Before examining the ways in which Wolff and Gallant expose the true brutalities of war, one should understand the setting and the conditions people were forced to live under during times of war. “You are probably wondering where I have found all this writing paper. The Germans left it behind. When we were being shelled I took what few books were left in the reading room down to what used to be the wine cellar and read by the candlelight.” (Gallant 935). In “The Moslem Wife” by Mavis Gallant, Netta had very little, and had to ask for charity from her husband, who was living in security, in America.
Moreover, this creates the idea that war never truly ends as it is questionable that Elizabeth’s son may grow up to fight in a war. Therefore, showing that soldiers such as Stephen and wars such as World War One are no different from soldiers and wars today. This leaves an uncertainty next to whether or not society learns from its previous mistakes involving war. In addition, within the chapter of England 1979 the reader discovers, along with Elizabeth that Stephen ‘didn’t speak for two years after the war.’ This finding highlights the damning effects that war can have. Also, many of the other soldiers within the novel suffered from shell shock.
The two poems that I be comparing and contrasting in this essay are “Disabled” and “Mental Cases”, both by Wilfred Owen. They are both poems that are about the after-effects of the horrors caused by the First World War. In “Disabled”, Owen puts across the thoughts of a young man who has lost his limbs and been confined to a wheelchair after suffering injuries in the war. “Mental Cases”, on the other hand, describes soldiers who had developed post-traumatic stress after the war. Owen used his own experiences to assist him with this poem, as he himself spent time in a military hospital.
The Counterculture obviously relates to Kesey theory of drugs being the key to an individual liberation. When Kesey was in the process of writing the novel One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest the Korean War was still a fresh memory, and then in shock came World War II after. According to Kesey war can cause trauma to patients. Following the daily beast article many of the patients in the nove One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest suffered from war trauma. For example, “Old Colonel Matterson thinks he’s still in World War I, Billy Bibbit suffered a breakdown in ROTC training when he couldn’t answer the drill officer’s command without stuttering, and McMurphy, who received a dishonorable discharge in the Korean War for insubordination” (American Dreams).
Giunta says “I try to forget a lot of this, it benefits me in the long run, but coming back and doing these things: talking about it retches the gut.” Giunta talks about where he saves Sergeant Brendon from the enemies. As he says over the radio to the other men during chaos of the ambush, “there fucking taking him,” his voice is shaking and you see that his eyes start watering. The enemies rushed the men shot at Sergeant Brendon and then grab him as soon as he was down and started caring him away. Giunta is so freaked out that he poises and has to get him self together to finish the interview. Can you imagine seeing one of your best friends being carried away by people that are most likely going to touchier them and take them as a trophy in a place where you’re not familiar with and far, far away from home: didn’t think
Owen, a British Army officer, who was also took part in the war, was very much against the war. The poem’s intended reader was a woman called Jessie Pope, who had no part in the war, had written a poem, called ‘Who’s For The Game’, for the sole purpose of getting young men into war, making them believe that it is great honour to join the war and to die for their country. But, in Owen’s point of view, in fact, ‘Dulce et Decorum est Pro Patria Mori’ is ‘the old lie’. Owen uses a wide range of literary devises in ‘Dulce et Decorum est’, his purpose of using literary techniques is trying to create vivid, living impact on the reader how horrid, awful and appalling conditions the soldiers are experiencing. Owen wants his reader to feel exactly what he felt about the war, persuade his reader to believe the terror, pain and torture of the war, how devastating can a war effect a human being.
José E. Colón Serrano English 3101-2U1 December 04, 2013 In Barbara Huttman’s "A Crime of Compassion”, she develops the conflict undergone by the author, a nurse who performed euthanasia without the approval of her superior. Euthanasia in accordance to “BBC-Ethics” is the termination of life of a very sick person in order to free them from their suffering. In most cases, euthanasia is carried out because the person who is seriously ill asks for it, but there are cases where a person cannot make such request. The author was taken to the Phil Donahue show as if she was taken to court, but in the eyes of the audience she already was guilty of committing a crime. This essay will argue that Huttmann made a wise decision and did not commit a crime.
War is ‘obscene as cancer.’ Anti-war poet Wilfred Owen fought in World War 1 from which he was affected by shell shock. For the five years this war lasted, 65 million troops saw action. Of these, 8 million died, 21 million were injured and the remainder who returned physically unharmed were just as haunted mentally until their final breath. It was Owen’s time in hospital that he wrote poetry as part of his therapy. Unlike other authors, Owen’s purpose was to reveal the awful truths of war and let us see past what was said to be glorious.
This shows that Virgilia is a woman of peace and does not value battle between the people. For example, though Volumnia convinces her that having a warrior as a husband is an honor, she is not happy as her husband is wounded many times and also that being in war means that he can face death any time. Virgilia locks herself in the housie and fails to come out unless her husband returns home. Virgilia is not meek or passive. Though she is often silent, Virgilia contradicts his mother-in-law when necessary.
The most important subject of the story is that one must be brave in this life as well as at the point of dying. This was not shown in the beginning but was at the conclusion when the doctor did some explaining about the wife of the major who had died. The major grieving over the death of his dear wife was shown by the way of language that avoids classification of the sentiment he was feeling. He stared through the window looking outside so the pictures did not do much of anything for him. Maybe the American understands the terrible loss of the major as well as he might not understand.