Louis de Bernieres's Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
Louis de Bernieres uses three principal techniques to portray the
effects of war so powerfully in his book. These techniques are the
powerful narrative, strong pictorial language, and black humour.
Above all, the message is conveyed in the narrative, especially when
Louis De Bernieres graphically describes the war’s impact on the
soldiers who are fighting for their country. At first, the soldiers
are united in their fight against the enemy “you are all young and
strong, overflowing with life, and you are all in this shit together”
– page 38. The mood at the beginning is positive, so much so that
the “soldiers grew to love each other” – page 38. They were excited
about being at war, they felt powerful and strong, and they were proud
to be fighting for their country. On page 39 the text says, “We were
all young together. We would never be more handsome, we would never be
more lean and strong, we would never have such water fights, we would
never again feel so invincible and immortal.” This very effectively
describes their sense of excitement and the strength of their minds
and bodies.
Over the course of the chapters, however, the feelings of excitement
and unity descend into a sense pointlessness and disillusion. For
example the effect the war had on Carlo is evident on page 40 when he
says “That war was an experience that shaped the whole course of my
thought, it was the deepest personal shock I have ever had, the worst
and most intimate tragedy of my life. It destroyed my patriotism…it
made me question the whole notion of duty and it horrified me and made
me sad” – these words contrast hugely with what he felt before. This
powerful quote creates a st...
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... the reality of war
is experienced. Another example of this humour is “ war is wonderful,
until someone is killed” – page 122. This technique creates a
humorous response at first but beneath the humour lies a ghastly
truth, which leads the reader to think about the extreme suffering and
waste of life which make up the reality of war.
The techniques, which Louis De Bernieres uses, are effective as they
combine forcefully to make the reader understand the true atrocities
of war. He destroys the idea that some people have about war being
an exciting and honourable opportunity to defend one’s nation. Louis
de Bernieres portrays the reality of war in a dramatic and effective
way through various techniques, but the most notable of these are
strong language, black humour, and above all the dramatic mental and
physical decay of characters within the narrative.
As the war progresses, Caputo requests to go to a line company in the middle of November. This is a change from the “office” position he currently held where he was largely responsible for counting casualties. At this point, the romanticized visions Caputo had of war have been completely shattered and he goes into this transfer being fully aware of this. This change in viewpoint becomes even more clear when compared to the beginning of the novel where Caputo was intrigued by the romance and action of war. While readers would expect more action and typical war stories in this section of the book, Philip Caputo writes anything but. Caputo writes, “It went like that for the rest of the month. It was a time of little action and endless misery…Almost every hour of every night, the radio operators chanted, ‘All secure. Situation remains the same’ (1996: 240). Caputo repeats the phrase “All secure. Situation remains the same” five times throughout this single paragraph. Because of this, readers see the dull and mundane side of war that is often not talked about. In addition, Caputo continues to comment of the large amounts of waiting throughout the autobiography. When most think of the Vietnam War, they picture the “main events”. Similar to the numerous documentaries we watched in class, some of the main points of the war include: The first Indochina War, The Gulf of Tonkin, and the Tet Offensive. These documentaries all focused on these monumental events and because of this, the public perceives this war as the sum of these events. However, what many fail to consider the large gaps in time between these events. It is in these large gaps that little action occurred and most of the soldier’s time was spent waiting as Caputo depicted in this scene. In connection with
He may not have been most affected by the war, but it was he who was described in the most detail, due to the fact that he was described in first person.
To illustrate, according to Churchill, it indicates the worst side of World War I as how it was the most damaging and cruel war of humanity because it was global and wounded most people. Moreover, it confused the thought of how the war started, who was responsible for the war, and how it ended up, and no one still got a right answer, but the previous war was not cruel that kill most of the people around the world. It was well known who started the war and whose fault it was. Also, Generals in WWI were not participating directly with their soldiers and were sitting far from the wars with having information through telephones. Therefore, they had less effects on their soldiers, and the armies did not get encouragement from their Generals as in the previous wars had, such as the physical battle of Hannibal and Caesar, Turenne and Marlborough, Frederick and Napoleon. Another point of view in the essay is that Generals as Napoleon have hard work to do in order to attack a place. For instance, they should organize their armies, have better tactics and plans, know how to defeat themselves, know the right time of attacking, and make big decisions. Hence, it is the deal of thousands of men’ life including the General himself in the previous wars, but the World War I was only the armies and citizens as well were the victims, so Generals were disappearing. That’s why
Herzog, Tobey C. "Going After Cacciato: The Soldier-Author- Character Seeking Control." Critique 24 (Winter 1983): 88- 96.
during the war. This novel is able to portray the overwhelming effects and power war has
*CONCLUSION This image, painted with the blood of soldiers, caused a reaction of ____ and the end produced devastating changes within the countries who participated yet the battles themselves
and social aspects of the war. In doing so, he illustrates how the war affected the development of
“The effect of World War II” 1950s vol. 4. Danbury: Grolier, Scholastic Library Publishing, 2005.
of war through the eyes of the main character, Henry Fleming. Because the book is rather
In the beginning, Baumer views the war with a fairly nationalistic attitude, as in the war being a necessary evil. Through the events he describes, however, these views change to a clear-sighted view of the war as a senseless struggle and burden put upon good men, like his school fellows, by those with power, and supported by those such as his schoolmaster, who know nothing of the reality of it.
...is interactions with his wife are filled with tension and he is saddened when he reflects upon the men lost during war and the death of his brother.
...e the Fascists an opportunity to utilise the anger which had swept through Italy to their advantage to ensnare voters to enable them to gain a place in power. The fears, of the middle and upper classes in particular, meant that any problems with Fascism were overlooked as they were overshadowed by worries over loss of land and money through Socialism and Communism. The rise of the Fascists to power cannot be solely attributed to one cause as each was beneficial; Mussolini’s leadership enabled them to stay in power once they had got there, the after effects of WWI had created anger and resentment that could be argued to fuel Fascism, the system of proportional representation meant that Fascists easily gained a foothold in the government and fears over different ideologies meant that issues with Fascism went unnoticed and were therefore not seen as a potential threat.
“Guido the father and son were forced to the Concentration camp but Guido persuades Giosue through the camp to believe that it's a really tough game to survive and win an award of a tank, ( Benigni). Giosue a little boy who doesn't know much about what's going on gets persuade that the camp is a game to win a tank goes through times in the camp where he wants to go home but doesn't know he was abandoned and his family was forced. Giosue later loses his dad and after freedom from the camp, Giosue was able to live his normal life on with his mom who was still
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.
The war constantly haunts the characters throughout the book. The effects of war are evident in their alcoholism and their unconscious cruelty to each other. It is the war and its effects they are running away from with their continuous drinking.