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Introductions to essays about the spanish american war
Essays on the spanish american war
Essays on the spanish american war
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The irony is cruel and unpleasant. How a country who bases their laws off of peace often finds itself in war. In a few simple words, war is not kind, at least according to Stephen Crane. Crane is a poet who lived through the Spanish-American War. He has firsthand experience with warfare, which was what inspired him to write the poem “War is Kind”. All throughout the poem Crane uses many forms of literary devices to help fortify his argument on war but one literary device particularly accentuates his perception of war. In Crane’s poem “War is Kind” Crane uses antithesis to present his opinion on warfare.
A great number of men and women choose to go out to war but for what reason? Maybe it is for the patriotic sensation that goes through to them as they designate this action as something for the greater good. However few ever acknowledge the monstrosity that war unmistakably is. Crane contrasts these naïve ideals with the true atrocity of war: the pain, death and the broken people left to bury in the ashes. This g...
Where Men Win Glory is an ironic euphemism for war. The title is ironic because there is nothing glorious about war or the way it ended Pat Tillman’s beautiful life. Jon Krakauer orchestrates this masterpiece with his diligently, articulated descriptions and with a timeline sewn together from the threads of two worlds. The author’s style can best be characterized by his challenging, precise diction and his ability to fluently intervene pertinent quotes and facts that further persuade the reader toward his cause. Throughout the book, the author’s tone harnesses resentment towards the militant hierarchy; for through its ingenuousness, deceit, and manipulation, the military uses Pat’s death as propaganda to bolster the war’s support. Furthermore, the military covers up the fact that Tillman was a victim of fratricide, and it deceives the nation into believing Tillman’s end was a valiant fight against insurgents. When the truth is exposed and pursued by Dannie - Pat’s mother - the army destroys evidence and pleads guilty to ignorance as a rebuttal. This book is molded by three prodigious aspects that help to illustrate Pat’s life story. The carelessness of war, importance of family, and enhancement through change were all important ingredients that created a virtuous life. Each theme, in addition, challenges me personally to reassess the facts I have been fed and the reality that I have been presented. By doing so, I can achieve a sound base of knowledge and an intellectual prowess capable of challenging all facts presented.
A true war story blurs the line between fact and fiction, where it is neither true nor false at the same time. What is true and what is not depends on how much you believe it to be. In the chapter “How to Tell a True War Story” from the novel “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, the author provides various definitions to how the validity of a war story can be judged. The entire chapter is a collection of definitions that describe the various truths to what a true war story is. Unlike O’Brien, who is a novelist and storyteller, David Finkel, the author of “The Good Soldiers”, is a journalist whose job is to report the facts. Yet in the selection that we read, chapter nine, Finkel uses the convention of storytelling, which relies heavily on the stories the combat troops tell each other or him personally. Finkel attempts to give an unbiased view of the Iraq war through the stories of the soldiers but in doing so, Finkel forfeits the use of his own experiences and his own opinions. From O’Brien’s views on what a true war story is combined with my own definitions, I believe that Finkel provides a certain truth to his war stories but not the entire truth.
The three incredible works of literature by Owen, OBrien, and Sassoon give a true sense of what fighting for ones country was really like. The battles, soldiers, and wars that most of the public see is glorified tremendously through movies and books mainly. These writers wanted a change and they went about this by giving the true and honest facts of what happened. War should be thought of as a tough obstacle that no one should ever have to go through, a sad occurrence, or a horrible burden, but not as a glorious victory. In order to reach that victory, the road is anything but sweet.
But in truth a true war story will stir great feelings, but may not contain a moral at all. In fact, a true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing th...
The Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger once said “Perjor est bello timor ipse belli”, which translates to: “the dread of war is worse than war itself”. With this quote, Seneca identifies that war has both its physical and mental tolls on its participants. The psychological and emotional scars of war do much more damage to a solider than the actual physical battles. Tim O’ Brien repeats this idea many years later in his novel “The Things They Carried”, by describing how emotional burdens outweigh the physical loads that those in war must endure. What keeps them alive is the hope that they may one day return home to their loved ones. Yet, the weight of these intangible “items” such as “grief, terror, love, longing” overshadow the physical load they must endure since they are not easily cast away.
War is a brutal, bloody battlefield from which no one returns unscathed. Nonetheless, there are those who believe war to be a glorious honor, a bedtime story filled with gallant heroes, a scuffle fought an ocean and several countries away. In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce and “August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury, the authors seek to convey the devastation that comes from romanticizing war by using impersonal and ironic diction.
War is a hard thing to describe. It has benefits that can only be reaped through its respective means. Means that, while necessary, are harsh and unforgiving. William James, the author of “The Moral Equivalent of War”, speaks only of the benefits to be had and not of the horrors and sacrifices found in the turbulent times of war. James bears the title of a pacifist, but he heralds war as a necessity for society to exist. In the end of his article, James presents a “war against nature” that would, in his opinion, stand in war’s stead in bringing the proper characteristics to our people. However, my stance is that of opposition to James and his views. I believe that war, while beneficial in various ways, is unnecessary and should be avoided at all costs.
Crane, Stephen. “Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind.” The Modern Age Literature. Eds Leonard Lief and James F. Light. 4th Ed. Holt, Rhinehart and Winston; New York, 1981. p. 137
Mary Emeny’s poem, “Barbed Wire,” depicts war as a negative force, destroying every decent aspect of human existence. Written during the Vietnam War, the work displays Emeny’s negative views on war. In one way or another everyone experiences and identifies with the presence of war. Although some wars are fought for justifiable reasons, every war tears into the lives of those undeserving. The tragic effects of war consume the innocent creating an unconquerable path of entanglement.
Vivid imagery is one way with which writers protest war. Crane uses imagery to glorify, and shortly thereafter demean and undercut war, through the use of imagery, by placing positive and negative images of war close to eachother. “Blazing flag of the regiment,” and “the great battle God,” are placed before “A field where a thousand corpses lie.” (A) These lines’ purposes are to put images into the reader’s head, of how great war may appear, and then displaying that there are too many casualties involved with it. In Dulce Et Decorum Est, a man is described dyin...
A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain ...
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.
War and its ramifications for those who are unfortunately entangled in it, is an issue that has fueled both political discussion and literary exploration throughout the previous century. Underived, authentic accounts of the experience and effects of war, from those who have served in it, can be especially enlightening for the majority of society who have had the fortune of not being intimately familiar with war. Through the examination of poems and stories written by soldiers, who were inspired by their involvement in conflict, one can obtain a greater understanding of this gruesome aspect of life, without having to directly experience it. Similarly, soldier turned poet, Bruce Weigl, has contributed his perspective on war through his literary
The world of Stephen Crane's fiction is a cruel, lonely place. Man's environment shows no sympathy or concern for man; in the midst of a battle in The Red Badge of Courage "Nature had gone tranquilly on with her golden process in the midst of so much devilment" (89). Crane frequently anthropomorphizes the natural world and turns it into an agent actively working against the survival of man. From the beginning of "The Open Boat" the waves are seen as "wrongfully and barbarously abrupt and tall" (225) as if the waves themselves had murderous intent. During battle in The Red Badge of Courage the trees of the forest stretched out before Henry and "forbade him to pass. After its previous hostility this new resistance of the forest filled him with a fine bitterness" (104). More omnipresent than the mortal sense of opposition to nature, however, is the mortal sense of opposition to other men. Crane portrays the Darwinian struggle of men as forcing one man against another, not only for the preservation of one's life, but also the preservation of one's sense of self-worth. Henry finds hope for escape from this condition in the traditional notion that "man becomes another thing in a battle"‹more selfless and connected to his comrades (73). But the few moments in Crane's stories where individuals rise above self-preservation are not the typically heroicized moments of battle. Crane revises the sense of the heroic by allowing selfishness to persist through battle. Only when his characters are faced with the absolute helplessness of another human do they rise above themselves. In these grim situations the characters are reminded of their more fundamental opp...
Kaplan, Amy. “The Spectacle of War in Crane’s Revision of History”. Bloom, Harold ED. New