Comparing Dulce Et Decorum Est And The Things They Carried

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A Nightmarish Reality The poem, “Dulce et Decorum est” by Wilfred Owen and short story, “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’brien are first hand descriptions of war. Owen fought in World War One and O’Brien fought in the Vietnam War; two of the most devastating wars of the the 20th century. As a result of their experiences both authors relate the hardship of war through characterization, setting and symbolism. In the “Things They Carried”, O’Brien characterizes the soldiers and conveys the emotional burden of war by the things the men carried with them. The emotional burden of leaving their belongings, friends and family at home was incredibly difficult for the soldiers so anything the soldiers brought from home was a good representation …show more content…

During wartime, soldiers have very few luxuries and can even look as if they are homeless. For example, the opening line “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,”(Owen 1) makes comparison between soldiers and beggars. Firstly, a comparison between a soldier and a solicitor implies that just like solicitation is often futile so is fighting in a war. Therefore, the beggar is a symbol of desperation of soldiers and the futility of war. Secondly, it is possible that the phrase “Bent double” is acknowledgment that war has a good and a bad side. For example, while many people die in war, sometimes it is for the better such as in the case of the Civil War in which we were able to make large strides in the abolition of slavery. Nonetheless, Owen’s imagery is disturbing so even if he acknowledges the good aspects of war, he does not approve of war in general. Therefore, a more likely explanation for characterizing a soldier as being “Bent double” is that the soldiers have two personas: the men they were before the war and the creatures they are now. Owen compares soldiers and fictional monsters like werewolves or vampires because they also have two identities; one that is human and one that is inhuman. Also, soldiers are civilians but in war they kill just like werewolves are civil until it is time to kill at night. Similar to the monsters which Owen alludes to, the imagery to describe the setting of the battlefield is equally horrifying “Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning,”( Owens 13-14). In this scene the reader imagines a soldier in the trenches, among his fellow soldiers, suffocating under a sea of green mustard gas as “if in some smothering dream(Owen 17)...the blood come gargling from

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