“The pig’s head is cut off; a stick is sharpened at both ends and ‘jammed in the crack’ of the earth.” (207) In William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, a group of (British) kids find themselves upon an island after a plane accident. Even though the kids do try to survive with each other, one group of kids wanted to set up a rescue fire, and another group of kids desired hunting for survival (because they don’t care about being rescued as much as the other group). This conflicts both of these groups from doing what they want. The kids are then separated, then separate into two civilizations after some time out of civilization. One being a civilized bunch (the kids who wished to have an active rescue fire), and another group that lived like beasts, but not completely (the kids who wanted to hunt).
If history tells us anything it is that controlled and somewhat orderly civilisations can succumb and completely dissolve into violent, chaotic and savage societies. Germany, a prime example of this, previous to World War II was an impoverished and crumbling civilisation that sought strength but its people did not expect the savagery and brutality of what was to come during the Second World War. Coincidently during this same period William Golding’s ‘Lord of the Flies’ is set and no one expected from reading a book about boys aged 6-14 that something evil could lie within its storyline. The story of a civilisation gone wrong. Golding manages to successfully show us this descent from an orderly civilisation to a savage and chaotic society through a number of methods.
Europe’s economy thrived with the demand for war supplies such as ships and weapons (History.com staff 2010). Additionally, western civilization spread and the Roman Catholic Church gained wealth (History.com staff 2010). Also, as European soldiers travelled through the Middle East they were exposed to all the fantastic innovations and advances made while Europe was in a state of feudalism in which no advancements were made. Consequently, they were intrigued by what they saw and Europe slowly pulled out of its current state, setting the grounds for the Renaissance. On the other hand, the loss of Muslims, Jews and other non-Christians throughout Europe and the Middle East was devastating (History.com staff 2010).
Civilized is an adjective that describes the very opposite of barbarity. A civilized person is polite and courteous; he knows how to say "please" and "thank you.” A civilized group of people is characterized by being socially and technologically advanced. What happens to civilization when people allow other factors such as fear into society? Fear has this impact of causing people to do things they know are wrong, forcing them to come up with excuses about what they are truly scared about. Just like in William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, which takes place on an island with boys who are believed to be under the age of twelve left stranded after their plane crashes and to make their own decisions without the help of adults in order to survive.
Only the facts are real and important for [them]. And good boots are scarce” (Remarque 21). In the midst of war bombardments, social graces have low value as they are artificial niceties. At the front, good boots can increase their comfort and perhaps even the chances of surviving. The example illustrates how war has transformed the once carefree youth into adults who focus on surviving each day and taking what life can offer them to make war more
I think that it is capitalized because he is talking about Lenore and how she has “flown by” or died. The old man is all alone in his house, but we don’t know what happened to all of his family. He realizes that the bird is a new opportunity to have a friend and comfort during his depressing times, but he would still rather have the bird out of his house. I would think that he would like to have the bird not in his house but maybe sit on the window sill, outside, so he can still have comfort from
He also finds peace by fighting his own private war growing up. Alton states,” In the end , inner peace is achieved only after fighting one’s own, private war growing up. In this sense the war is symbolic also of inner struggle from adolescence to maturity”. Gene acknowledges that his real enemy is himself and that he caused all his vicious acts because of his envy, hatred, and fear of growing up. After fifteen years, Gene realizes that the problem was not Finny but himself, and he discovers his peace and happiness now that he has fought his war.
Through both of his poems, Dulce Et Decorum Est and Disabled, Owen clearly illustrates his feeling about war. Both of them convey the same meaning that war destroyed people’s lives. For Dulce Et, Decorum Est, it mainly illustrates soldier’s life during war, the dreadfulness of war, whereas, Disabled illustrates how war have damaged soldier’s life. Also, the saying that said that war it is lovely and honorable to die for your country is completely against his point of view. Owen conveys his idea through graphically describing his horrible experiences in war.
Wilfred Owen, most famous for his war poetry, used his work to expose the horrors of war and the disastrous results that come from it, as seen in his most famous pieces – ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’,’ Anthem for Doomed Youth’ and ‘Exposure’. Owen’s preface states, “Above all I am not concerned with poetry”. This means it is not the poetry alone that is important to Owen, but the message he is trying to portray and emphasise. Owen more than anything wanted to reveal the truths of war hidden behind false propaganda and was able to achieve this though his poetic capabilities. Owen through his poetry was able to captivate his reader and create visual imagery to heighten the messages he wanted to convey, allowing us comprehend and understand the true horrors occurring on the front.
“Every war is ironic because every war is worse than expected,” Paul Fussell wrote in “The Great War and Modern Memory,” his classic study of the English literature of the First World War. “But the Great War was more ironic than any before or since.” The ancient verities of honor and glory were still standing in 1914 when England’s soldier-poets marched off to fight in France. Those young men became modern through the experience of trench warfare, if not in the forms they used to describe it. It was Yeats, Pound, Eliot, Joyce, and Lawrence who invented literary modernism while sitting out the war. Robert Graves, Siegfried Sassoon, Edmund Blunden, Isaac Rosenberg, and Wilfred Owen—who all fought in the trenches and, in the last two cases, died there—remained tied to the conventions of the nineteenth century while trying to convey the unprecedented horror of industrial warfare, a condition of existence so murderous and absurd that a romantic or heroic attitude became impossible.