In the story, “The Two Flags”, two countries were both rivals against each other and there were many components as to why they are rivals. The theme that will be elaborated is, "War". War is an action or process where a minimum of two participants are a part of which may involve differences, and a lack of agreement in an area. The same goes for the story, "The Two Flags", because there is a war going on. The war is not physical, but more verbal and emotional. In "The Two Flags", citizens from either country are educated to dislike the other country, whether the country is Lantania or Gunduwia. Students in classrooms are taught to hate the opposing country at an early age. In extreme cases, people even dislike the colors of the other country.
The point of the matter is, these country's both hate each other as do the people. War is an aspect that destroys joining between countries and destroys a country's overall development. The life lesson that the author is trying to showcase to his/her readers is that "War destroys bonds between two countries", and another life lesson is "The classroom is a powerful tool". The first life lesson is quite simple, it's clear that in the story, the two countries bonds were destroyed. The other life lesson, "The classroom is a powerful tool" means that at an early age kids are taught how to hate, and think in a certain way to promote the current political agenda. Whether it's right or wrong, it's still a powerful tool. Teachers are the most influential and powerful people on the planet because they control the future of the world, and the main problem as to why the narrator hates and speaks poorly about the other country is because of his teachings in the classroom. I believe this story did touch me because it did make me realize how people start to think in a certain way, and this is how hatred starts.
This book shows that in highly emotional situations you react before thinking. Two soldiers named Strunk and Jensen got into a fight. Strunk stole Jensen’s jackknife. When Jensen found out, he retaliated by breaking Strunk’s nose. This shows that people don 't always think and just react to situations. Also there is irony in this. They both are fighting on the same team in this war, but yet are fighting each other.
to deteriorate the human spirit. Starting out leaving you're home and family and ready to fight for you country, to ending up tired and scarred both physically and mentally beyond description. At the beginning of the novel nationalist feelings are present through pride of Paul and the rest of the boys. However at the end of the war it is apparent how pointless war really is.
In the beginning of the short story, the young boy is already imprinted with the ideas of war from his father. His father was a former soldier who “had fought against naked savages and followed the flag of his country..” (Bierce 41). The image of war that is imprinted on the young boy from his father is that of nobility and righteous that comes from war.
In the first place, the two main characters, Mariatu and Ishmael, saw the people they love get murdered and the town they grew up in get destroyed. Innocent people were shot, burned alive, and decapitated while Mariatu and Ishmael were forced to watch. Similarly, the mentality of these two children was tainted by images they experienced. Ishmael expresses how the war affected his mental state when he says, “I was afraid to fall asleep, but staying awake also brought back painful memories. Memories I sometimes wish I could
In the short story, “Ten with a flag”, by Joseph Paul Haines, it maintains, “Your child is a ten sir. Tens can’t be a burden on the state by definition. They are the ones that make the state better,” (Haines, 26). This is a perfect example of what a child that is a ten is meant for. The novel is about a society that has a system, which can determine what your future will be like before you are born. The main characters are a couple whose baby is a ten, but also has a flag. This dystopian society is built around a system where the government is available to know far to much information about the society, due to the fact, their technology is much greater than anything we have today. People need their freedom and rights. With having the
The novel Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley is a book written to inform and entertain the audience with a story about the picture of the raising of the American flag on Iwo Jima, also known as Sulfur Island. It is written from the point of view of the son of John Henry “Doc” Bradley, one of the flag raisers. In this novel James Bradley attempts to explain his father’s and his father’s friends’ lives and acknowledge their bravery as Marines. As John “Doc” Bradley said, “The real heroes of Iwo Jima are the guys who didn’t come back” (Bradley 7).
There is much controversy surrounding the idea of patriotism and the iconography of the American flag in today’s society. Some believe patriotism is simply the act of supporting the decisions of the leaders of the country. Others say, to be patriotic, people should be outspoken and voice their oppositions to what is going on in the government. Opinions also differ on the idea of what the American flag represents. One opinion of the flags representation is that the flag represents our history, and the formerly mentioned idea of patriotism. Others believe the flag also represents our history as a nation, but these beliefs focus much more heavily on the negative aspects of our history; such as slavery and other injustices carried out by our nation. These people often believe we should find a new iconography for our country’s ideas of patriotism. As Barbara Kingsolver states in “And Our Flag Was Still There,” “Patriotism seems to be falling to whoever claims it loudest, and we’re left struggling to find a definition in a clamor of reaction” (Pg. 1). Therefore, every American’s duty is to define patriotism amongst the clamor of reaction, recapture the American flag’s representation, and create a new icon for the flag.
Flag burning can be and usually is a very controversial issue with people. Many people believe that the American flag stands for something important and shouldn’t be destroyed in that manner. Others believe that flag burning is a statement that one should be able to make without major repercussions. Both sides have valid opinions and both sides state their case well. Although I am neither nor or against the burning of the flag, I believe the right should not be taken away. I believe that if a group of people have valid reasons and a valid point to make by obliterating a flag in such a way, they should have the right to do it.
No one knows what will happen in his or her life whether it is a trivial family dispute or a civil war. Ishmael Beah and Mariatu Kamara are both child victims of war with extremely different life stories. Both of them are authors who have written about their first-hand experience of the truth of the war in order to voice out to the world to be aware of what is happening. Beah wrote A Long Way Gone while Kamara wrote The Bite of the Mango. However, their autobiographies give different information to their readers because of different points of view. Since the overall story of Ishmael Beah includes many psychological and physical aspects of war, his book is more influential and informative to the world than Kamara’s book.
What is the controversy with the flag burning right? Well flag burning, for most people, happens to be a huge issue seeing as though it is repulsive or anti abolitionist in a certain state of mind. These people constantly ask the question, can flag burning be punishable by law? Flag burning cannot be punishable by law, nor should it be, “no matter how uncomfortable they make others feel or how much people disagree the U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed and reaffirmed that the right to desecrate the flag is included in the Constitution’s protection of speech (Flag).” Desecration and Flag Burning are forms of symbolic speech. What is symbolic speech? you may ask, well “symbolic speech is seen as a representation of one's beliefs or messages in the
Most important, it symbolizes conflict and enmity, which the novel—or at least the narrator, Gene—sees as a fundamental aspect of adult human life. All people eventually find a private war and private enemy, the novel suggests, even in peacetime, and they spend their lives defending themselves against this enemy. Only Finny is immune to this spirit of enmity, which is why he denies that the war exists for so long—and why, in the end, Gene tells him that he would be no good as a soldier—because he doesn’t understand the concept of an enemy. It is significant that the war begins to encroach upon the lives of the students with any severity only after Finny’s crippling fall: the spirit of war can hold unchallenged influence over the school only after Finny’s
In Cry the Beloved Country, Paton proves through the conflict of the races that the land of South Africa is in grave danger of being lost. However, Paton does have a vision of what can help the country and that is when individuals from different racial groups in the land are willing to take action toward one another and work toward coexisting in peace. Paton 's novel shows that no matter how oppressive life can get between people, there are ways to work toward peace and justice for
Riding on the same wave of patriotism, it is unquestionable that men in combat strive for the love of their country. War veterans, in particular, tend to hold close to their patriotic values even after the end of their battle. As a returned war vet, Walt Kowalski is constructed to be patriotic and have a strong love for America throughout the film. This is established through the film’s incorporation of the American flag in its setting of Walt’s house. Hanging solidly over his square patch of lawn, the flag symbolises Walt’s display of patriotism and his loyalty to his country as well as his imperishable traditional American beliefs. Viewers are constantly reminded of his patriotic sentiment through the consistent use of long panning shots of the American flag outside his house. This reinforces the idea that war veterans still have a compelling faithfulness for their country by expressing it through a simple display of their national flag. However, as much as strong patriotic views are worthy, war ...
When your country’s flag is raised up in the sky and is waving in the wind you get a feeling of motivation and are reminded of your real goals. The flag in Animal Farm was introduced by Snowball; he explained the meaning of the flag to the animals. “The flag was green, Snowball explained, to represent the green fields of England, while the hoof and horn signified the future Republic of Animals which would arise when the human race had been finally overthrown.” (Orwell, 21). The Indians had their first flag designed and made by one of Swami Vivekananda’s disciplines, Sister Nivedita. The flag was red and yellow, the red represented the freedom struggle and the yellow represented victory, and the flag had “Bonde Matoram” written on it in Bengali, a language spoken in India (MapsofIndia). This phrase means hail motherland. The flag in Animal Farm gives each and every animal so much motivation, they find strength in the meaning of the flag but their inadequate leader, Napoleon changes the flag to a plain green one. “If so, they would perhaps have noted that the white hoof and horn with which it had previously been marked had now been removed. It would be a plain green flag from now onwards.”(Orwell, 96). By doing this he takes away the meaning of the flag for the animals. The flags in India kept on changing since the Indians weren’t satisfied with it; they wanted a flag that represented all the pe...
A Farewell to Arms is clearly an anti-war novel; the story swifts from naive game playing, through the stages of love and hope, to pure despair and an understanding that a war can lead to no winners. The passionate love story of the novel strengthens the message still more by showing the ironic similarity, but also its discrepancy, with the war. The discrepancy is to be taken into serious account, this discrepancy is the important message of this novel; make love not war.