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The use of symbolism in the novel
Significance of symbolism in literature
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“The Minefield” by Diane Thiel shows how the traumatic effects of war continue through generations after the war has finished. In our present generation, and in the part of the world that we live, we are oblivious to the fact that a war can even occur, inevitably because we have not yet lived one. Although you simply cannot comprehend the long lasting impacts that war has on millions of people throughout the world, you may still see what these effects have done to these individuals throughout their entire lives and have a feeling you’re living them yourself. In this poem, a man’s life is clouded by these terrible memories. Not only did his friend’s death affect his ways, his attitude, but it also affected this man’s family. For example, Diane’s
poem indicates that his emotional stages are built up into anger and violence towards his children: He brought them with him – the minefields. / He gave them to us – in the volume of his anger, (Thiel 12-14). He could control what had happened that day, with his best friend.
Diane Thiel’s poem “The Minefield” is about a man who’s mind has been ravaged by memories of a war in his childhood. She shows that even though the war had been over for years, the memory of it haunted the man in everything that he did. Through a powerful combination of symbols, dark images, and a split chronology, she creates a full picture of a life changed forever by war.
The three narratives “Home Soil” by Irene Zabytko, “Song of Napalm” by Bruce Weigl, and “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen all have the same feelings of war and memory, although not everyone experiences the same war. Zabytko, Weigl, and Owen used shifting beats, dramatic descriptions, and intense, painful images, to convince us that the horror of war far outweighs the devoted awareness of those who fantasize war and the memories that support it.
“The Minefield” by Diane Thiel is a poem about a man who grew up during a war and the impact that this man’s experience had on his behavior and on his family. He lost his friend in a tragic accident in a minefield when they were fleeing during the war, and holds onto that memory throughout his life. This memory causes him to be angry and have unpredictable behavior. Because he is impacted by this memory in the ways that he is, his experience affects his children nearly as much as it affects him. Thiel uses structure and characterization in the poem to show the readers how one experience influenced not only one man’s entire life, but also the lives of his family.
This psychological memoir is written from the eyes of Ishmael Beah and it describes his life through the war and through his recovery. War is one of the most horrific things that could ever happen to anyone. Unwilling young boy soldiers, innocent mothers and children are all affected. In most instances, the media or government does not show the horrific parts of war, instead they focus on the good things that happen to make the people happy and not cause political issues. In his book A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah dispels the romanticism around war through the loss of childhood innocence, the long road of emotional recovery and the mental and physical effects of war.
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.
In the aftermath of a comparatively minor misfortune, all parties concerned seem to be eager to direct the blame to someone or something else. It seems so easy to pin down one specific mistake that caused everything else to go wrong in an everyday situation. However, war is a vastly different story. War is ambiguous, an enormous and intangible event, and it cannot simply be blamed for the resulting deaths for which it is indirectly responsible. Tim O’Brien’s story, “In the Field,” illustrates whom the soldiers turn to with the massive burden of responsibility for a tragedy. The horrible circumstances of war transform all involved and tinge them with an absurd feeling of personal responsibility as they struggle to cope.
Letting go of childhood memories that hold such deep remorse for how a person life structure is develop provides evidence of past hardship. In the poem “The Minefield” written by Diane Thiel, provides an outline of Wartime tragedy that leads to haunting memories. The speaker in poem is a young man who witness a tragedy of an extreme event during War, when even simply playtime for children required caution of dangerous surrounding. For instance, the speaker elaborates on the meaning of one word minefield, which in this poem has a double meaning from war an emotional distress. In the short stanzas of the poem, many symbol share a link between each other with reference of memories of dark images that linger on throughout the tone of the speaker. The dark images is the base of the poem, which several outcomes of distressful behavior and unresolved memories make for an interesting story from the mind of the speaker. Therefore, no one should go through life with
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.
Children exposed to violence within their communities are left with emotions of hopelessness, insecurity, and doubt. Historical events such as the war on terrorism, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the tragic events of September 11th have had a detrimental effect on the entire nation, including the children. Although every child is not directly affected by the effects of war, it somehow has an emotional effect on all. The involvement of a nation in war affects every individual differently, whether it is out of fear, anger, doubt, hope, or love. In the short novel A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, he narrates the story by telling his own involvement in the Civil War in Sierra Leone as a young boy and the many issues he faces while living in horror.
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.
poem shows his father as someone he can look up to in life. The poem
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.
Bracken, Patrick and Celia Petty (editors). Rethinking the Trauma of War. New York, NY: Save the Children Fund, Free Association Books, Ltd, 1998.
Kelly Cherry wrote “Alzheimer’s” to illustrate the horrific impact Alzheimer’s disease can takes a toll on a person. In the poem, the theme is about losing a loved one, but not in the sense of death, yet the tone of this poem is grief. People with Alzheimer’s are very ill and may ultimately forever lose their memories. Sometimes someone who you love they might not remember who you are, which is actually worse than that person dyeing. In this poem she speaks about a man who has Alzheimer’s disease and may remember where he is and what he is doing, but cannot remember the most important thing in his life. The poem begins by describing the current state of the old man,
life after the death of a loved one. It is a request from the poet on