The poet is saying that people should not talk about war as enthusiastically as it gives the impression that war is glorious. Furthermore, he says that the idea that ’it is sweet and right’ to die for your country is entirely untrue. Through this, we are able to form the opinion that war is not okay because it is a serious thing that carries many negative consequences. In Wilfred Owen’s poem Dolce et Decorum est, the use of similes conveys the harsh reality of war on soldiers as it changes them dramatically and kills the majority of them. In the first two lines of the poem, Owen uses the similes “Bent double like old beggars under sacks, knocked kneed, coughing like hags” to paint a grim picture in readers minds of how the soldiers were.
People feel they are being patriots by protesting everything the government does and find flaws with everything in this country. This also does not serve the country in a positive way. Always pointing out flaws and never helping to find a solution does not better the country in any way. To be patriotic is to love and respect fellow citizens, to take care of the land and the natural environment, to be active in elections, and to be able to see its flaws and weaknesses and to help turn them into strengths. Love and respect of fellow citizens is crucial to being patriotic.
“Unsung Heroes” follows the same line of thought. It enumerates explicitly false heroes that are often found among former US presidents and military people. Zinn reminds us of the crimes each of them has committed. He suggests that these undue idols be taken off their pedestals and be replaced by real heroes, people who have sacrificed something to make a change, even if it was a small one. Being a war-opponent and social activist, Howard Zinn’s most likely intention in writing “Unsung Heroes” was to educate people about the mistakes (and deliberate lies) that are, in his opinion, very common in the perception of American history.
Through his poems, Owen highlights the unjust experiences of soldiers to create a protest against the bureaucracy because of how they justified the harming and killing of many for their own political gain. He does this by highlighting the actions and inactions of the bureaucracy that contribute to benefit of the administration. This can be explored in his poems ‘Parable of the Old Man and the Young’ (Parable) and the epic war poem ‘Disabled’. These two poems employ Owens message of anti-war sentiment to establish a connection with the audience through his manipulation of poetic techniques. Owen highlights such unjust experiences of the soldiers to augment his argument against the bureaucracy.
The poems ‘Flag’ and ‘Half Caste’ were both written by John Agard. Flag explores how national symbols bind nations together- and in doing so also force people apart. Agard conveys in his writing how a person’s mind can become possessed and blinded into patriotism, willing to sacrifice for the love of their country despite the unmerciful decisions made by it, for example, the decision to go to war. Furthermore he explores ones naivety to come under such beliefs, planted into the minds of young men, poisoned by the lies of the country that they ‘love’ but don’t love back. Half Caste explores the position of being a mixed race citizen, described in this poem as ‘Half Caste’.
I am going to do this by indicating what methods and techniques they use to affect the reader and make them feel emotion towards the soldiers. Owen uses irony with the title Dulce et decorum est because it translates to it is a “Sweet and right thing”. This is irony because the poem is trying to say that war is bad and not a sweet and right thing. Owen also uses these words to hit out to Jessie Pope, who was a propaganda poet and Owen disliked her. Pope thinks that war was good and it was Ok to die during it but Owen strongly disagreed with that.
For Hobbes, ethics is only something that comes with politics, and politics is rooted in selfishness and the desire for self-preservation. Hobbes viewed human nature as shown in the state of nature was that men have a natural tendency to be selfish and will hurt anyone to get what they want. That is why the social contract is formed, because of this continuous fear of death, that at any moment you could be killed. Hobbes and Orwell contrast each other. Orwell said humans will perpetually be at war because of a strong, centralised authority as in 'big brother is watching you'.
“Is war ever justified?” The history of war is as old as the first murder.It is a heinous act which is usually performed either for defend,wealth or property.To those of us who are horrified by war, it is easy to say at once that war is never justified and will totally disagree with this topic. Nevertheless, there are some circumstances in which going to war are justified. Like the war against Jews by Palestinian, war against Indian army by Kashmiries is justified. So I totally agree with this topic that, “Is war ever justified.” First of all, we see that countries are often forced to go to war to defend themselves. A defensive war certainly seems justified.
The result is typically the worse the crime the harsher the punishment according to the jury’s collective moral beliefs. With that being the mentality of others, when placed in a position of leadership, the costs of being successful are questioned. Is it better to follow the golden rule and lead people with a gentle heart or to create a façade portraying certain characteristics wanted by the people, but ultimately ruling with an iron fist? The comparison of Beowulf and Machiavelli’s The Prince display both aspects of this argument. Always doing the right thing by others led Beowulf to his death, showing that what is believed to be a virtue will not help a kingdom to thrive, but destroys it.
While Pangloss constantly reminds Candide that he lives in “the best of all possibly worlds,” Voltaire really means quite the contrary. He is trying to display how much human pain goes unnoticed despite the fact that it is all around us. This may seem like a backward approach, but Voltaire forces the reader to question monarchial authority on their own. As far as inconsistency goes, the monarchs seem to pity themselves. Voltaire mocks that idea and tries to highlight the suffering of the people as a greater importance.