Machuca and Innocent Voices showed repression of free speech and heavy political influence. Everyday life in Latin America during political crisis was grim, there were food shortages and rationings as seen in Machuca. If the family was not financially stable, it would have been difficult to acquire the goods needed to survive. Many were fearful of being captured by the army for looking a certain way or doing anything that would be considered rebellious and in any way against the regime. The priest in Innocent Voices feared for Chava’s safety because he was playing a rebellious, prohibited song on his portable radio. He then turned on the intercoms and played it himself, so Chava would not be taken by the army. I think it would be very difficult …show more content…
to find what was deemed rebellious during this time. One would have to be careful as to how they dress, who they associate with and what they say. In Innocent Voices, some girls were taken away just because they spoke badly about the army. Being cautious of those around you would be important because they could be working for the other side. In Machuca, Gonzalo did not know his mother was a part of the rightist movement, while in Innocent Voices, Chava’s uncle was a part of the guerrilla movement against the government. In both films, it was evident to see that the army could enter as they pleased.
In Machuca, the army was able to come in and take the head priest out of his position. They demanded the students follow a new, stricter set of rules. In Innocent Voices, the army was also able to enter schools to take twelve-year-olds and make them serve in the army. It was clear to see that children were robbed of their innocence and childhood. I think it would be terrible to constantly live in fear of being taken away by the military. Every day, people would be filled with dread if they passed by someone in uniform. People would have to act subservient to them so that nothing would happen to them or their family. Chava was never able to celebrate his twelfth birthday because his mother feared that he would be taken away. I assume many other mothers tried to keep their sons with them as long as they could, but ultimately the army could snatch them. Under the political crisis it would be normal to see someone close to you die. Pedro and Gonzalo’s lives changed when the saw their friend die in front of them at the hands of the army. With that death, they were able to silence them and demonstrate that they held the power. Chava grew up in between the warzone conflict. He saw the violence of the army against his family and the destruction of his home. The sound of gunfire at night had become normal and routine. He too saw a friend die as a result of the state induced
violence. Just as life was not easy for the children, it also was not easy for the adults. Many adults chose to leave, or simply look the other way. Most of the people who stayed behind were elite, women and those who held jobs that had some sort of value or purpose, such as a bus driver. In Innocent Voices, people had gotten used to the political situation. Most of the adults around Chava didn’t have much hope for the future. Many of the people were just trying to live their life without doing anything that would provoke the suspicion of the military. Political propaganda was also present in everyday life. It would have been very difficult for people to get real information without it being corrupt or bias towards a certain group. In Machuca when the head priest was replaced, the mass being given to the schoolchildren expressed how wonderful the government was. The new priest asked God to help the government with the reconstruction of their destroyed country.
There is a major change in the men in this novel. At first, they are excited to join the army in order to help their country. After they see the truth about war, they learn very important assets of life such as death, destruction, and suffering. These emotions are learned in places like training camp, battles, and hospitals. All the men, dead or alive, obtained knowledge on how to deal with death, which is very important to one’s life.
Defiance in the name of freedom against the political clutch of a powerful dictator can bring about the consequence of inhumane punishment and loss, however, by preserving and telling the story of a great loss, one honors the memory of sacrifice and can find closure, making the cause worth the fight. The legitimacy of this statement is evidently valid when paired up behind the sacrifice of the three Mirabal sisters in the book by Julia Alvarez: In The Time of The Butterflies. Is any life worth living trapped in fear of harm or even death? How much misery and suffering can one tolerate from a higher power, before they seize opportunity to rise against the greater force. What triggers, and to what severity, drive one to the last resort of risking everything, including their life, in amends for something better; the liberating taste of freedom from fear? Can the quality of life even become so unbearable to generate such a gamble?
Author Mariano Azuela's novel of the Mexican revolution, The Underdogs, conveys a fictional representation of the revolution and the effects it had on the Mexican men and women who lived during that time. The revolutionary rebels were composed of different men grouped together to form small militias against the Federalists, in turn sending them on journeys to various towns, for long periods of time. Intense fighting claimed the lives of many, leaving women and children behind to fend for themselves. Towns were devastated forcing their entire populations to seek refuge elsewhere. The revolution destroyed families across Mexico, leaving mothers grieving for their abducted daughters, wives for their absent husbands, and soldiers for their murdered friends. The novel's accurate depiction also establishes some of the reasons why many joined the revolution, revealing that often, those who joined were escaping their lives to fight for an unknown cause.
The consequences and effects of war, may be psychological, physical, or emotional. Can effect directly, for example, a solider or indirectly, for example, that soldier’s relatives and friends. “The Things They Carried” and “The Red Convertible” exam these matters. “The Things They Carried examines the psychological, physical, or emotional side of destruction that the Vietnam War bought. While “The Red Convertible” focuses on the psychological strain on soldiers they endure after the war as well as their families. These stories raise the questions is really war really necessary and can a solider back out of duty. Both stories are initiation stories or coming of age stories. These aspects are most effective when analyzing these works. The pieces may go deeper into the issues and questions at hand. The Centering on characterization, the point of view, symbolism or imagery, and significance of the title all help support the theme of these works and develop thoughts and opinions on the stories issues.
As the boys witness death and mutilation all around them, any preconceived notion about the indoctrination, "the enemy" and the "rights and wrongs" of the conflict disappear, leaving them angry and perplexed. The story is not about heroism but about toil and futility and the divide between the idea of war and the real life and its values. The selected passages are full of violence and death and loss and a kind of perpetual suffering and terror that most of us have never and hopefully will never experience. Both authors ability to place the reader right there on the front line with the main character so vividly, not just in terms of what he physically experienced and witnessed All the complicated, intense and often completely numbed emotions that came along...
They just escaped death at the battle but then end up having 9 men injured when they thought they were safe. I think they were just exhausted of never feeling safe and constantly living in fear. Their anger showed when they burnt down the village.Then men are sent into the middle of a battle instead of having some of their men only injured this time some were killed. The men were furious once again. They burnt down another village leaving it to ashes. This act is the point when I believe they have lost themselves. At the beginning of the war I would highly doubt they would burn down a village. The author did a good job of showing how these men changed mentally and physically. I can tell that they are not the same person as when they first stepped onto the battle field. He is not saying they changed but he shows that they have. At the end Caputo is faced with charges of murder. He was never charged with the murder but was honorably discharged and sent back to the States. When he is put on trial I felt a somber tone as he was being tried for murder during war. After all the things this soldier has done for the country his own country was trying to convict him. I feel like Caputo was trying to relate this on a smaller scale to the overall way that the veterans were treated when they returned from the war. Like he said at the beginning he expected to return home to parades and be regarded as a
Erich Maria Remarque's classic war novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, deals with the many ways in which World War I affected people's lives, both the lives of soldiers on the front lines and the lives of people on the homefront. One of the most profound effects the war had was the way it made the soldiers see human life. Constant killing and death became a part of a soldier's daily life, and soldiers fighting on all sides of the war became accustomed to it. The atrocities and frequent deaths that the soldiers dealt with desensitized them to the reality of the vast quantities of people dying daily. The title character of the novel, Paul Bäumer, and his friends experience the devaluation of human life firsthand, and from these experiences they become stronger and learn to live as if every day were their last.
When the war was over, the survivors went home and the world tried to return to normalcy. Unfortunately, settling down in peacetime proved more difficult than expected. During the war, the boys had fought against both the enemy and death in far away lands; the girls had bought into the patriotic fervor and aggressively entered the workforce. During the war, both the boys and the girls of this generation had broken out of society's structure; they found it very difficult to return.
The debate between Just and Unjust Speech highlights the ongoing debate between old and new traditions. These traditions can range from how to interpret laws to family values and the struggle between them is highlighted in Aristophanes Clouds. The battle between old and new is seen in argument between Just and Unjust Speech and the arguments between father Strepsiades and son Pheidippides. The constant battle between old and new is seen in many different areas throughout the Clouds such as justice, piety and issues of law.
Fifty-eight thousand were killed, a pair of thousand captured, and three hundred fifty thousand; maimed and wounded, just about everyone throughout this country still feels the results of this conflict. Today, the kids in the country rest uneasy in response to the senselessness of this struggle. A different generation of school students, staff and young parents bring a singular perspective to the analysis of the implications of this specific war. These square measure the sons and daughters of the boys that fought to their death inside the jungles of South East Asia..
More and more children in the United States are experiencing a growing sense of insecurity about the world inside and outside the boundaries of their families. It does not take much violence and terror to set a tone of threat. Even in the worst war zones—places like Sarajevo—shooting and killing is intermittent. Memory of the emotions of trauma does not decay; it remains fresh (Garbarino 64-65).
Paul and his generation feel separated from the rest society. Paul feels as though “[he has] been crushed without knowing it” and “[does] not belong anymore, it is a foreign world” (168). Other men “talk to much for [him]. They have worries, aims, desires, that [he] cannot comprehend” (168). His generation of men who fought in the war is “pushed aside” (249) as unpleasant reminders of a war the civilian population would like to forget. After surviving such unspeakable experiences the soldiers feel separated from everyone. Paul says, “men will not understand us” (294). “The generation that has grown up after us will be strange to us and push us aside” (294). After the war most soldiers “will be bewildered” (294) and “in the end [they] will fall into ruin” (294). The soldiers do not have concrete identities as the older generations do. “All the older men are linked up with their previous life” (19). Paul’s generation cannot even imagine any definite post-war plans. Their experiences are so shattering that they regard the prospect of functioning in a peacetime environment with vague anxiety. They have no experiences as adults that do not involve a day-to-day fight for survival and sanity. Paul has a “feeling if foreignness” and “cannot find [his] way back” (172).
...s, demonstrated through the author's talent, are denouncing the authority figures who were supposed to guide his generation into adulthood but instead turned the youth against each other in the pursuit of superficial ideals. The soldiers were simply the victims of a meaningless war.
One of the greatest things about being an American is the ability to voice my opinion and viewpoint regardless of race, gender, or class. This was not always the case. Many have had to struggle to make their voice heard, and the mindset of American’s furthered the oppression of minority voices. Revolution invigorated the American spirit with a new sense of self-worth and validation of artistic expression by all people. Voices that were once silenced found listeners through literature. Rather than one genre or narrative making way for the next through hostile takeover, many voices rise and refuse to be muzzled. Before independence there seems to be a pattern that suggests that there was no room for more than
Machel, Graca & Sebastian Salgado. The Impact of War on Children. London: C. Hurst, 2001.