War; petty arguments caused by those in power that lead to sacrificing young men into battle because they had no other choice. Ironically, war destroys those fighting in battle while making the countries proud of their succession. Past wars are reflected upon the soldiers in a horrifying manner because soldiers bear a huge burden upon them. Physical and mental effects transform soldiers and their countries in negative ways. Only a soldier can go through a true horrifying experience in war and not return the same way as he entered. A trigger of hatred and fear is sent to the rest of society after war has occurred. Dramatic transformations after war leave the country and the soldiers in a way in which they never were before.
Even though war
…show more content…
can damage everyone and everything so negatively, there are those who don’t oppose the idea of war and view the other side of the argument.
Patrick Henry is considered one of those people as he is able to express his viewpoints toward the idea of war in his speech “Give Me Liberty”. According to his speech, Henry considers that this situation of fighting against the British for their freedom is a matter of life and death, “I consider it nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery” (Henry 1). “It” is referred to the colonists’ need to fight which supports his argument in the need to fight in war. He was able to encourage immediate action when saying his famous words “I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” (Henry 2). Henry was able to gain much more credibility by adding ethos at the end of speech while addressing the audience that he would not stop fighting until his death. Without that war, the United States of America wouldn’t have been created and there wouldn’t be freedom. Winston Churchill is another person who thinks war can lead the country from defeat to victory. In his speech, Churchill is able to provide hope to his audience once he explained his plan of action, “You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all
terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival” (Churchill 1-2). Churchill uses an emotional appeal to connect with his audience by adding emphasis and repetition towards the word “victory”. Churchill’s goal is to unite the British in this fight for victory, “I feel sure that our cause will not be suffered to fail among young men. At this time I feel entitled to claim the aid of all, and I say, ‘come then, let us go forward together with our united strength.’” (Churchill 2). His use of pathos encourages people to not give up in the war because of his emphasis to unite together. In this case, Churchill encourages the idea of war as it will lead the country into success and pride. One might see that war is an essential part of human life but are not able to consider how drastically one fight can tremendously affect people and society. When it comes to war, there is a slight chance that a soldier may lose an arm or a limb or even get their face severely damaged. There are many risks a person can get if they decide to go to war and one of them is getting physically damaged. Mike Royko tells a story in his article “A Faceless Man’s Plea” in which a young man loses his face during war. A man named Leroy Bailey was in his tent when “the rocket tore the roof off his tent while he was sleeping and exploded in his face” (Royko 1). The fact that he lost his face leaves a reminder of how tragic the war he fought in was. It took three surgeries until the doctors finally came to a conclusion that there was nothing else they could do. This kind of effect can take a toll on someone because they will never forget the moment when their whole world changed as soon as they become physically damaged in battle. Bailey knows that “because of his terrible wound, most of the goals and pleasures of men his age will always be denied him” (Royko 1). When a soldier becomes severely wounded in war, no matter the kind of damage, their life will never be the same as it was before. In Bailey’s case, the damage in his face caused him to lose the ability to eat. This kind of transformation a soldier faces affects him/her greatly to the point where they’ve become a completely different person. The most damaging effect a soldier could have from fighting in war is the emotional effect. War causes many mental damages including PTSD. The mental state of a person is very fragile and experiencing constant death at war takes a tremendous toll on a person because they become traumatized. Tim O’Brien was able to tell his experience in the Vietnam War by putting traumatic situations in his novel, The Things They Carried. In the first chapter of the novel, O’Brien shares Jimmy Cross’s perspective during the war. Cross is madly in love with a young girl named Martha who he constantly daydreams about. After Ted Lavender’s death, Cross feels extremely guilty because he thought he didn’t help prevent it from happening, “and now Ted Lavender was dead because he loved her so much and could not stop thinking about her” (O’Brien 6). This sense of guilt is being carried upon Cross like a burden which he will never forget because he didn’t save Lavender’s life. Realizing that he could not do anything else to take it back, Cross erases everything from his life in order to be present in the current situation which is to fight in the Vietnam War. For the rest of his life, Cross will always blame himself for Lavender’s death. In addition to this, trust issues take a part of this idea when Dave Jensen and Lee Strunk argue over a jackknife. Jensen was being tortured by the war because he didn’t know who to trust. He believed that enemies were everywhere. Realizing that he had no idea what to do, “it got to the point finally where he lost control” (O’Brien 60). Jensen began firing his weapon in the air yelling Strunk’s name because he didn’t know how else to react. The constant fighting even between the soldiers from the same country began torturing Jensen to be cautious of who to really trust. O’Brien proceeds to add on Rat Kiley’s story after he becomes traumatized. Rat Kiley realized that he lost his best friend, Curt Lemon, during battle but couldn’t control his feelings. After he wrote a long personal letter to his sister but didn’t respond back, “Rat went automatic” (O’Brien 75). At this point, war had made Rat Kiley into a killer when he began shooting at a baby water buffalo out of nowhere because his sister didn’t respond to his personal letter. A transformation like this in a soldier can lead to future problems when they get back home. Out of nowhere, a veteran soldier can erupt into a violent scene because they’re not able to control their reactions to certain situations such as someone making a simple little mistake. This mental damage proceeds to haunt Rat Kiley more throughout the novel. After the war was over, “Rat Kiley finally hit a wall” (O’Brien 210). He begins to lose his sense of reality once he starts visioning himself dead and the other men. The war began controlling Rat Kiley as soon as he entered. It started consuming him inside out to the point where he broke down. Continuing on, the war has separated Norman Bowker from everything he wants to be close to. Bowker’s struggle to explain his experience in the war is as painful as the experience was, “He wished he could’ve explained some of this. How he had been braver than he ever thought possible, but how he had not been so brave as he wanted to be.” (O’Brien 147). At this point Bowker is suffering from survivor’s guilt because the death of Kiowa affected him. He was unable to express his feelings to anyone making him unable to escape from his thoughts. O’Brien adds an insight of how Bowker’s emotions are dealt with by explaining how Bowker was not brave enough to save the life of his friend. War experiences can really take over the mind of a soldier blocking their way of escaping their constant reminder of guilt and trauma. When it comes to morality, people fighting in war have no idea what the right or wrong decision is. The Vietnam War lead to the counterculture movement which was a protest against the war. The counterculture movement lead to a huge change in society in America. It was all about spreading peace among everyone. William James was able to explain his opinions on how to sustain political unity in his article even though it’s opposite of his own consideration. James tries to portray that war is a “human virtue that the world cannot let die”. By doing so, James claims that “if war has ever stopped, we should have to re-invent it, on this view, to redeem life from flat degeneration” (James 3). This quote states that humans need some form of war in order to live and without it, it would get so repetitive to the point where war should have to be “re-invented” by humans themselves. He continues on by saying that “war is, in short, a permanent human obligation” (James 4). He argues that people still value the qualities of war and without them, people and countries would not feel a sense of pride in themselves. A form of war is necessary but he also encourages to avoid violence and try other possible ways. Barack Obama also encourages the same idea in keeping peace among fighting countries. In his acceptance speech of the Nobel Peace Prize, he commented on the nature of war and how many of the modern wars have been morally justified. He was able to argue that humans can work together and unite to face global issues. Ironically, he states that war can sometimes keep peace when he explains that “A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler’s armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda’s leaders to lay down their arms” (Obama 2). Here, he addresses that wars can be necessary to get a point across even to keep the peace. Obama even throws in a comment on the people who served our country, “the service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform has promoted peace and prosperity…” (Obama 3). Even good results come from war as he explains it. The lack of a purpose in the war drives the men crazy which can tie into the mental effects soldiers can get from the war. When Dave Jensen had his breakdown from his argument with Lee Strunk, he had no idea which side he was on which made him pull out his weapon and fire it in the air. He was unable to tell what was right and wrong since he had been fighting in the Vietnamese war for so long. Tim O’Brien also was conflicted in what was the right or wrong decision. Later in the novel, he stumbles upon a young man who he kills on the spot, “‘Oh, man, you fuckin’ trashed the fucker,’ Azar said. ‘You scrambled his sorry self, look at that, you did, you laid him out like Shredded fuckin’ Wheat’” (119 O’Brien). Here, O’Brien reflects on the boy’s life and questioned whether what he did was right or wrong. It seems like they parallel to each other because they’re both young men who were not built for fighting in the war yet they didn’t want to dishonor their family and country. O’Brien’s guilt has him fixated on the boy’s life but he had no other choice but to kill or else be killed. It’s a law considered as a moral dilemma that all soldiers have to deal with. The different opinions people have on going into war vary but there really is no right or wrong answer. When war transforms a soldier, country, and society, it can take a positive impact on the country but a negative one on the soldier depending on the how the war resulted. Morality plays a huge role in war because people question if the decision is right or wrong. The Vietnam War is a perfect example of how people’s reaction were taken since there were two sides, those with it and those against it. War changes soldier’s perspective on life while it changes a country’s standing in power.
War has been a constant part of human history. It has greatly affected the lives of people around the world. These effects, however, are extremely detrimental. Soldiers must shoulder extreme stress on the battlefield. Those that cannot mentally overcome these challenges may develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Sadly, some resort to suicide to escape their insecurities. Soldiers, however, are not the only ones affected by wars; family members also experience mental hardships when their loved ones are sent to war. Timothy Findley accurately portrays the detrimental effects wars have on individuals in his masterpiece The Wars.
War always seems to have no end. A war between countries can cross the world, whether it is considered a world war or not. No one can be saved from the reaches of a violent war, not even those locked in a safe haven. War looms over all who recognize it. For some, knowing the war will be their future provides a reason for living, but for others the war represents the snatching of their lives without their consent. Every reaction to war in A Separate Peace is different, as in life. In the novel, about boys coming of age during World War II, John Knowles uses character development, negative diction, and setting to argue that war forever changes the way we see the world and forces us to mature rapidly.
It is widely believed that if Patrick Henry had not given the speech “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” which influenced the start of the Revolutionary War, then America might still be under the rule of the British Monarchy. The Revolutionary War was the war when America regained their freedom from the British Monarchy in 1783. Henry is considered by many to be the best orator of his time. Patrick Henry was an attorney and politician; his most important characteristic was being one of America’s most renowned patriots. The effects of his speech were enriching and brought new hope to the American people.
during the war. This novel is able to portray the overwhelming effects and power war has
When the war breaks out, this tranquil little town seems like the last place on earth that could produce a team of vicious, violent soldiers. Soon we see Jim thrown into a completely contrasting `world', full of violence and fighting, and the strong dissimilarity between his hometown and this new war-stricken country is emphasised. The fact that the original setting is so diversely opposite to that if the war setting, the harsh reality of the horror of war is demonstrated.
What does war do to a man? It destroys his inner being; it crushes hope; it kills him. Experiencing battle leaves only the flesh of a man, for he no longer has a personality; it leaves a wasteland where a vast field of humanity once was. Through the main character, Paul Baumer, the reader experiences the hardships and consequences of war. During the course of the war, Paul reflects on how the young men involved in the war have no future left for them, they've become a "lost generation." Paul feels that his generation has "become a wasteland" because the war has made him into a thoughtless animal, because he knew nothing before the war, and because the war has shown the cheapness of human life.
War deprives soldiers of so much that there is nothing more to take. No longer afraid, they give up inside waiting for the peace that will come with death. War not only takes adolescence, but plasters life with images of death and destruction. Seeger and Remarque demonstrate the theme of a lost generation of men in war through diction, repetition, and personification to relate to their readers that though inevitable and unpredictable, death is not something to be feared, but to calmly be accepted and perhaps anticipated. The men who fight in wars are cast out from society, due to a misunderstanding of the impact of such a dark experience in the formative years of a man’s life, thus being known as the lost generation.
What is war really like all together? What makes war so horrifying? The horror of war is throughout All Quiet on the Western Front. For example Albert says the war has ruined them as young people and Paul agrees. “Albert expresses it: "The war has ruined us for everything." He is right. We are not youth any longer. We don't want to take the world by storm. We are fleeing. We fly from ourselves. From our life. We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces. The first bomb, the first explosion, burst in our hearts. We are cut off from activity, from striving, from progress. We believe in such things no longer, we believe in the war.” (Remarque, Chapter 5). The way the war has affected each soldier has changed them forever. The boys who were once school boys will never be the same.
War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, written by the talented author Chris Hedges, gives us provoking thoughts that are somewhat painful to read but at the same time are quite personal confessions. Chris Hedges, a talented journalist to say the least, brings nearly 15 years of being a foreign correspondent to this book and subjectively concludes how all of his world experiences tie together. Throughout his book, he unifies themes present in all wars he experienced first hand. The most important themes I was able to draw from this book were, war skews reality, dominates culture, seduces society with its heroic attributes, distorts memory, and supports a cause, and allures us by a constant battle between death and love.
The reality of war changed many soldiers' lives because of nightmares from firefights and small skirmishes to bombings and atrocities. Many places from Saigon to Khe Sanh are filled with stories from many veterans. A letter from a marine fighting in Khe Sanh said to his Parents "Since we began, we have lost 14 KIA and 44 men WIA. Our company is cut down to half strength, and I think we will be going to Okinawa to regroup. I hope so anyway because I have seen enough of war and its destruction." From the death of close friends any person's emotions would crumble. A normal everyday business person in the shoes of this soldier wouldn't last a day. The experience a soldier goes through will change his view on life forever. This is just showing how it affects people. Seeing death and killing on a daily basis. The random occurrence of death would truly disturb any person. Seeing the death of friends and mangled bodies of South Vietnamese villagers left by Vietcong guerillas, the soldiers were left with the vivid visions of the bodies.
The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson (with the help of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, as well as many others), was signed on July 1st, 1776 in Philadelphia. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence to appeal to the British Parliament and King and explain why the American Colonies wanted independence from England. Thomas Jefferson and the other delegates from the Second Continental Congress agreed that, “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator certain unalienable rights” (p. 112) which became the base for nearly all of the points made in the document. Logical and emotional statements were used throughout the document to make impactful statements that would convince the audience of the seriousness of the matters they were presenting.
When in the course of the household we, the teens, have always had the responsibility of doing the chores around the house.When oneself has to do chores one has to miss out on hanging out with friends, going to the mall, et cetera. Of course we do not wish to be disrespectful toward our parents but it is now time that we write our own Declaration of Independence. It is important that our parents or guardians know how everyone feels about the chores that have been placed on us and why we should be independent.
War has always been something to be dreaded by people since nothing good comes from it. War affects people of all ages, cultures, races and religion. It brings change, destruction and death and these affect people to great extents. “Every day as a result of war and conflict thousands of civilians are killed, and more than half of these victims are children” (Graca & Salgado, 81). War is hard on each and every affected person, but the most affected are the children.
The simple definition of war is a state of armed competition, conflict, or hostility between different nations or groups; however war differs drastically in the eyes of naive children or experienced soldiers. Whether one is a young boy or a soldier, war is never as easy to understand as the definition. comprehend. There will inevitably be an event or circumstance where one is befuddled by the horror of war. For a young boy, it may occur when war first breaks out in his country, such as in “Song of Becoming.” Yet, in “Dulce et Decorum Est” it took a man dying in front of a soldier's face for the soldier to realize how awful war truly is. Both “Song of Becoming” and “Dulce et Decorum Est” are poems about people experiencing the monstrosity of war for the first time. One is told from the perspective of young boys who were stripped of their joyful innocence and forced to experience war first hand. The other is from the perspective of a soldier, reflecting on the death of one of his fellow soldiers and realizing that there is nothing he can do to save him. While “Song of Becoming” and “Dulce et Decorum Est” both focus on the theme of the loss of innocence, “Song of Becoming” illustrates how war affects the lives of young boys, whereas “Dulce et Decorum Est” depicts the affect on an experienced soldier.
Freedom is having the right to own, act, think, and speak without any restrictions from the outside. Ever since the New World was discovered, people have been fighting for their independence till this day. People of other colors and race have been forced to do labor without their consent. Today, those same people have been blamed or accused of crimes that were not committed by them despite of being free. Freedom has different meanings and those meanings change overtime; however sometimes the significance of freedom does not change.