A Comparison Of Differing Views/Attitudes To War With Reference To Regeneration, Strange Meeting, Selected Poetry and A Journeys End
David Lloyd George once commented, in a highly patriotic sense upon
‘the making of a new Europe-a new world’, to what degree was this true
is debatable to a great extent, after all the armistice signed on
November 11th 1918, didn’t confirm victory but only to learn a
horrific number of 9,000,000 million fatalities were caused due to
world war 1. Surely enough this was a new Europe? As a country, life
would go on in England, but for wives, children and family the tragedy
seemed to live on.
For many the thought of a war had urged men to fight for their country
and ‘do their bit’. This was the pinpoint of where the tragic
narrative begun. At first war was encouraged and seen as very
exciting, but during and after the war these views changed
dramatically.
Many of the opinions, feelings and views on war have been reflected in
many different types of literature. Novels such as ‘Regeneration’ and
‘Strange Meeting’ illustrate the emotions, which were carried by most
world war one soldiers. ‘A Journeys End’ and Gallipoli’ also take us
through a narrative of happy, sad, tragic and anxious moments. The
visual aid is advantageous to the audience as we are able to
distinguish between the characters behaviour by seeing how each one
responds to the reality of war. Many of the poems also provide in
depth knowledge of attitudes towards the war, as they can be trusted
due to time that they were created in. in many ways these poems
written before and after the war reflect the truth behind the feeling
of war. Poetry...
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... they would be the
reason behind ‘World Peace’. Unfortunately world war one created
further problems. It became a solution to all world problems. Violence
was now a ‘solving’ factor.
The consequences of war eternally changed peoples attitudes from the
ones they held before the war broke out. People realised that external
problems were really the minor ones. It was what was inside that
mattered. The fact was that society was becoming corrupt, which was
slowly evolving and still is today, such as the increasing of crime.
Manipulative methods such as of the usage of children and women
motivated men to go to war, this was wrong and it was only till it was
too late the nation had realised they had created evil itself. Thus so
many anti-war literature forms ca be found today, because what
happened is unforgettable.
The three narratives “Home Soil” by Irene Zabytko, “Song of Napalm” by Bruce Weigl, and “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen all have the same feelings of war and memory, although not everyone experiences the same war. Zabytko, Weigl, and Owen used shifting beats, dramatic descriptions, and intense, painful images, to convince us that the horror of war far outweighs the devoted awareness of those who fantasize war and the memories that support it.
The book ‘For Cause and Comrades’ is a journey to comprehend why the soldiers in the Civil War fought, why they fought so passionately, and why they fought for the long period of time. Men were pulling guns against other men who they had known their whole lives. McPherson’s main source of evidence was the many letters from the soldiers writing to home. One of the many significant influences was how the men fought to prove their masculinity and courage. To fight would prove they were a man to their community and country. Fighting also had to do with a duty to their family. Ideology was also a major motivating factor; each side thought they were fighting for their liberty. The soldier’s reputations were created and demolished on the battlefield, where men who showed the most courage were the most honored. Religion also played an important role because the second Great Awakening had just occurred. Their religion caused the men who thought of themselves as saved to be fearless of death, “Religion was the only thing that kept this soldier going; even in the trenches…” (McPherson, p. 76) R...
The Horror of Pity and War in Regeneration by Pat Barker and Collective Poems of Wilfred Owen
Nationalism influenced people’s thoughts about war, twisting their minds to believe that their government and military was supreme and would win a war quickly. Because “most European countries, with the exception of France and Prussia, had not had any major wars within the 19th century, they stepped into the 20th century thinking that they were immune to defeat. This idea of immunity developed as countries forgot of their past wars and sufferings. The British were confident in their naval forces, the Germans in their arms and ships, and the Russians thought their land was protected by God. Citizens strongly believed that their country was the best and would do just about anything to help their country. It became a school boy’s duty to enlist in the army upon his graduation. As Erich Maria Remarque states in his book, All Quiet on the Western Front, the “young men of twenty... whom Kantorek calls the ‘Iron Youth,’” are the ones sent off to war in Germany. Their teachers drilled this message into their minds from a young age. The boys were told that it was their duty to their country to fight. Zara Steiner, British Historian, related that British teachers were told “to teach boys that success in w...
War Explored in The Crucible by Arthur Miller, “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, and Leap to Freedom by Kasenkina
To increase support to fight in the war, both the Allies and the Central Powers utilized propaganda to have men enlist in their armies. For example, in Germany posters of masculine soldiers displaying bravery on the battlefield to defend the country were advertised, while in Great Britain unlisted men were handed white feathers by women, which was the symbol for cowardice (Lecture, 11/14/2013). To not fight in the war meant that to the public unlisted men did not display true masculinity or nationalistic loyalty to their country. Under this public pressure, men continued to fight in the war because they did not want to return home ashamed and be considered a treacherous coward in front of their peers. Moreover, during later years in the war when the military could tell that soldiers were losing interest in fighting, it also introduced propaganda in the form of trench newspapers. During down times in between battles, many soldiers experienced boredom while living in the trenches because of the lack of activities to do. Consequently, “trench newspapers” were...
From sunrise to sunset, day after day, war demolishes men, cities, and hope. War has an effect on soldiers like nothing else, and sticks with them for life. The damage to a generation of men on both sides of the war was inestimable. Both the novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, and the poem “I Have a Rendezvous with Death,” by Alan Seeger, demonstrate the theme of a lost generation of men, mentally and physically, in war through diction, repetition, and personification.
War and peace exist in more ways than large military conflicts, occurring between ideas and between people. Themes often explored in literature, war and peace, can be represented simply as personal conflicts, such as those between close friends. John Knowles’ A Separate Peace deals with the issue of war and peace by showing Peace, personified by Phineas, to be happy, naïve and confident, and War, personified by Gene, to be tortured, malicious and insecure, and that resolution to the conflict between them comes only from an understanding of the world around them.
As Bertrand Russell once said “War does not determine who is right - only who is left.” No one ever truly wins a wart. The horrors of war are devastating; both mentally and physically. The horror is not only ever present during life on the Frontline, it lives on in the survivors guilt. I believe that althought the horror of war is represented in the soldiers, we are all too quick to forget about the feelings of those at home, the friends and families, and the effects the war had on them. The effects of war are prominent throughtout the Novels “Regeneration” and “All quiet on the Western Front” and is also explored deeply in Wilfred Owen’s “Selected War Poetry”. Throughout these works we discover that war was inescapable for these men, they had no choice, and it+++++s events were also inescapable. We discover that the men would rather die defending their country as a hero than live with the flashbacks, the guilt, the both mental and physical scarring. They would rather lose their lives than their limbs. I find these works encompass this question fully, as it covers all angles. Pat Barker never really shows her opinion in the novel, it is more factual, and as it is based upon real events and real people it’s a reliable source of information on the horror of war and it’s effects, without bias. Erich Maria Remarque had first hand experience in the First World War, and he gives us an insight into what life on the frontline was really like. Althought fictional, I believe his suffering would have still haunted him years later, compelli...
War and its ramifications for those who are unfortunately entangled in it, is an issue that has fueled both political discussion and literary exploration throughout the previous century. Underived, authentic accounts of the experience and effects of war, from those who have served in it, can be especially enlightening for the majority of society who have had the fortune of not being intimately familiar with war. Through the examination of poems and stories written by soldiers, who were inspired by their involvement in conflict, one can obtain a greater understanding of this gruesome aspect of life, without having to directly experience it. Similarly, soldier turned poet, Bruce Weigl, has contributed his perspective on war through his literary
...turning back. Once they have been robbed of their innocence, they are unable to revert to their previous selves. War and facing the inevitable reality of death can change a person and disturb them for the rest of their lifetime. Many soldiers are naïve when they decide to serve their country; they plan on becoming a hero like their role models of the past. But when one truly experiences war for themselves, they find it unimaginable how people continue to declare war and urge young men to fight and honor their nation and family. One will remain innocent until he experiences the genuine emotional trauma of war.
The powerful poem ‘Weapons Training’ showcases a sergeant, through malicious words, guiding his troops. However it is through ‘Homecoming’, where Dawe exposes the brutal hopelessness brought forth by the futility of war. Therefore it can be seen that war has an emotional toll on both families and the soldiers. Both poems have a recurring message that all war does is bring loss, death and mourning, showcasing Dawes strong opinions about a futile
"Looking back now across fifteen years, I could see with great clarity the fear I had lived in, which must mean that in the interval I had succeeded in a very important undertaking: I must have made my escape from it" ( Knowles 5). In this novel A Separate Peace, using these words, John Knowles reveals the fear that haunts the students at Devon and when they proceeded with all their training for the war they mature into adults.
The next line expresses the way in which he has no grave stone, just a
Review of "War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning" War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, written by the talented author Chris Hedges, gives us provoking thoughts that are somewhat painful to read, but at the same time are quite personal confessions. Chris Hedges, a talented journalist to say the least, brings nearly 15 years of being a foreign correspondent to this book and concludes how all of his world experiences tie together. Throughout his book, he unifies themes present in all the wars he experienced first hand. The most important themes I was able to draw from this book were, war skews reality, dominates culture, seduces society with its heroic attributes, distorts memory, and supports a cause, and allures us by a constant battle between death and love.