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Literary analysis O'Brien How to tell a true war story
Literary analysis O'Brien How to tell a true war story
War literature essays
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Morgan Allen History 105 11/22/15 WAR War has been a vital part of living since the beginning of time, by the study of History one can see the ways war has developed over the years. By examining three different sources of various battles one begins to see not only the physical, but also the mental and emotional tolls it takes on the people involved. Throughout history we see the gradual change in war with the advances of critical thinking, war skill, weaponry and the willingness to push the limits. During times of crisis some find themselves experiencing things they would have never experienced physically and psychologically. In the story Candide written by Voltaire, we see a satire of Voltaire’s view of war and battle. Candide, the main …show more content…
This was also known as the “Great War (pg. 226)”. It began July 28, 1914 in Europe, and lasted four years until it ended in November of 1918. This war was composed of two opposing sides, the Allies which included France, Britain and the Russian Empire while the other side was the central powers of Germany and Austria. In the source “The Horror of War, Fritz Franke and Siegfried Sassoon (226)” the document is written by two men, giving their story of the hardships and tasks they faced from opposing sides. The writings took place in the time during the war where the two sides were trapped in trenches along a line which went from Belgium to France. During this part of the war which was known as trench warfare the men were both contemplating their part in the war, some began to wonder why they were fighting and others wished upon death. Fritz Franke wrote from Louve, on November 5th, 1914. He begins his piece with descriptive imagery of his surroundings, “All the trees shot to pieces; the whole ground churned up a yard deep by the heaviest shells; dead animals; houses and churches so utterly destroyed by shell-fire that they can never be of the least of use again (pg. 227).” This shows the terrors from his view of the trenches, it also demonstrates the limits war pushes on their surroundings. Throughout the letter you begin to see how Fritz’s attitude goes from accepting his role on the war to …show more content…
This would then go on six more years under the reign of the German army and with the leadership of a dictator known as Adolf Hitler. In this World War we begin to see new and horrible ways to go about war. Germany created concentration camps for various races and for people with disabilities or even different beliefs from those of the norm. New strategies of war were tested among innocent groups of people in various countries. In the document “Eyewitness Accounts of the Bombing of Guernica” (246) the story is told about families in Spain during the Spanish civil war, this war led up to the beginning of World War II. Spain was divided into two different way of running the country, authoritarian and democratic. Hitler aided the Spanish Republic and Mussolini in bombing innocent people. Hitler used this situation to his advantage in practicing new bombing tactics. On Monday, April 26, 1937 the city of Guernica was attacked by German and Italian aircrafts. This was the beginning of a new age of weaponry, the use of air crafts to strike on cities was almost unheard of. Ignacia Ozamiz writes about her experience in the poorly manufactured shelters built for safety, “We had to keep out mouths shut, we could hardly see each other, and the smell was awful….I didn’t think of dying, I was too young (247)”. The city had prior built shelters for the people to take refuge in,
The author, Voltaire, wrote in the Enlightenment period, a literary movement characterized by the rising concern of philosophy, science, and politics. Voltaire’s writing was influenced by the Enlightenment movement to create awareness of global issues. This is evident in the repeated tragedies Candide stumbles upon. Social issues, corrupt authority figures, and war are real world topics that Voltaire chooses to address in Candide. The satirical nature of Candide allows for an in-depth discussion between the characters regarding the problems they face and the problems of the people they meet, creating a perspective that the audience is forced to look through. It is also a coming of age story, not just for Candide, but for the rising awareness in global issues. Voltaire’s inclusion of the issues of his time reflect the severity of those issues. Satire is used as a reaction to a society’s hypocrisy. Candide as a satirical piece reflects what people have neglected to pay attention to. Coming into a new era of awareness and responsibility leads Candide to reflect on the live he lived in Westphalia and the people he encountered across
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.
Everyone knows what war is. It's a nation taking all of its men, resources, weapons and most of its money and bearing all malignantly towards another nation. War is about death, destruction, disease, loss, pain, suffering and hate. I often think to myself why grown and intelligent individuals cannot resolve matters any better than to take up arms and crawl around, wrestle and fight like animals. In All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque puts all of these aspects of war into a vivid story which tells the horrors of World War 1 through a soldier's eyes. The idea that he conveys most throughout this book is the idea of destruction, the destruction of bodies, minds and innocence.
The experiences that we face in life vary from person to person and one of the greatest differences occur between men and women. In Voltaire 's novel Candide a great deal of the experiences that each of the characters face is unique to them, but the experiences of the women differ greatly to those of the men. The way the two sexes handled those experiences also varied and reflected a satirical view of the times in which Voltaire lived. The differences in events between the men and women can be seen in a few key points that are seen throughout the Novel.
War is having a growing effect on Robert. His exposure to the violence is leaving him in a frail state of mind and physically. His behaviour can be interpreted as being increasingly violent and can show his decreasing mental health which is a sign of physical struggles within th...
“What is it good for, absolutely nothing, huh, war” (Edwin Starr). The Horror of war, effects of war on the soldier, and nationalism are all themes in “ All Quiet on the Western Front”. World War 1 , is basically about the war that started over the killing of the archduke Franz Ferdinand.The war then escalated between 28 countries. The novel is about a guy named Paul and his school friends who were all persuaded to enlist to fight in World War 1. Paul and his company no nothing about what war is really like. They know nothing about the horrors of war.
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.
Voltaire’s Candide can be understood in several ways by its audience. At a first glance it would appear to be simply a story blessed with outrageous creativity, but if you look deeper in to the novel, a more complicated and meaningful message is buried within. Voltaire uses the adventures of Candide as a representation of what he personally feels is wrong within in society. Written in the 18th century (1759), known commonly as the age of enlightenment, Voltaire forces his audience to consider the shift from tradition to freedom within society. He achieves this by exploring the reality of human suffering due to traditions which he mocks throughout Candide. In particular he focused on exploiting the corruption he felt was strongly and wrongfully present within three main aspects of society these being religion, politics and morals. Each chapter represents different ways in which Voltaire believes corruption exists providing the audience with the reality of society’s problems due to its fixation on tradition. As a philosopher of the Enlightenment, Voltaire advocated for freedom of religion, freedom of expression and the separation between church and state. Voltaire successfully presents these ideas within Candide by highlighting why they are a significant problem in 18th century Europe.
In Candide, Voltaire sought to point out the fallacy of Gottfried Leibniz's theory of optimism and the hardships brought on by the resulting inaction toward the evils of the world. Voltaire's use of satire, and its techniques of exaggeration and contrast highlight the evil and brutality of war and the world in general when men are meekly accepting of their fate.
Candide: A Satire On The Enlightenment. Works Cited Missing Candide is an outlandishly humorous, far-fetched tale by Voltaire satirizing the optimism espoused by the philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment. It is the story of a young man’s adventures throughout the world, where he witnesses evil and disaster. Throughout his travels, he adheres to the teachings of his tutor, Pangloss, believing that "all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. " Candide is Voltaire’s answer to what he saw as an absurd belief proposed by the Optimists – an easy way to rationalize evil and suffering.
Voltaire, Francois-Marie Arouet de. “Candide.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Gen. ed. Martin Puchner. Shoter 3rd ed. Vol. 2. New York: Norton, 2013. 100-59. Print.
With exaggeration, authors craft their writing to have an even greater, more impactful effect on their audiences. This enhanced effect found in Candide serves the purpose of highlighting how humans adopt a type of absolute viciousness and inhumanity in times of war. One example is the instance where Candide - a member of the Bulgar army, at the time - must choose between being “flogged” by the entirety of the military command, or to endure “twelve bullets in his brain” (24). Here, Candide is given a nonsensical, almost ludicrous, ultimatum. Voltaire offers an embellished example that serves to demonstrate the barbaric military practices that come with war. Being a recurring aspect of war, Candide is, essentially, forced to choose between death and death. In fact, along with exaggeration, Voltaire satirizes war even further as the choice of whether it be a gradual or speedy demise is Candide’s own luxury. Voltaire does not just simply antagonize the ramifications of war, but rather, he ridicules all facets of war. Another example within Candide is when the Old Woman reveals the story of her own life as proof of the grim hardship that she too has experienced. In the midst of another battle, “one buttock” was cut off of the live bodies of every woman present in the interest of feeding the starving soldiers (56).
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 First World War is considered one of the deadliest conflicts in history, its more than nine million casualties exacerbated by the advancement in war technology. However, the physical damage the war inflicted on its participants pales in comparison to the emotional scars seared into the minds of these young men. The modest percentage of veterans who had survived the carnage still returned home ruined by the bloodshed. Not only did these warriors have to cope with the trauma that inevitably came with simply being involved in the war, but also with the threat of the rival side weaponizing their subconscious to turn on themselves. The introduction of organized psychological warfare changed the face of combat in a much deeper level than machine guns, poison gas, or tanks and aircrafts ever could. Psychological warfare, or psywar, was used throughout the Great War to ultimately influence the behavior of whoever or whomever it is targeted towards, and, along with other sources of trauma, forced those whom enlisted to detach themselves from their emotions, transforming them to empty shells of their former selves.
Candide by Voltaire (Francois Marie Arouet) is a critique of the “all for the best” philosophy that Christians keenly followed in the mid-1700s. Voltaire is a famous philosopher from the Enlightenment period. He wrote about his perspective on certain issues existent in the world and addressed them in various ways. In Candide, he specifically used French satire to criticize a popular notion of the 18th century stating that all things, good or bad, are for the best. Voltaire himself was an anti-religious man and he rejected this philosophy that all things happen for a reason; this concept seemed highly irrational, unreasonable, and unnatural to him. He felt that it was dangerous for people to think that God has a plan and that if something bad happens in His plans, its still all for the best. He used many utilities to prove his point, including satire and irony. He displayed various themes throughout the story and indirectly targeted his audience with sarcasm. He created various characters to represent the different types of people he was targeting. Even the names of the people were satirical. The word Candide, for example, literally means “naïve” and “childlike honesty”. Pangloss, another major character, means “all tongue”. By doing so, Voltaire was able to play with his readers on every page of the book.