Similarities Between 'American Sniper And The Book Thief'

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Recommended: How are soldiers affected by war

English Connections War is a prominent theme that saturates my texts of “American Sniper” directed by Clint Eastwood, “The Book Thief” written by Markus Zusak, “Dulce et Decorum est” written by world war 1 soldier and poet Wilfred Owen and “Syria’s Children” written by Ruerd Visser. The connections explored and interwoven between these texts includes how society has twisted out perception of the realities of war as well as the innocence lost by the children caught in the crossfire of guns and bombs. Two of the texts are nearly 100 years apart, each a different war, but yet the same outcome. “The Syrian children are fleeing their homeland, becoming refugees of war.” The opening lines of Visser’s poem pleads for help from the world while putting …show more content…

This reality of modern torture and war would have left many speechless but in denial that such a cruelty continues in our ‘beautiful’ world. The academy award winning film shows the real story of Chris Kyle, a cowboy champion turned lethal sniper, tour and ‘protect’ his beloved country, all while showing and depicting more realistic views of war. Many Hollywood films depict war as fast, adrenaline rushing, heart pounding and mostly, heroic. Eastwood’s take on a sniper in Iraq showed a much different side. As Chris goes on more tours of duty, killing more and more Iraq citizens and enemies, his time there is nothing of ‘glorious’, but rather as slow, in urine drenched rooms with little super heroic actions – other than the death of the enemy. At home, Chris is illustrated to focus purely on the Iraq war, worrying about American marines and troops being killed by other just as skilful snipers. Later in the film, Chris appears to become more distant from his wife and children, focusing more on the American troops who are over in Iraq and Syria fighting. This illustrates only a glimpse of the reality of war is. War is not all about the killing and shootings (as many scenes depict) but war also involves the aftermath a troop/victim may suffer. For Chris, the war and “all the guys (he) couldn’t save” haunts him after his fourth tour. This shows how Hollywood movies and society, typically show soldiers being able to come home and go back to normal. Dulce et decorum est, a poem written by a world war 1 soldier and poet, Wilfred Owen, creates images the readers build from this doorstep back in time, and truly special. The poem is similar to the of the novel, in its nature that it does not hold back from revealing the truth of the

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