In Rebecca West’s The Return of the Soldier the continual coverage made by the media of the war during its occurrence and the infectiousness it had on those back home is portrayed through the eyes of her narrator, Jenny. The use of a female narrator wasn’t uncommon nor new but the way West includes her feminist values into Jenny without making it central to the story is fascinating. Up to this point in history, coverage of a war had never been read about as it was during this period. Because of this advancement in getting news out had improved drastically from the last war, people back home were more aware of what was occurring from reading a newspaper without having to wait for letters from their loved ones out on the front lines. West took this information in full stride and wrote about the emotional turmoil it causes the women back home waiting for their men to come back. She makes mention by focusing and bringing to attention the elements of class, exile from being deployed and the trauma that war causes on the soldier.
The approach West uses to capture her readers is through the voice of her narrator Jenny, in which her voice gives the novel an authentic feel of the torment that the women went through while waiting for their men and loved ones to return. “As the English struggled to come to terms with the wounded soldiers in their midst, medical literature provided one kind of narrative recovery; fiction provided another” (Freedman 384) and this is exactly what West conveyed in her novel, a lifelike fiction story about three women dealing with class, exile and trauma. She brought to the reader these elements that before had not been dealt with because the coverage of war had always been minimal and usually outdated, the...
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...s novel. It is known that Chris is the cause for the trauma but the way that Jenny, Kitty and Margaret all dealt with his return were unusual and different to each others. As Kibble wrote about the novel, “the effects of the war on the male psyche have been well documented: as well as the dehumanizing sense of estrangement, of discontinuity between the self and the role required of the soldier” (557) can be used to remember that it’s not always about the soldier but those who take care of him when he returns. Up to this point war had never been covered in the media as it was and previously women weren’t as effected by it as they were now. West’s use of Jenny as the narrator allowed the reader to sympathize and understand what three women had to deal with when their soldier returned from the war having to deal with a loss of memory that opened up a can of emotions.
When an author romanticizes a piece of literature, he or she has the power to convey any message he or she wishes to send to the reader. Authors can make even the most horrible actions, such as Dustan murdering ten savages in their sleep and justify it; somehow, from both the type of mood/tone set in this piece of literature, along with the powerful word choice he used, Whittier had the ability to actually turn the tables on to the victim (i.e. the ten “savages” who were murdered in their sleep). “A Mother’s Revenge” by John Greenleaf Whittier, is a prime example of how authors can romanticize any situation into how they want to convey their message.
A prominent theme in A Long Way Gone is about the loss of innocence from the involvement in the war. A Long Way Gone is the memoir of a young boy, Ishmael Beah, wanders in Sierra Leone who struggles for survival. Hoping to survive, he ended up raiding villages from the rebels and killing everyone. One theme in A long Way Gone is that war give innocent people the lust for revenge, destroys childhood and war became part of their daily life.
It is said that when a man returns from war he is forever changed. In the short story, “The Red Convertible,” Louise Erdrich demonstrates these transformations through the use of symbolism. Erdrich employs the convertible to characterize the emotional afflictions that war creates for the soldier and his family around him by discussing the the pre-deployment relationship between two brothers Henry and Lyman, Lyman's perception of Henry upon Henry's return, and Henry’s assumed view on life in the end of the story.
“At the war’s end, even though a majority of women surveyed reported wanted to keep their jobs, many were forced out by men returning home and by the downturn in demand for war materials… The nation that needed their help in
In the article, “The Cause of Her Grief”, Anne Warren tells us a story of a slave woman ordered to be raped and forced to reproduce. Warren first begins telling the slave woman story by taking us back and recollecting the slave woman’s voyage from her home land to the ownership of Mr. Maverick. She used vivid language during this passage to help the reader imagine what type of dissolute conditions she traveled in to end up being a rape victim. For example in the section where Warren attempts to describe the condition of her travel. She wrote “When speaking of the origins of captured slaves, we are often reduced to generalities”. (Warren 1039) In that moment she addresses the fact that as readers we often over simplify the idea of slavery and what it was like, we could only imagine. The author uses the words “captured slave” to set the wretched and forced precedent for the remainder of the reading. At this moment she is requiring that you imagine being captured, held upon your rightful will of freedom. This is important to the slave experience; they did not have a choice just as this woman had no choice. She goes on to address the conditions of the vessel on which the salve woman traveled. She wrote “crammed into the holds of wooden ships, trapped in excrement, vomit and sweat” (Warren 1040). This was yet another demand from the author for the reader to place themselves in the feet of the slaves. It is also another key element in understanding not only slavery but also John Maverick’s slave woman. She travelled weeks, sometimes months to make arrive at the given destination. Once the slave woman arrived to land it was time for her to be sold. Yet again we are now asked by the author to paint a more vivid picture of the slavery exp...
"From Home Front to Front Line." Women in War. Ed. Cecilia Lee and Paul Edward Strong. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. The Churchill Centre. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.
Many people question if Guy Sajer, author of The Forgotten Soldier, is an actual person or only a fictitious character. In fact, Guy Sajer in not a nom de plume. He was born as Guy Monminoux in Paris on 13 January 1927. At the ripe young age of 16, while living in Alsace, he joined the German army. Hoping to conceal his French descent, Guy enlisted under his mother's maiden name-Sajer. After the war Guy returned to France where he became a well known cartoonist, publishing comic books on World War II under the pen name Dimitri.
Just like the factual perspective of the journalist, Mrs. McLean's view emphasized the desperate condition of these war veterans. They were gathered in the peaceful and respectful petition of their government. She went out to them and saw the faces of the men and women of the Bonus Army. She saw their hunger and their desperation so she went out to give food and cigarettes. She also made her son aware of the situation by being helpful and caring to their fellow men who fought for the country.
A day has not passed in these wretched trenches where I hadn’t remembered my sweetest wife and two sons. How is everyone, Mildred? I hope you and the boys are healthy and eating well. This total war must be taking its toll on our home as well. Have you been making ammunition in the factories yet, Mildred? In accordance with the news arriving from the village, almost all women have begun working in factories and are now producing war-related goods to support us soldiers. Many of us had experienced consternation when hearing the news of women and children participating in laborious tasks such as factory and farm work. It is of my greatest hope that this letter may reach you as I may not be able to write again.
Have you ever had something of great value be taken from you and then feeling emotionally empty? In Celia Garth, Gwen Bristow desires to share the important message of Celia Garth’s past to the characters and readers. Memories prove that Celia got through the war and the bells provided a stress free period. Her memories were resembled through the bells of St.Michaels Church. The past demonstrated in Celia’s eyes about the war and what the bells reminded her of.
...it may help us arrive at an understanding of the war situation through the eyes of what were those of an innocent child. It is almost unique in the sense that this was perhaps the first time that a child soldier has been able to directly give literary voice to one of the most distressing phenomena of the late 20th century: the rise of the child-killer. While the book does give a glimpse of the war situation, the story should be taken with a grain of salt.
Mary Anne is initially introduced to the audience, narrated by Rat Kiley, as an innocent and naïve young woman present in Vietnam solely to visit her boyfriend, Mark Fossie. She arrives in “white culottes” and a “sexy pink sweater” (86), and is deemed by the other soldiers as no more than a happy distraction for her man. As Mary Anne settles in though, her abundant curiosity of Vietnam and the war heighten, and she soon enough possesses as much interest in the war as many of the men. Forward, Mary Anne’s transformation into a soldier begins as she leaves her sweet femininity behind. No longer caring for her vanity, she falls “into the habits of the bush. No cosmetics, no fingernail filing. She stopped wearing jewelry, [and] cut her hair short” (94). Mary Anne’s lost femininity is also evident when she handles powerful rifles like the M-16. Not only does the weapon literally scream out masculi...
The story has different elements that make it a story, that make it whole. Setting is one of those elements. The book defines setting as “the context in which the action of the story occurs” (131). After reading “Soldier’s Home” by Ernest Hemmingway, setting played a very important part to this story. A different setting could possibly change the outcome or the mood of the story and here are some reasons why.
... to set the frame of this dark reminder and relate to the outcomes of all wars in general, not just WWI. Augusta’s traumatic memories of the battles also helped promote the awfulness of the war, especially when she was suffering from the horrible flashbacks of wounded victims and injured soldiers. As for her relationship with George, it was uneasy and never really improved, most probably because of the intense situation around them that scarred them both to life. In addition George pointed out, on an artistic level, another loss caused by the war. He mourns the fact that before the war there were two worlds of art, the world of high art and the world of artistry but after the war, there is only one world of art which was Austin’s. Not only did The Great War manipulate the course of the story, but its fatal and disastrous results were extremely hard to overcome from.