The Moral Confusion of the First Half of the Twentieth Century

The first half of the twentieth century was a remarkable period in the history of the world. This is arguable since historians can say that other times have been remarkable in their own right. But from a moral standpoint, the world was grappling with a host of issues that were hard to deal with. The 1986 movie entitled Platoon directed by Oliver Stone, the novel entitled The Portrait of the artist as a young man by James Joyce and the lengthy poem by T.S Elliot entitled Waste Land have a common theme of the moral confusion that engulfed the world at this juncture in history. With evidence from these three different genres, this essay will show that moral confusion was indeed the issue at hand during this time. One may argue that this was the time that man attained moral clarity, but as the evidence obtained from these works will show, a number of actions were being done as a way of creating a better world, but at the end of the day the actions themselves turned out to be ill conceived and morally questionable.

To begin with, the Platoon represents the most profound attempt to create a peaceful world using the wrong means, and this is a clear sign of moral cloudiness or confusion. There is a clear problem in Vietnam, and regardless of the extent to which people are suffering, the wisdom of sending American troops as a remedy leads to more war and more deaths, thus lengthening the time of suffering and the number of people who are killed in Vietnam. This scenario adds to the age-old question of whether by going to war man creates peace or more insecurity. Vietnam does not become any secure with the entry of American troops. All that happens is an escalation of fighting with both the Vietcong and the Americans losing their soldier...

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...nt is characterized by confusion. When the question at hand is moral, then there is definitely moral confusion.

In conclusion, it is evident that the Portrait of an Artist a Young Man as by James Joyce, the Platoon by Oliver Stone and Waste Land by T.S.Elliot have details that point to a moment of moral confusion right from the first world war to the end of the cold war. It is not possible to state in this essay that the moral confusion is over, but as per the texts and the film, this is the nature of the period that is covered in these genres.

Works Cited

Elliot, T.S. (1922) “Waste Land.” in The Norton Anthology of English Literature,(1993), (6th ed.), vol. 2, New York: Norton.

Joyce, J. (1993). The Portrait of the artist as a young man. New York: Penguin Classics.

Stone, O. (Director), Kopelson, A. (Producer). (1986), Platoon.Metro Goldwyn Mayer, Angeles.