages but in different contexts. Just as before, Owen continues to personify weapons to emphasize their true role as the war mongers rather than the soldiers themselves. Owen states, “this bayonet-blade…keen with hunger of blood” (Owen 1-2). Uniquely when compared to other instances, this use of personification explicitly defines a blade as having a hunger for blood and a desire to kill, which is implemented upon the soldier who wields it. Therefore, not only

The purpose of ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ is to not embellish the truth of war, but to show how tragic and useless it is. ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ hints that it is “sweet and honourable” to be at war, encouraging soldiers to go, however, as the reader begins to read they find out that Owen is truly against war. Owen shows that the soldiers are ruined, both mentally and physically.

This radical patriotism being preached here seems unacceptable to the 21st century human. On reading the Wikipedia article on “The Charge of the Light Brigade”, I found that 40 years later a poem called “The Last of the Light Brigade” was written which focussed on the hardships faced by the war veterans and the pathetic response of the British public when asked to aid the veterans. This poem was authored by Rudyard Kipling, an author familiar to all of us because of his immensely popular “Jungle Book”. He was Indian born, this Indian connect coupled with the fact that this poem reflected a situation that it is still a huge predicament, even today piqued my curiosity and I explored this poem further. This is the story of how I picked this piece of poetry as my