Morality Of War In Pat Carr's 'Leaving Gilead'

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How do people act while entrenched in turmoil? When they are in a place where few people care for how they are doing or for their needs? In the novella, Leaving Gilead, by Pat Carr, an 8 year old Saranell and her mother, Geneva, are leaving their plantation to be safe from the approaching Yankee force during the Civil War. Along their journey, Saranell encounters several different forms of the beastly influence that war has on the people involved. This trek shows how people will show no sympathy, respect, or general care for others when their own livelihood is in jeopardy. War brings out the worst in people.

War brings a discomfort to life and a rough heart when it is cast upon those involved. When Saranell points out the Pate family …show more content…

The interactions between individuals engulfed in conflict can be cold. When Saranell goes to her old friend Opal Fisk 's new shop to sell some silver for food, she is not met with care or sympathy. "You just a little girl, but now you got the experience running smack into wartime greed. It even worse than plain old peacetime avarice," (Carr 149). Mr. Fisk is unwilling to give a fair amount of food to a small girl and her caretaker, even when begged. He seemed to have once liked Saranell, but is now only thinking for his own grievances, and will not be compassionate. In the fantasy novel Eldest, by Christopher Paolini, the protagonist Eragon is a young man centered in a "global" conflict. When he is speaking with his mentor, Oromis, about his enemies in this struggle, Oromis responds to him by saying, "The greatest enemy is the one with nothing to lose " (Paolini). Paolini argues that opponents will do anything to get an edge, relief, or advantage in a battle or struggle, like when Opal Fisk cheats Saranell on the sterling to make a better profit later on. An opponent is not your friend, and even if someone is not opposing you, they certainly may not be your ally. The true nature of people is brought out in the

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