The Bloodiest Battle Of All Analysis

The government often romanticizes war, giving the illusion that it is part of a heroic tale. However, within the last century, new war tactics show the devastation of war, emphasized by the modernist movement. Okinawa: The Bloodiest Battle of All by William Manchester is an essay speaking of the scars that war leaves and how flawed the fairy tale of war is, using several literary terms to support his thesis.
Manchester writes his essay in first person perspective to make the essay more personal and to improve his pathos. He uses imagery to paint horrifying pictures, such as his description of when he fell during battle. “Hours later, corpsmen found me still breathing, though blind and deaf, with my back and chest a junkyard of iron fragments,

including... four pieces shrapnel too close to the heart to be removed” (Manchester). While the image of a man lying flat on his back, waiting for death seems powerful, the fact that he utilizes first person perspective makes the audience sympathize with him. People tend to get emotionally attached to a work of literature in first person perspective because they feel as if the events are happening to them.
Manchester structures the essay into 5 main sections: the battle to secure Sugar Loaf Hill, the reminiscence of an american war parade, a history of the evolution of war, Manchester’s personal experience during the battle of Okinawa, and a satire of the misguided heroism and machismo of war. Each section juxtaposes the prior and the latter, showing the different aspects of war while still connecting them. For example, the horrors of the marine siege of Sugar Loaf Hill contrasts the happy and patriotic atmosphere of the war parade, yet that parade is the glory the marines fought for.
William Manchester wrote his essay using imagery, fist person perspective, and juxtaposition to show the apathetic common citizen how war really works.