Soldiers adapt to the different criterions of war, to the point where the word death loses its emotional value. In the text, All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, ceaselessly slaughtering people merely becomes a soldier’s duty. Paul says, “We have become wild beasts…we can destroy and kill to save ourselves.”(Remarque, 15) This shows that death no longer is considered a sensitive topic, in the soldiers’ views. Also, they don’t have any humane thoughts/feelings before assassinating someone because it becomes a part of their reflexive skills and therefore, requires no second thoughts or sensitive feelings. They seem to be indifferent to the fact that they have killed someone because assassination merely becomes their ‘job.’ In a similar manner, Generals Die in Bed by Charles Yale Harrison, is inclusive of the same insensitiveness and indifference towards the death and murdering of people.
The relationship between both families during the funeral of Frank Hayden, have both families standing on opposite sides. White defending the assumptions made by Wesley Hayden, Julian Hayden’s respond aiming towards the ‘respect man, a war hero’ statement, believing he puts family loyalty above justice no matter the situation. Wesley, at first declining the fact that Frank committing those crimes.
Me and my classmates were fed all those great examples of people fighting during Second World War sacrificing their lives and not even dare to look for any kind of reward other then admitting them into “hero ranks” of their “great” country. Fighting for reward was not hero like behavior. I realize though that this understanding of hero was more due to the norms and obligations of certain time and society. In “The Iliad” hero is noted for his courage and strength and desire to fight especially if they risk their life or put it in any kind of danger. But at the same time Homer also pays great attention to rewards, heroes get for their fighting.
The cold truth, being that the loved ones back home are left broken hearted, as they are told that Father, Brother or Son have been killed at War, serving for their Country. They gave their lives for the people back home... but what for? I do see the honour in fighting for something you believe in, and being ready to make a difference. It is just I simply do not see the honour in a violent battle that leaves many dead, injured and mentally tortured. The soldiers become puppets, and it is someone back home in their warm and comfortable house, pulling the strings.
This pathos describes how Lincoln would care for his people and how he would put the task of helping the people suffering from the war first, serving as a strong pathos since it is not only emotionally affecting his people, but also encouraging and giving them hope. The war destroyed millions of families. Lincoln in the first place gave his attention on healing the people and their families, instead of describing how beautiful the future would be and giving unrealistic assumptions This pathos and ethos made people, no matter the North or the South, to feel that they are in unity. Both sides were suffering the same war and urged to end it, while they shared a same religion. God plays an important role to connect the people together, which enhances Lincoln’s credibility in his speech besides his position as a president and occasion of this speech.
Wilfred Owen had a good education as well, but (unlike Rupert Brooke) he went to war, and saw what it was it was really like, the bad conditions, the lack of food and meaningless deaths, Wilfred Owen realised that the war was cold and cruel, not like people imagined it. This poem is very negative, and quite sad, unlike ' The Soldier' it expresses the tormented thoughts and recollections of a teenage soldier in the 1st World War, who has lost his limbs in battle and is now confined, utterly helpless, to a wheelchair. I think Wilfred wanted people to realise that the war was not as glorious and victorious as people thought, there were so many men whose lives were thrown away even if they did physically survive it.. Unfortunately Wilfred Owen died on the 4th of November 1918, before the end of the war. To conclude, these two poems are different in many ways (attitude, mood, tone, ect..) One was to encourage the people to fight for their country and go to war, one was to make people see that the war destroyed many men's lives, it had no mercy.
World War I had drastic impacts on European society. Before the war, the romanticized image of men was heroic, courageous, and strong. However, the violent warfare left these soldiers bracing themselves and huddling together in the trenches, feeling helpless. After the war, these soldiers were disillusioned by the war because their prewar values had become meaningless. This group, including both men and women, became known as the "Lost Generation".
“The Show”, for example, dehumanises soldiers within the battlefield and arguably has no sense of “passive suffering” whatsoever. Whereas the likes of poems such as “Exposure” and “Spring offensive” show many examples of what could be interpreted as feelings of acquiescence towards the pain that the soldiers he is writing about are going through. In “Exposure” there seems to be large sense of complacency not only in terms of suffering but with the war as a whole. “We only know the war lasts” indicates this idea of submissiveness as it shows this idea of the soldiers understanding the fact that the war is happening and the harm that it brings but also that they themselves can do nothing about this. The subsequent line “But nothing happens” shows the theme of “passive suffering” through the idea that the word “nothing” brings a sense of the soldiers suffering for almost no cause whatsoever, the fact that it is again, repeated in almost every stanza after puts emphasis on this idea.
Anthem For Doomed Youth is a sonnet written by Wilfred Owen about the realities of war. Wilfred Owen was a soldier during WW1 and therefore understands fully the true experiences of war. He was against war and was appalled by the effects of war on people and their families. The purpose of the poem is to inform the public of the true realities of war and how young men where dying needlessly. This was because during war times the media would tell the public that the war going great and that the men where doing just fine, but this obviously just wasn’t true.
Wilfred Owen was an active soldier during WWI, who used his horrific experiences during the war to write his poems. His poems stemmed from his views on war, as he believed that although war was sometimes necessary, it was futile and evil. Two of his poems, ‘Exposure’ and ‘Disabled’ both reveal the price paid by soldiers during WWI. ‘Exposure’ examines the more psychological effects on the soldiers and is written from the view of the soldiers on the front line, ‘Disabled’ shows the aftermath and repercussion of fighting in WWI and the physical damage it caused. The first word in ‘Exposure’ is ‘our’ and is written in first person plural, showing the reader that Owen wanted to convey the plight of the universal soldier and how they all suffered the same fate, no matter their side.