Bombs, death, and gunfire, don’t these aspects of war sound fantastic? Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front develops the theme of the thoughts of a group of students who voluntarily enlist for World War I, and Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker is an intense portrayal of elite soldiers who have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world: disarming bombs in the heat of combat. A soldier in the midst of warfare seems heroic, but battle can also cause immense trauma to the soldier.
“War is hell” was said by General William Tecumseh Sherman, there is no expression quite as short that captures the image of war, and he said this quote as he was on a mission to raze the South to the ground. At the beginning of the book Paul is a hopeful soldier. It will end only as what you would expect of watching all of your friends die and spending years at the front. Erich Maria Remarque wrote All Quiet on the Western Front to show us the horrors of war, and in vain to teach us lesson, that we finally realized by WWII. The story follows the life of a 19 year old schoolboy pressed into service by his teacher, trained in 10 weeks in a barracks, then learns the reality of war through experience.
(144-145). Vonnegut here uses Billy to destroy the fantasy created around war. War is not all looks and victorious stories, it is painful and hard to survive. This clearly demonstrates that Vonnegut believes the beauty created around war needs to be ended, and if society truly saw the trauma created by war, they would never occur. Another strong connection Vonnegut creates to enhance the anti-war message regards the birds present after the massacre of Dresden.
War causes anxiety on the battlefield and later in life. Myers showed that his novel has a message about anti-war through the hardships Richie Perry and his squad mates went through in the Vietnam
Obrien perfectly describes the duality of war saying, “war is nasty; war is fun” and “war makes you a man; war makes you dead” (76). War has many positives for some men, and it gives them a chance to honor their country. War is also horrible and leads to the death of countless young men with bright futures ahead. O’Brien uses the story of the water buffalo to describe all the emotions described in the description of war. The shooting of the water buffalo shows how desensitized soldiers become due to the mindless killing of Vietnam.
War is a transformative event because it alters people's perspectives of war, and leaves them suffering, mentally and physically. When the soldiers experienced the true realities of the war, they were left haunted, as depicted in the poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen. This poem explains the true realities of the war and how he was left with a damaged mental state. Owen says:
With the end of a world war comes the beginning of rebuilding---picking up the pieces and returning, or at least trying to return, to normalcy. It is when the smoke finally clears that the true damage can be assessed. Yet, for authors like Erich Maria Remarque and Kurt Vonnegut, it is the damage that can’t be seen, the damage that lingers, the damage that clearly has a start but no end, that is the worst. In 1929, Remarque channeled those lingering remnants of his time as a German soldier in World War I through the physical and mental tumult of Paul Bäumer in All Quiet on the Western Front. Forty years later, Vonnegut expressed the lasting impression World War II had on him through Billy Pilgrim’s adventures across time in Slaughterhouse Five.
Based on Tim O’Brien, many argue that war is grotesque, but war could also be beauty. Although war is not lovely because of all the killings and awful moments, it could also be beautiful. As O’Brien mentions, war is like a cancer under a microscope. The soldiers can see horrifying moments in the battle, but the battle scene is glorious. The soldiers admire on the harmony of nature and the troops.
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
In the book Fallen Angels Walter Dean Myers tells the story of soldiers who struggles with a problem involving what is right and wrong in war. Fallen Angels set in Vietnam during the Vietnam war, the story introduces the main character Perry, who faces obstacles, including death and killing. The author’s use of literary devices, specifically imagery, irony, and metaphors convey the theme warfare often forces soldiers to reconsider their traditional notions of right and wrong. The author employs imagery to express the theme that warfare often forces soldiers to reconsider their traditional notions of right and wrong.
In his excerpt “How to Tell a True War Story”, from his novel The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien explains that a true war story is not moral, does not stop the things that have always happened, is obscene, is surreal, is detailed, does not depend on exact truth, and leaves people with nothing much to say besides “Oh.” Based on Tim O’Brien’s depiction of a “true war story”, Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse-Five is an acutely authentic story of war. Of the many points Tim O’Brien makes about true war stories, one of them touches on morality. O’Brien states that “A true war story is never moral.
Kurt Vonnegut enlisted in the United States Army at the time of World War II. He was captured as a prisoner of war where he received much of his literary inspiration for Slaughterhouse-Five. The anti war theme throughout the book is touched on and also rebutted when Vonnegut states, “there would always be wars, that they were as easy to stop as glaciers” (Vonnegut 4). Vonnegut knows he is writing an anti war book but also is aware that wars cannot altogether be halted he is only trying to relay the horrors of war. The number of innocent victims killed by the bombing is alarming and Vonnegut keeping with his anti war theme made it a point to center his novel around the Dresden bombing which increased knowledge of what the historical city Dresden once was.
How is war represented in ‘Suicide in the trenches’ and ‘Dulce et Decorum est’? ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ is a poem written by Wilfred Owen between the years 1917 and 1918. It describes the life on the battlefield and how it impacted the life of the soldiers. Owen most likely used his first hand experiences from when he was a soldier in World War 1. This poem describes the soldiers personal perspectives of war using the bare naked truth, not glorifying it in anyway.
The nature of war has always been a cruel and inhumane part of our world and its history. Many themes, such as desperation and trickery, play a large role in the development of the short story, “All The King’s Horses” by Kurt Vonnegut. However, what is most particularly interesting is how Vonnegut portrays war the story and is represented the most throughout the novel is the theme of how destructive war is and how impactful it can be on many lives. Firstly, Vonnegut often subtly uses symbolism and allegories in order to portray the theme of war within the short story.
As well as the value of a human life during these times of war, but the insanity of war and Heller 's solution to insanity is the idea of "there is always a catch" in life is shown to a dramatic extent. Heller 's novel not only satirizes war, but all of society. Moreover, Heller shows the perversions of the human character and society. Using unique style and structure, and also satirizes war and its values as well as using the war setting to satirize society at large.