For one to sacrifice their life is a big deal and is not something to be taken lightly. Surely, some causes are worth dying for, but that depends on one’s personal beliefs. One’s personal investment should determine if the risk is worth the reward. If one does not consider their own personal investment or if they do not consider what they are fighting for, they will likely be unprepared for the consequences. Only after they face their consequences will they realize their “cause” was not worth dying for. The theme of personal investment is present in the works of literature and films. In the novel Johnny got his Gun by Dalton Trumbo, Joe is a character who is drafted into world war 1. After the loss of his vision, hearing, limbs, and physical …show more content…
Although both him and Charlie had no personal investment at first, Charlie realized this, but Joe did not. Before going off to fight on the battlefield Joe is too caught up in the glorification of war and the mentality that he had no choice to completely understand the concept of personal investment. Joe’s memories show that in his past he was surrounded by people who saw war as an honorable action or something one should be proud and lucky to be a part of. In Joe’s life people had talked about war so casually, specifically Jim O’Connell and the group of old men who were constantly joking about war. The men talked about the light side of war, the side that’s glorious and respectable. They never mentioned the dark side, the side where people are torn apart mentally and physically and most importantly the side where lives are destroyed. Growing up around this, Joe could not help but see war in the same perspective. Glorification was also present when he was just about to get on the train to war: “The whole place the station and the cars and even the locomotives were draped with bunting and the children and women mostly carried little flags little flags that they waved vaguely vacantly. There were three bands all seeming to play at once and lots of officers herding people around and songs and the mayor giving an address and people crying and losing each other and laughing and drunk” (Trumbo 35-36). Through all the glorification, Joe cannot see that he has no reason to go to war. He does not see that he is not personally invested, and therefore should not risk his life for a cause he has no concern for. Not only the glorification of war averts his attention from personal investment but his belief that he has no choice does as well. Joe remembers that when he was at the trainstation he did not want to go. Despite not wanting to go, Joe recalls believing that he had
G.K.Chesterton once quoted, “The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” The novel Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden, recounts the struggles of a Canadian soldier through his tedious and terrible experiences fighting for his country against the Germans. Throughout the novel, the protagonist was disgusted by the blood and trauma war brings, however, he knew that it was imperative to kill, or else he would not have survived. In war, it is kill or be killed, someone who is wise will kill to survive and protect his country, as well as avenge his family or comrades.
How much are you willing to sacrifice for another? Whether they are a family member or a complete stranger. In the novel The Kite Runner Baba was was willing to risk his life when he had stood up and was trying to stop the Russian soldier from rape the young woman as payment for letting them pass through one of the checkpoints. Then there had been Amir it was when he had suffered extreme injuries, nearly losing his life when he had fought Assef, so that he could save Sohrab for the abuse he was suffering from the Taliban. Both Character Baba and Amir were willing to sacrifice themselves for another person, regardless of who they were. Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, teaches the reader sacrificing your life can lead to another person’s happiness through Baba saving the woman from the Russian soldier and Amir fighting Assef.
...in the War for Independence. He gave little reason to not believe the experiences he described, and was even careful to warn the reader that his memory may not be serving him as well in recollecting all the events. Even in his criticism of the government, he does not portray an image that would suggest he did not believe in the cause of independence, neither did he take an anti-Unites States government position. He is simply attempting to explain what happened during his time as a participant in the war, and he convincingly does so in his narrative. As he reflects upon his experiences he acknowledges the soldiers’ great sacrifice, the sacrifice of their youth, their bodies, and even their futures. While he was only a private soldier, and most of his life an ordinary citizen, Joseph Martin represents the American hero who gave his life for the cause of Independence.
John Garcia’s sense of the absurdity of the war is particularly keen. It is first evident to him in a request to board a battleship with fires near the ammunition. He refuses, but escapes punishment because of his role in rescuing people from the water. This same value for human life and knowledge of the futility with which it was often lost in the war pervades his story. He recounts a man being killed by friendly fire after lighting a cigarette, the death of his girlfriend from American artillery shells fired at planes, and the Japanese woman and child he shot in the pacific. John is eager to fight in the war at first, taking a cut in wages and even petitioning the president to be allowed to serve. This patriotism is replaced by a sense of guilt and fear once he must actually kill people. He thinks he committed murder when he shot the Japanese woman and child, and is haunted by the grief of the families of the soldiers he kills. He says he drank because it was the only way he could overcome the guilt and kill someone. Once the war was over he no longer needed alcohol and stopped drinking, but a permanent change in his view of himself and warfare is evident. He is still continually troubled in his dreams by the woman and child he shot, and while he was initially eager to join the war, he refused to use violence as a policeman afterwards and thinks that if countries are going to war they ought to send the politicians to fight.
In Dalton Trumbo’s novel, “Johnny Got His Gun,” Trumbo introduces a father and son and elaborates on their close relationship. The father and son are camping in the middle of the woods at their usual spot, “a place that they had visited since the boy was seven.” Trumbo connects these two men, father and son, on a personal level using a simple conversation. This conversation explains the how fishing trips are a tradition between the men and how much they truly enjoy and value each other’s company. The son respects his father as the father respects his son, a mutual love that extends beyond any simple weekend outing. Trumbo uses vivid imagery and simple, yet effective, dialogue to paint the scene of a father and son bonding over the earth.
to deteriorate the human spirit. Starting out leaving you're home and family and ready to fight for you country, to ending up tired and scarred both physically and mentally beyond description. At the beginning of the novel nationalist feelings are present through pride of Paul and the rest of the boys. However at the end of the war it is apparent how pointless war really is.
War is a very tough and gruesome thing that people have to deal with even though no one likes it. It takes a special person to enlist and go fight for their country. Someone who's tough and can handle seeing the things they have to see day after day, no matter what just to defend their country. Now imagine being only fifteen and sneaking into the army just to do what's right and needs to be done. It was the mid 1940's while WWII is raging through Europe as Hitler and his numerous followers and soldiers are terrorizing mainly the Jewish population killing millions. Jack Raab, a fifteen year old boy, dreams of being a hero, so when he hears about what's going on he sees it as his chance to be one. Leaving his family in New York with his brothers
If service is the calling then sacrifice is the price our veterans must pay for that service. From the time our Soldiers, ...
Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war in the first place” (O’Brien 21). The soldiers did not go to war for glory or honor, but simply to avoid the “blush of dishonor” (21). In fact, O’Brien states “It was not courage, exactly; the object was not valor.
The Civil War, World War I, the Vietnam War, World War II, and the conflict in the Middle East are all wars that have been fought over the difference of opinions, yet come at the cost of the soldier 's fighting them; Humans killing other humans, and death is just one of the many emotional scars soldiers of war face. Why do we go to war when this is the cost? For many it is because they are unaware of the psychological cost of war, they are only aware of the monetary cost or the personal gains they get from war. Tim O 'Brien addresses the true cost of war in "The Things They Carried". O 'Brien suggests that psychological trauma caused by war warps the perception of life in young Americans drafted into the Vietnam War. He does this through Lieutenant
“The turning point in the process of growing up is when you discover the core of strength within you that survives all hurt (Max Lerner).” In this excerpt from Dalton Trumbo’s novel Johnny Got His Gun, Joe, a young man, comes of age and would rather company of someone else other than his father unlike when he was seven. As he got older, the love he had for his father didn’t change but the time he spends with him does. As much as it hurts Joe’s father that Joe is hanging with someone else, he understands his son is aging yet he won’t allow it to diminish their relationship. You will learn about their deep relationship through devices like point of view, carefully described details, and syntax.
In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front and the poem "The Man He Killed," the main two characters have similar thoughts and emotions towards war, they both enroll in war for reasons other than patriotism and they also feel that under different situations, their enemies could have been their friends. If both the characters really felt the reason or need to be in the war, their experiences would have been positively different. Through the characters, it is portrayed that patriotism can be expressed mainly through war, but there are other numerous ways to show your love for the country.
In his story “On the Rainy River” Tim O’Brien is explaining to us how he had to chose to either go to war or stay at his home. He had to make a big decision about if he really wanted to go to Vietnam War. Some things that stand out about the main character is that he is a very brave person and will give up his body to do what is right. While reading this I can see that the main character is very powerful and very unafraid of certain things. At the same time he also was afraid of certain things because he does not believe in the war. He doesn’t necessarily believe in the war he really just doesn’t support it at all. Even though he really doesn’t support this he still ends up going because it’s in his religious to do things like that. Another
Kill or be killed by the enemy. When bullets are flying past his face and mortar shells are exploding all around him, he is not mindful of fighting ethically. Nor is he even mindful of fighting for his country. He is fighting for his life. To stay alive, he must kill the enemy, destroy the enemy.
greatest sacrifice one would have to make is death. Dying for a loved one means