With his effective use of imagery, diction and irony, Wellford Owens strips away the glory of war and reveals the horror of what it was really like to fight in WWI. Imagery is one of the powerful devise Owen uses to show the realities of war in his poem. Owen uses descriptive words and graphic imagery to provoke feeling and deep emotions within the reader as a way of driving home his anti-war message. For instance, he writes of “froth-corrupted lungs,’’(22)”sores on innocent tongues” (24)and even describes the dying man’s face as a “devil’s sick of sin“(20). As a reader one cannot help but get a mental picture of the terrible war condition as well as feel deep compassion for the soldier.
I can feel the cruelty and sorrow from the huge amount of death in those wars. The novels I read let me feel deeper about the despair of the people who involved in the war. “War is hell, but that’s not the half of it, because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love. War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling; war is drudgery.
Despite the constant threat of enemy fire, everyone there have to struggle for food, deal with the lack of trained replacement troops, and the large possibility of death. The book highlights just how horrendous a battle can be out at war. It reveals that in a battle people are really blew to bits. For instance, in one of the fights Paul observes just how badly people were being wounded. He sees his comrades legs, arms, heads being blew apart.
Remarque articulates his anti-war message by portraying the brutality of war, and the negative effect it has on a generation. Remarque makes a clear point that war is not a commodity for men to become hero but rather brutal and unrelenting. He describes many scenes that portray the bloody horrors of war. The most obvious example is when Paul is walking around the hospital and describes the injuries that soldiers suffer from and he says, “a hospital alone shows what war is” (Remarque 263). This very blatant observation demonstrates Remarque’s point that war is simply gruesome.
As for the setting, it is set up in a terrible time of war that gives the reader a depressing, grieving feeling. The shocking ending is enough to affect all three of these topics. (Notes on “The Sniper” by O'Flaherty) Symbolism is a very successful thing used in “The Sniper”. The first connection of symbolism that is noticed is between the bothers. It can be said that the brothers are reflecting the war between two countries.
“Harrison’s underlying theme – the horror of war – is particularly clear if we examine the actions and comments of his narrator”. Discuss. It is said that war can change a man. What exactly is meant by this phrase? What things might a soldier experience in war?
We see these men facing extreme dangers and through all of this the theme of “war is hell” is portrayed very well. Saving Private Ryan displays how war is hell by the use of lighting techniques, editing, and sound. All of these contribute greatly to how the movie and made and what the movie is attempting to get the audience to understand. As you watch a war movie you typically don’t expect the lighting to be what you see in other genre of movies. As this movie starts, the audience watches a flag blowing; the lighting as we see it is faint, and almost black and white.
Millions of soldiers and civilians got killed and both of these novels illustrate how awful and horrific the time of the war actually was. ‘Regeneration’ starts with a direct vehicle of protest as Sassoon shows his innocence by going public with his declaration. ‘A Soldier’s Declaration’ is the main threshold of the novel which sets up a seriousness of the situation and it includes Sassoon’s own decision to stop fighting in the war: “I am acting on behalf of soldiers. I believe that this war…has now become a war of aggression and conquest. (p.3) Sassoon
In Tim O’Brien’s How to Tell a War Story, he describes the details of a true war story and how they can strike beautiful and dark feelings of depression and triumph in the pit of one’s soul. The beauty in the story comes from the detail and the reality of the images hitting your mind like a bullet hitting another bullet in mid flight. The darkness comes from the realization of the gut retching truth in the story. O’Brien explains to the reader that during war many things happen that are unexpected. With the sudden change of events, many thoughts and actions are faded the echoes of gunfire and the deafening explosions of grenades going off.
He then goes on to describe the horrific and deadly gas attack that takes the soldiers by surprise. Owen then uses strong and direct language to tell us of his disturbing dream of the man dying right in front of him whic was caused by the gas attack. In the opening stanza, Owen quickly grabs the readers attention by trying to add up to that thee war is gruesome but also it can’t be won. “Bent Double like old geggers” evokes that the soldiers are losing so much, they are willing to beg for help but also for mercy. Owen comments on how the soldiers are living in trench life.