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.
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.
The soldiers that were fighting at war were dehumanised in many ways. Owen portrays this in his poem “Anthem for Doomed Youth”. During the war, soldiers were forced to go and fight for their country inorder to be labelled as ‘real men’. Due to the mistreatment, other teenage boys were suffering as they knew their time would eventually come to face their doom. “what passing-bells… for these who witnessed it”.
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.
Owen also seeks to expose the betrayal of the authorities throughout poems such as ‘Disabled’ and ‘The parable of the old man and the young.’ He expresses how they acted with a disregard for the lives of their countries young men. Religion and its betrayal during the war is also emphasized by Wilfred Owen in ‘Anthem for doomed youth.’ He shows how the belief in religion did nothing to dampen the grim realities of war and he even begins to question his own beliefs. Another way Owen feels he has been betrayed is through the way society treated those soldiers who had suffered both mental and physical injuries. They were labelled as cowards and looked down upon. This is best shown in the poem ‘Disabled.’ Owen was ultimately driven by the betrayal of the authorities, religion and society and he used his horrifying experiences of the war to exemplify this betrayal.
Soldiers were brainwashed with the idea of patriotism - leading their country to victory at all costs, even if meant going into battle knowing you were going to die enforcing the message of the movie that, “The paths of glory lead but to the grave.” At first, the movie described the trench warfare situation of World War I. Then we are introduced to General Mireau who had been ordered to send his division in on a suicide mission to the well-defended German position called the “Ant Hill.” At first Mireau refuses, trying to explain the impossibility of success but as soon as a promotion for him is mentioned, he’s suddenly convinced the attack will be successful. Mireau leaves the attack to Colonel Dax, despite Dax’s protests that the attack will only result in failure and weaken his army. During a nighttime scouting mission prior to the attack, a drunken lieutenant named Roget sends one of his two men ahead as a scout. Overcome by fear waiting for the scout's return, he lobs a grenade and retreats.
It is for this reason that the Great War was seen as an opportunity by men, where they could prove their virility by displaying warrior traits of aggression, endurance and camaraderie, defying all aspects that were associated with that of female qualities. With these ideas in mind, the repercussions of war left men in such a state of serious psychological and physical trauma that they suffered from Shell-Shock or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). To be a man meant the repression of emotions and the willingness to sacrifice oneself physically and emotionally for the good of their country. Lastly, those that did not enlist into war were bullied into it by a propagandistic scheme known as the White Feather Campaign. Definitions of masculinity have changed over the centuries with particular focus on the idea of male virility.
Okonkwo's one and only weakness was his fear of becoming a failure like his father. This fear drove Okonkwo to embrace the values of manliness and fueled his desire to be strong; which then drove him to rashness and in the end contributed to his death. Accepting the ways of manhood isn’t a sign of weaknesses, the problem is how narrowly he defines it. Okonkwo was part of a patriarchal society and the male gender was already established with great authority. For Okonkwo, however, any kind of softness and tenderness was a sign of weakness.
His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children.” This demonstrates the fear his family feels towards him. Later in chapter three his anger gets him in trouble when he disobeys the village and beats his wife during the week of peace. This is demonstrated in the book when it states, “And when she returned he beat her very heavily. In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace.” After this event his fellow clansmen began to think less of him. Additionally, the novel continues to tell the story of Okonkwo and his family.
Sassoon uses sympathetic language to portray the mood of a young soldier by his actions. It starts the revelation of the ugly struggle when his resentment rises. For instance, youngsters enlisted in army during World War One had no aspiration for their future, thought that it was a great option to depart for war and comeback with a splendid future. Obviously, they do not expect the excessively harsh