Similarities Between 'American Sniper And The Book Thief'

English Connections
War is a prominent theme that saturates my texts of “American Sniper” directed by Clint Eastwood, “The Book Thief” written by Markus Zusak, “Dulce et Decorum est” written by world war 1 soldier and poet Wilfred Owen and “Syria’s Children” written by Ruerd Visser. The connections explored and interwoven between these texts includes how society has twisted out perception of the realities of war as well as the innocence lost by the children caught in the crossfire of guns and bombs. Two of the texts are nearly 100 years apart, each a different war, but yet the same outcome.
“The Syrian children are fleeing their homeland, becoming refugees of war.” The opening lines of Visser’s poem pleads for help from the world while putting

the fact that the children are the ones most in desperate help during their time in need. While the poem does not explicitly only talk about children, by starting and ending on the tone of the destruction of a child’s innocence as those who say “I hold no value in life dear enough to stand up for the children in war…” pulls on the reader’s hearts strings as to not how horrific war is but how horrific it is when it is realized that children get pulled it against their will. This is also illustrated in the novel “The Book Thief”. Liesel is dragged into the war of Nazi Germany but in a different and much more dangerous way than a typical German. Liesel’s parents have “a label she did not understand – Kommunist.” For Liesel, this meant being put into a stranger’s house, one of which who “loved to smoke”, the other who “possessed the unique ability to aggravate almost anyone she ever met.” Her mother in the meantime tries to flee from the careful eye of the Fuhrer (who was hunting down Jews, Blacks, homosexuals, communists (Liesel’s parents) etc.) anyone who did not fit the ideal of blond hair, blue eyes, straight sexual orientation, part of the Nazi Party, the list goes on. A more horrific and modern war raging in Iraq helps illustrate this idea. In “American Sniper” a scene shoes a child having a terrorist use a drill to torture and kill the innocent refugee. This scene and the “Book Thief” both illustrate how children are dragged into war and sometimes killed by the actions of those around theme – Liesel’s parents put her in trouble by being communists, while the boy’s parents got him killed by going against orders. War should not exist, primarily for its damaging nature of death and loss. If war is ‘necessary’ to sort and iron out arguments between countries, an adult’s actions should not reflect punishments onto their children or others. Children are bundles of joy, who start out innocent and naïve, oblivious to war, violence or abuse of any kind. Overtime, the exposure of war on the TV, in newspapers, in conversations around them, this innocence is killed and replaced by fear. Bright smiles replaced with faces of fear – and exhaustion on those who are caught in the crossfire. Why must we damage such pure gifts from God?
Movie goers to the 2014 Clint Eastwood film, American Sniper, would have been greeted with a shocking scene of ‘the butcher’ (ironic and fitting name for the scene to follow) torturing and killing a child with his weapon of choice – a drill.

This reality of modern torture and war would have left many speechless but in denial that such a cruelty continues in our ‘beautiful’ world. The academy award winning film shows the real story of Chris Kyle, a cowboy champion turned lethal sniper, tour and ‘protect’ his beloved country, all while showing and depicting more realistic views of war. Many Hollywood films depict war as fast, adrenaline rushing, heart pounding and mostly, heroic. Eastwood’s take on a sniper in Iraq showed a much different side. As Chris goes on more tours of duty, killing more and more Iraq citizens and enemies, his time there is nothing of ‘glorious’, but rather as slow, in urine drenched rooms with little super heroic actions – other than the death of the enemy. At home, Chris is illustrated to focus purely on the Iraq war, worrying about American marines and troops being killed by other just as skilful snipers. Later in the film, Chris appears to become more distant from his wife and children, focusing more on the American troops who are over in Iraq and Syria fighting. This illustrates only a glimpse of the reality of war is. War is not all about the killing and shootings (as many scenes depict) but war also involves the aftermath a troop/victim may suffer. For Chris, the war and “all the guys (he) couldn’t save” haunts him after his fourth tour. This shows how Hollywood movies and society, typically show soldiers being able to come home and go back to normal. Dulce et decorum est, a poem written by a world war 1 soldier and poet, Wilfred Owen, creates images the readers build from this doorstep back in time, and truly special. The poem is similar to the of the novel, in its nature that it does not hold back from revealing the truth of the

“guttering, choking, drowning” of a soldiers lungs “drowning” with him “under a green sea.” The poems ends with Owen telling the reader, that if they knew of the realistic horrors that unfolded in war, they would not feed the “children ardent for some desperate glory” the lies of soldiers coming home heroes, alive and well. “Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori” or in translation “It is sweet and glorious to die for one’s country.” The reality of war has been twisted and turned from a horror story into a goal in life – become a ‘hero’. As a statement provided by Matt (a 19 year old who has thought about joining the army) said, “I think it’s a bit over advertised as a place where you learn to make friends and learn skills while having fun, but it’s more of a dangerous place and people don’t truly understand that.” This helps support how society and Hollywood films have twisted the image of war into a subject of ‘glory’. Another statement provided by an ex Navy server wrote, “I think war now days is much more politically driven rather than in the best interest of the country you choose to serve and protect.”
The reality of war as well as children being caught in the crossfire are connections of the umbrella theme of war, found in the texts, American Sniper, The Book thief, Syria’s children and dulce et decorum est. Each of which expresses horrors both children and troops go through in such a horrific time of disagreement, either because they are doing their duty of protecting their country or fleeing from those destroying theirs.