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Short essay on "impacts of war on literature
World War II in literature
War in literature essay
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The First World War was a major event in The Stone Carvers by Jane Urquhart and Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden. Both books differed while looing at the war because Stone Carvers was shown through the point of view of someone who was home during the war. But Three Day Road was shown more through the point of view in the war. While both books explore the First World War they both present that the war was not what it seemed to be. Soldiers went in thinking they where going to be a hero, but they are just a number, they did not realize that they may lose their life, for their country. Overall it was a big scheme to get people over to Europe, in a big mass.
All the people in the war were just a number. People did not know how many people went into the war or didn't know who was actually in the war. In Three Day Road Elijah and Xavier just decided to go into war and they weren`t even know about. Of course Xavier was known about in the war but the amount of people in the war and to keep things organized they had to given them numbers but where they were disorganized is, that they don'...
Provided that everyone has the right to live their own lives, during a war, all of those rights are violated. Either party will kill to assure their survival. Furthermore, in Three Day Road, if the protagonist did not commit murder, but rather avoided war entirely, he probably wouldn’t have survived. On page 69 of Three Day Road, it states “I replay it over and over in my head so that I don’t sleep all night, pulling the pin on my mills bomb, throwing it and watching it arc until it disappears into the crater, the concussion and screams.” Xavier in this quote is shown punishing himself
In war many people had a fixed view of how war was. In the book All Quiet On the Western Front the main character Paul went home and listened to his father talk to his friends about how good the war truly was. Paul sat and watched and didn't say anything because he didn't want to ruin the perspectives of the men and it was simply too hard for him to talk about.”I realise
Similarly, Xavier and Elijah from Three Day Road go through a path of losing love and friends eventually turning to enemies. To begin, Xavier and Elijah war quickly noticed by other comrades because of their hunting skills. Xavier and Elijah grew up with a native background where Xavier doesn’t see killing as an ordinary thing to do. This is seen when Xavier is being shot at for the first time. He witnesses how close it was for him to be killed, responding, “The other side wants to kill me, and I’ve never even seen their faces” (Boyden, 33). Much like Paul, Xavier share many similarities to show guilt, shame and innocence. Xavier as well as Paul, thinking for all his comrades and there service for the war. Showing how his culture has taught and raised him to do so. War gives soldiers the main purpose to kill, while for Paul and Xavier killing a human is not morally wrong. In addition, Paul, like Xavier haves regret and shame for all the comrades and enemies that they have lost. This causes them to go into a state of anger and guilt which they cannot control. This is seen after Xavier cannot think straight after destroying a base along with enemies, Xavier proclaims, “I replay it over and over in my head so that I don’t sleep all night, pulling the pin on my mill bomb, throwing it and watching it arc until it disappears into the crater, the concussion and screams. I have killed someone now” (Boyden, 75). Images of horror replay in Xavier head after he kills a group of men. It is shown that Xavier is attached emotionally to his victims. While most soldiers are alone and cannot express their feelings, this leaves these thoughts as a burden which can lead to insanity. However, Xavier finds love during the war which gave him hope again...
During the war, people struggle to differentiate their enemies from friends causing people to act on fear. Survival is paramount and trusting someone can lead to the deaths of an entire village. Beah wrote,”Many times during our journey were surrounded by muscular men with machetes who almost killed us before realizing we were children just running away from war.” (Page 72, Chapter 8). War causes people to be on edge and trust is no longer a connection but a reason that could end a person's life. The major theme in “A Long Way Gone” is survival and acting based on an emotional concept can cost atrocities.
According to Joseph Boyden, "They lived in the mud like rats and lived only to think of new ways to kill one another. No one is safe in such times, not even the Cree of Mushkegowuk. War touches everyone, and windigos spring from the earth"(49). For those who think that joining a war is an opportunity for adventure and excitement, they are wrong. In reality, it is the opposite with life and death on the line due to unnecessary slaughter between human beings because they cannot solve their own conflicts. This devastating topic is told by Joseph Boyden’s novel "Three Day Road" by two different protagonists sharing their own adventures and their conflicts. The protagonist Xavier and antagonist Elijah experience bloody warfare ability to cause havoc. They begin to understand that bloody warfare can make them physically and mentally draining over time because how it changes a person personality making them corrupt with intent to become a windigo themselves like Elijah did, striving to kill another human being as their only goal for survival. As humans, Joseph Boyden is reflecting that if the readers were Xavier or Elijah themselves place in that unstable environment filled with diseases and distraught. We would experience the same kind of suffering Elijah and Xavier had to go through.
The way the characters change emphasises the effect of war on the body and the mind. The things the boys have to do in the act of war and “the things men did or felt they had to do” 24 conflict with their morals burning the meaning of their morals with the duties they to carry out blindly. The war tears away the young’s innocence, “where a boy in a man 's body is forced to become an adult” before he is ready; with abrupt definiteness that no one could even comprehend and to fully recover from that is impossible. The story is riddled with death; all of the dead he’s has seen: Linda, Ted Lavender, Kiowa, Curt Lemon, the man he killed, and all the others without names.
First, both are similar in how they spread their message across. Basically, both made the enemy seem like a cruel heartless monster who only has the capability to kill while the heroes are the country’s soldiers/citizens. Both play on the pathos of citizens. They paint this idea that citizens must fight because the enemy is filled with barbarians.
Historians generally refer to WWI as the first 'total war'. It was the first conflict in which modern industrialized societies mobilized their complete economic, technological and psychological resources in order to wage war. Unlike earlier wars, which involved relatively small numbers of soldiers on the battlefield, it affected many aspects of the lives of civilian populations and demanded enormous sacrifices and support from them. Mobilization of the home front was crucial to achieving military victory. Some of the main aspects of Total War include conscription of men into the armed services, increased government control of the economy and daily lives of citizens and subsequent loss of personal liberty. Control of the labor force, physical safety and security of civilian populations threatene...
World War I, otherwise known as the Great War, began as a small battle that eventually developed into a prodigious uproar between several countries. An event that could have perhaps been avoided and prevented unnecessary deaths. WWI’s beginnings are controversial and historians throughout the world have several theories about the destructive event. Said to be one of the most disastrous and ruinous struggles between nations, The Great War lasted from July 1914 until November 1918. Referred to as a World War because of the global participation and the international unsettle; this war was exacerbated by 7 million casualties. World War I was primarily concerned with the struggle for mastery in Europe, but it was a global conflict that reached across five oceans and three continents. (Wilmott, 1) World War I introduced modern technologies including weaponry and nuclear machinery from opposing forces known as Central Powers against the Allied powers.
This war involves a human side, including the admission of fear and scenes of domestic life, not in a sentimentalized version. This more complete and responsible depiction shows that there's not one single center to the war, just as there's not one single god for the Greeks.
Before we even look at World War 1, we need to fully understand the importance of the rise of militarism, imperialism and nationalism. You may as yourself, why is this important? This is important because these ideologies led the Great War. There are a lot of similarities
The First World War that broke out in Europe on August, 1914 definitely created a lasting effect in the world. It was not just a war between two nations but a war of the world divided into two- the Central Powers and the Allies. Alliances, development of new weapons such as rapid fire machine guns, long range guns of explosive shells, tanks and aerial battles, and extreme nationalism added more flame in this fume. However, many thought that this will just be a short war, little did they know that an enormous shadow was casting all over Europe the moment it involved itself in the war.
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.
World War I is known as a war that occurred on extremely cruel terms; there were not many restrictions on what and when certain weapons could be used. Unfortunately, the Industrial Age brought with it many new ways to kill; the soldiers of World War I came in contact with many new weapons that they had never seen in combat.
...the 559 characters in War and Peace are described in such detail as to make them individualized. Even the most trivial character can be seen as an individual (317).