Since the beginning of history, human society has centered around war. People throughout the ages have attempted to understand why wars occur, and the effect of war on the people who fight in them. Authors have utilized the power of language to attempt to grasp the struggle and the horror of war, and make it accessible to the public. For example, Hemingway’s “In Another Country” and Bierce’s “Coup de Grace” both provide a glimpse into different aspects of war. Although they both pertain to the idea of war, “In Another Country” focuses on the psychological trauma of war while “Coup de Grace” showcases the horror of war. This is visible in the theme, setting, and characters of both stories. Both stories feature a central theme of war; however, …show more content…
“In Another Country” centers around World War I, and, therefore, provides a more modern take on war than seen in “Coup de Grace”. “In Another Country” also bypasses the glorified images of war, such as battlefields. Instead, Hemingway places this story in a hospital in Milan. While this would seem removed from the war ongoing around them, the war has already affected the people inside the hospital. The removed setting also increases the helplessness of the major, who cannot do anything about his wife passing away, because he believed that the worst was behind him. Meanwhile, “Coup de Grace” focuses on the American Civil War, in the aftermath of a major battle. The resulting “cleanup” of the bodies provides the opportunity for Captain Madwell to find his dying friend. Also, the less advanced medical technology of the mid-1800s means that Sergeant Halcrow is beyond saving, therefore forcing Madwell to give the “kiss of death”. Lack of communication that results from the story being in the Civil War period also creates the cruel ending of “Coup de Grace”, where the field medics arrive a moment too late to save …show more content…
In Hemingway’s “In Another Country”, the main character, Nick Adams, and the major both have their lives changed by the war. Nick Adams lost part of his leg from the war, yet remains hopeful that he will return to the United States and marry someone. However, the major has the opposite view. He used to be the greatest fencer in Italy, yet his hand is shrunken grotesquely from the war. He recently married his wife when he learned he was free of the war, yet she died from pneumonia. The major has lost hope for the future and bears many similarities with sufferers of PTSD. In Bierce’s “Coup de Grace”, the major characters are the two friends, Captain Madwell and Sergeant Halcrow, and Halcrow’s brother and Madwell’s “enemy”, Major Halcrow. Earlier in the story, a conversation between the captain and the major demonstrates the hate they bear toward each other. Then, when Madwell finds his friend, Madwell kills him, believing it is the best thing he could do for his friend. Although Madwell and Halcrow were friends before the war, Bierce uses the war to force Madwell to kill his best friend. This, in a nutshell, shows that the horror of war has the power to affect characters and their
Many times readers lose interest in stories that they feel are not authentic. In addition, readers feel that fictitious novels and stories are for children and lack depth. Tim O’ Brien maintains that keeping readers of fiction entertained is a most daunting task, “The problem with unsuccessful stories is usually simple: they are boring, a consequence of the failure of imagination- to vividly imagine and to vividly render extraordinary human events, or sequences of events, is the hard-lifting, heavy-duty, day-by-day, unending labor of a fiction writer” (Tim O’ Brien 623). Tim O’ Brien’s “How to Tell a True War Story” examines the correlation between the real experiences of war and the art of storytelling. In O’Brien’s attempt to bridge the gap between fiction and non-fiction, the narrator of the story uses language and acts of violence that may be offensive to some.
In the history of modern western civilization, there have been few incidents of war, famine, and other calamities that severely affected the modern European society. The First World War was one such incident which served as a reflection of modern European society in its industrial age, altering mankind’s perception of war into catastrophic levels of carnage and violence. As a transition to modern warfare, the experiences of the Great War were entirely new and unfamiliar. In this anomalous environment, a range of first hand accounts have emerged, detailing the events and experiences of the authors. For instance, both the works of Ernst Junger and Erich Maria Remarque emphasize the frightening and inhumane nature of war to some degree – more explicit in Jünger’s than in Remarque’s – but the sense of glorification, heroism, and nationalism in Jünger’s The Storm of Steel is absent in Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front. Instead, they are replaced by psychological damage caused by the war – the internalization of loss and pain, coupled with a sense of helplessness and disconnectedness with the past and the future. As such, the accounts of Jünger and Remarque reveal the similar experiences of extreme violence and danger of World War I shared by soldiers but draw from their experiences differing ideologies and perception of war.
...display how the average citizen would see war for the first time. Colonel Kelly sees her as “vacant and almost idiotic. She had taken refuge in deaf, blind, unfeeling shock” (Vonnegut 100). To a citizen who even understands the war process, war is still heinous and dubiously justified when viewed first hand. The man who seems to have coldly just given away her son’s life without the same instinct as her has participated in this heinous wartime atrocity for so long, but it only affect her now because she cannot conceive of the reality of it until it is personally in front of her. That indicates a less complete political education of war even among those who war may have affected their entire lives. The closeness and the casualties of this “game” will affect her the most because she has to watch every move that previously could have been kept impartial and unviewed.
War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, written by the talented author Chris Hedges, gives us provoking thoughts that are somewhat painful to read but at the same time are quite personal confessions. Chris Hedges, a talented journalist to say the least, brings nearly 15 years of being a foreign correspondent to this book and subjectively concludes how all of his world experiences tie together. Throughout his book, he unifies themes present in all wars he experienced first hand. The most important themes I was able to draw from this book were, war skews reality, dominates culture, seduces society with its heroic attributes, distorts memory, and supports a cause, and allures us by a constant battle between death and love.
Imagine being in an ongoing battle where friends and others are dying. All that is heard are bullets being shot, it smells like gas is near, and hearts race as the times goes by. This is similar to what war is like. In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, the narrator, Paul Baumer, and his friends encounter the ideals of suffering, death, pain, and despair. There is a huge change in these men; at the beginning of the novel they are enthusiastic about going into the war. After they see what war is really like, they do not feel the same way about it. During the war the men experience many feelings especially the loss of loved ones. These feelings are shown through their first experience at training camp, during the actual battles, and in the hospital.
While soldiers are often perceived as glorious heroes in romantic literature, this is not always true as the trauma of fighting in war has many detrimental side effects. In Erich Maria Remarque 's All Quiet On The Western Front, the story of a young German soldier is told as he adapts to the harsh life of a World War I soldier. Fighting along the Western Front, nineteen year old Paul Baumer and his comrades begin to experience some of the hardest things that war has to offer. Paul’s old self gradually begins to deteriorate as he is awakened to the harsh reality of World War 1, depriving him from his childhood, numbing all normal human emotions and distancing future, reducing the quality of his life.
In his short story “Chickamauga,” Ambrose Bierce uses juxtaposition to contrast the glorified version of war with the realities of it. Bierce juxtaposes the child’s “imaginary foes” with a “more formidable enemy” otherwise known as “a rabbit”. Being the first time that the reader is exposed to a somewhat realistic version of war, Bierce uses the rabbit to show the lack of courage that the child has when facing an actual foe instead of the imaginary ones that he grew accustomed to. This is indicative of the fact that men crave and glorify war until they experience the realities of it. They are willing to fight for their glorious cause with great courage until they face the dangers and realities of war. In the child’s own imaginative form of
The author of this story, Ernest Hemingway, was indirectly involved in war efforts in WW1. He was an ambulance driver for the American Red Cross in Italy, and he was hurt during duty. Later, he was sent to the hospital, where he became attracted to his nurse. When he was well enough to go back home, he wanted to marry her, but she refused him. (Henningfield 259). This may have sent him into a downwards spiraling depression that lead him to feel similar to Harold Krebs, the main character of our story, who seems to be suffering after a war. Unfortunately for him, this abrupt breaking-off of relations may have harmed Hemingway mentally. (Henningfield 259). This harm likely manifested itself
The three narratives “Home Soil” by Irene Zabytko, “Song of Napalm” by Bruce Weigl, and “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen all have the same feelings of war and memory, although not everyone experiences the same war. Zabytko, Weigl, and Owen used shifting beats, dramatic descriptions, and intense, painful images, to convince us that the horror of war far outweighs the devoted awareness of those who fantasize war and the memories that support it.
While most scholars have agreed that war is a real and significant part of human history, these same scholars have yet not reached a consensus on the characteristics of war. History books often lean toward glorifying war with stories of soldiers dying for their honor and homeland; novels, on the other hand, tend to point out the emptiness of war with stories of soldiers losing their youth and contact with the world. The selected passage from Gabriel Garcia Marquez' novel One Hundred Years of Solitude adds to the debate over war's characteristics. Through the literary techniques of irony, symbolism, and imagery, this text reveals the major theme that, in reality, war is not glorious but empty.
Throughout this paper we will discuss the emotional impact of war. Our bodies and minds are built to deal with and handle stress differently than others. War can affect a person physically but also emotionally. Knowing that it’s a possibility that you can either get hurt or not live to see another day is heart breaking. War not only affects the soldiers, but it also affects the families. Several soldiers returning home thinks no one cares and there will be no one there for them when they return. Certain life circumstances such as stress and even the effects of a traumatizing event like war can contribute to depression. Description of World War I were written by the poets who experienced the heartbreaking events through their writing.
When the war breaks out, this tranquil little town seems like the last place on earth that could produce a team of vicious, violent soldiers. Soon we see Jim thrown into a completely contrasting `world', full of violence and fighting, and the strong dissimilarity between his hometown and this new war-stricken country is emphasised. The fact that the original setting is so diversely opposite to that if the war setting, the harsh reality of the horror of war is demonstrated.
Throughout their lives, people must deal with the horrific and violent side of humanity. The side of humanity is shown through the act of war. This is shown in Erich Remarque’s novel, “All Quiet on the Western Front”. War is by far the most horrible thing that the human race has to go through. The participants in the war suffer irreversible damage by the atrocities they witness and the things they go through.
The short story “In Another Country” by Earnest Hemingway is a story about the negative effects of war. The story follows an unnamed American officer and his dealings with three other officers, all of whom are wounded in World War I and are recuperating in Milan, Italy. In war, much can be gained such as freedom and peace, however war also causes a plethora of negative consequences. Cultural alienation, loss of physical and emotional identity, and the irony of war technology and uncertainty of life are all serious consequences of war that are clearly shown by Hemingway.
Theme is a literary element used in literature and has inspired many poets, playwrights, and authors. The themes of love and war are featured in literature, and inspire authors to write wartime romances that highlight these two themes. Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms deals with the collective themes in the human experience such as love and the reality of war. A Farewell to Arms is narrated from the perspective of Fredric Henry, an ambulance driver in the Italian army, and pertains to his experiences in the war. The novel also highlights the passionate relationship between Henry and Catherine Barkley, a British nurse in Italy. Henry’s insight into the war and his intense love for Catherine emphasize that love and war are the predominant themes in the novel and these themes contribute to bringing out the implicit and explicit meaning of the novel. Being a part of the Italian army, Henry is closely involved with the war and has developed an aversion to the war. Henry’s association with the war has also made him realise that war is inglorious and the sacrifices made in war are meaningless. Specifically, Henry wants the war to end because he is disillusioned by the war and knows that war is not as glorious as it is made up to be. The state of affairs and the grim reality of the war lead Henry towards an ardent desire for a peaceful life, and as a result Henry repudiates his fellow soldiers at the warfront. Henry’s desertion of the war is also related to his passionate love for Catherine. Henry’s love for Catherine is progressive and ironic. This love develops gradually in “stages”: Henry’s attempt at pretending love for Catherine towards the beginning of the novel, his gradually developing love for her, and finally, Henry’s impas...