A Soldier’s War - 2706 Words

Up until World War I â€Å"descriptions of war in America are confined primarily to generals’ account . . . leaving much of the war’s confusion and chaos to the imagination† (Smith 11). American writers rarely considered war as a viable literary subject, until Stephen Crane’s civil war novel, The Red Badge of Courage. Despite Crane having never been in a war zone his publication is considered among the first to capture the potential of the battlefield as a literary backdrop. Further developing the war novel genre, Ernest Hemingway adds what Smith describes as a â€Å"journalistic style† to a more modern skeptical outlook on war. Just as Hemingway’s work provides graphic detail of World War I, Tim O’Brien’s novels â€Å"[have] become the Vietnam†¦show more content†¦One example of this is in the chapter â€Å"On the Rainy River,† when the narrator, also named Tim O’Brien,3 attempts to dodge the draft by he ading to Canada. The novelist sates â€Å"I never did any of these things, but I thought about it . . . if I were to tell you the literal truth about that summer [it] would be that I played a lot of golf and worried a lot about the draft. But that’s a crummy story. It doesn’t make you feel anything† (qtd. in Moore). Though â€Å"On the Rainy River,† is not â€Å"real,† the effect of the raw emotion in the chapter is certainly authentic. Relying on the principle of eliciting emotion, O’Brien simplifies the foreign concept of war in the fabricated details of his narrative. In this way, O’Brien finds fiction is sometimes paradoxically more real than actuality. The Vietnam War, O’Brien proclaims, consists of contradictory truths: â€Å"it can be argued, for instance, that war is grotesque . . . war is also [beautiful]† (O’Brien 81). He further summarizes this paradox, asserting, â€Å"war is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling; war is drudgery. War is what makes you a man; war makes you dead† (O’Brien 81). The contradictory relationship between fiction and actuality explored throughout the text both reflects and expresses the reoccurring inconsistencies of the Vietnam War. As another means to demonstrate the war’s inherentShow MoreRelated A Soldiers Life in the Civil War Essay1348 Words   |  6 PagesLife during the Civil War was not a pleasant time. There was basically utter chaos going on the South. Soldiers had to deal with the harsh conditions and the thought of death. Plantation owners had to worry about who was going to work their fields. Business owners had to worry about who was going to buy their products. Citizens had to worry about soldiers destroying their property. And the government had to worry about how to pay the soldiers and how to end the war. This was a very roughRead MoreHow to Tell a True War Story vs. Soldiers Home Essay736 Words   |  3 Pageshave written war stories and about the effects of war on a person. Two of these writers are Tim OBrian and Ernest Hemingway. OBrian wrote How to Tell a True War Story; and Hemingway wrote a short story called Soldiers Home. Both of these stories illustrate to the reader just what war can do to an average person and what, during war, made the person change. The stories are alike in many respects due to the fact that both authors served time in the army; OBrian in the Vietnam War and HemingwayRead MoreAn Inside Look At A Soldiers Life in the Vietnam War Essay1346 Words   |  6 PagesThe emotional stress that most soldiers carry with them during times of war is due to their inexperience and age. The majority of men who fought in the Vietnam war ranged from ages early as eighteen to their early twenties. Among these men, were sons, spouses, friends, boyfriends, and students, who could not understand the thought of war, killing, or contend with their friends’ unexpected deaths. From the beginning of the story, O’Brien the author of â€Å"The Things They Carried† uses specific detailsRead MorePsychological Effects Of War Has On Soldiers821 Words   |  4 Pages War has been known to cause negative mental effects among soldiers. Whether it be PTSD, depression, or a change in personality, war takes its toll. Because of its application to the real world, this common theme is often expressed in literature. In Tim O’Brien’s â€Å"The Things They Carried,† he explains the physical and mental burdens that soldiers carry. He also describes how these burdens create psychological stress and eliminate soldiers’ ability to feel normal emotion. Ernest Hemingway’s â€Å"Soldier’sRead MoreDulce Et Decorum Est The Charge of the Light Brigade - Poem Comparing and Contrasting Essay1179 Words   |  5 PagesWar is a subject that often stirs upon many emotions with those directly or indirectly involved. It may bring tears, memories of suffering and loneliness, struggles, or victories. Such disturbance of peace has wounded and killed many souls. It is on the battlefield we see the most hideous side of human nature, fo r every soldiers only objective on the battlefield is to survive and win. Many people have opposing views about wars which may have been developed over time based on many factors such asRead MoreTheme Of Soldiers Home By Ernest Hemingway1018 Words   |  5 Pages In the short stories â€Å"Soldier’s Home† and â€Å"In Another Country† Ernest Hemmingway shows us some of the scars war can have on a solider. A theme that â€Å"Soldier’s Home† and â€Å"In Another Country† has in common, dealing with the effect of War World 1 is the unwilling feeling to love and socialize with those around them. In â€Å"Soldier’s Home†, Harold Krebs, the main character, continuously shows himself pushing his family away. Alienating himself from his family that see him as a hero. In â€Å"In Another Country†Read MoreDulce Et Decorum Est The Charge Of The Light Brigade - Poem Comparing And Contrasting Essay1156 Words   |  5 PagesWar is a subject that often stirs upon many emotions with those directly or indirectly involved. It may bring tears, memories of suffering and loneliness, struggles, or victories. Such disturbance of peace has wounded and killed many souls. It is on the battlefield we see t he most hideous side of human nature, for every soldiers only objective on the battlefield is to survive and win. Many people have opposing views about wars which may have been developed over time based on many factors such asRead MoreSoldiers Heart And The Red Badge Of Courage Analysis711 Words   |  3 Pagesâ€Å"Soldier’s Heart† vs. â€Å"The Red Badge of Courage† Two northern boys in the novels, â€Å"Soldier’s Heart,† and â€Å"The Red Badge of Courage,† suffer through the journey and hardships, loss of loved ones, and war. The contrasts in these works are few, however the variances in stories minister support in helping each book to stand out, and separate from the other. The similarities between books are uncanny, so similar, in fact that throughout the duration of the novels differentiating the novels becomes increasinglyRead MoreThe Significance of a Title: Ernest Hemingways Soldiers Home653 Words   |  3 PagesTitle: Ernest Hemmingways Soldiers Home A lot is known about who Ernest Hemmingway was because of the amount of material he wrote that was in some way biographical. Although the work was fictionalized, it still contained scenes and people he recognized. The story Soldiers Home does not necessarily relate to any experience that the author had, but he had undoubtedly witnessed scenes just like the one he wrote about since he had often been in regions where war was part of the landscape. ManyRead MoreCompare how the poets present love in ‚Äà ºNettles‚Äà ¹ and in one other poem from the Relationships cluster.1155 Words   |  5 Pageshis young 3 year old son who had fallen into a bed of stinging nettles. In ‘The Manhunt’, the poem Simon Armitage writes about the relationship that is shared between a wife and her husband who is an injured soldier who has just returned home from war. Both of these poets write about and explore the relationships and the sympathetic feeling that is felt by both the narrator of the poem (The father for Nettles, and the wife for The Manhunt) towards the other person in their relationship in the poem