Some died a quick death while others died a slow, painful death, showing the reality of war. Paul and his friends have realized that the ideals of patriotism are hollow. They no longer believe that war is honorable. The reality of war becomes evident to Paul when he kills the French soldier, Gerard Duval, in his first face-to-face combat. He is distraught to kill a man that he finds out has a wife and child.
Although they identify that there is a sniper, they still fear him because they cannot discern exactly when he will strike. “Sooner or later this German sniper, who keeps us cowering in cold fear, will be caught in an advance by our troops.” Also in this chapter, the character of Brown, is killed by the sniper. Brown’s death would’ve made the narrator even more fearful of the unknown because he now knows what
The emotion a soldier experiences cannot be understood by anyone except those in war. This emotion is unique to each individual, as we all have different outlooks on life, death and war. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’s experience of the death of Lavender undoubtedly illustrates the effect war eventually makes on a soldier. Due to his mistake, Cross “felt shame. He hated himself.
Throughout Birdsong, Destruction of man is a constant theme conveyed by Faulks. In part two, Stephen is showed as distant to his to his men, lacking the ability to comfort his men, specifically when Weir refers to Stephen as a “cold bastard” as Stephen is not capable of comforting him. This is completely contradicted in part four, as Stephen expresses that “the grimmer, harder, more sardonic they became, the more he cared for them.” As they have fought together and killed together, the bond between the soldiers is forever growing. Negative diction is used to enforce the terrors of the war and enforced with the ‘rule of three’ showing the forever degrading effects to the soldiers on the front line. The destruction of man is also shown in a more psychological way.
WWI vs. WWII Reflection Thesis: While both World War I and World War II soldiers were similar in their negative outlook about fighting, their experiences greatly differed in regards to the much more advanced weapons used in WWII and as well as the degrees to which they viewed their enemies. WWI and WWII soldiers both strongly disliked the violence of war; whichever side they were on, the soldiers seemed to detest the intensity of fighting and violence. In the television mini-series, “Band of Brothers”, which features real-life experiences of WWI soldiers, the soldiers were forced to have “no mercy”. It was either kill or be killed. They witnessed as their comrades were blatantly killed on the battlefield, but were forced to quickly move on and continue fighting.
“We are heroes.” Are there really any heroes in the novel? To be a hero is to be courageous and selfless by risking your own life for the sake of others by choice. In wars heroes can be created out of soldiers who are nobodies, because of the conditions and situations they are put under. In the novel Generals Die in Bed every soldier is called a hero for fighting for their country. But during war they are the opposite of courageous and selfless, with a single moto of “Each man is for himself.” The narrator leaves his friends behind, because he knows that if he were to stop he would be dead.
Not only are their lives wasted, gone without the holy rite of a funeral, but the lives of their loved ones at home are also ruined. The technique of comparison is used a lot in this poem. Owen explores the monstrosity of war in various examples of comparison. The boys "die as cattle," this conveys the idea that the young men going to war is the same as cattle going to a slaughter house to be killed. With no real purpose but to be mindlessly massacred.
Question: Compare the ways in which Hardy portrays death in warfare in 'Drummer Hodge' and 'The Man He Killed' Hardy in ‘Drummer Hodge’ is trying to show us how war lowers the value of human life. Straight away, from the first stanza of ‘Drummer Hodge,’ Hardy writes about death in war. It begins with ‘They throw in Drummer Hodge...’ Immediately we can see the lack of respect for the Drummer, as they ‘throw’ him in, ‘to rest.’ Hardy further describes that Hodge is buried ‘Uncoffined – just as found;’ which reinforces our notion of the lack of respect shown towards the dead drummer. This shows us that in the haste of war the drummer is buried as quickly as possible, so fighting can resume, showing us how Hardy may be portraying the lowering value of a human being. We can also interpret this as presenting how death has become a nuisance for the military, resulting in dead soldiers being buried as quickly as possible.
War conveys the unleashed monster within a soldier and the kidnapping of a physically-healthy survivor’s mental aspect. The traumas of battle encourage feelings of indignation and antagonism in a soldier and the generals’ orders denies a corporal’s humble character. The sight of a fellow countryman riddled with bullets in his chest instigates sentiments of resentment and rage in a soldier’s mind, rendering them to retaliate with vehemence. Life in the trenches is completely opposite to normal life back at home and the disconnection from family and friends only keep soldiers persisting. During a soldier’s time at war, they develop many relationships in the trenches and on the frontline, many of them go as quickly as they came, however, some are evolve into close relationships.
But to read it as autobiography is to miss some of its complexity. The final act of the novel consists of the preparation for Amiens and the battle itself. Before being sent off, the soldiers are given a pep talk by a brigadier-general who recounts to them the news of the sinking of the Llandovery Castle, a clearly identified hospital ship that was torpedoed by the Germans in clear contravention of the international laws of war, a “wanton act of barbarism.” It is this information that steels our protagonist and his comrades to go into the bloodbath of Amiens energized by feelings of revenge. But when our hero survives and is sent wounded to Britain he encounters a hospital orderly who says of the Llandovery Castle: “That was bloody murder, brother. Our officers oughta be shot for that.