“The Things They Carried” portrays this trait in all of the men during their daily struggles in Vietnam. “In different ways it happened to all of them. Afterward, when the firing ended, they would blink and peek up. They would touch their bodies, feeling shame, then quickly hiding it. They would force themselves to stand” (Obrien 1140). Regardless if the soldiers were in support of or against the war, none would forsake it for fear of the shame it would bring. The GIs who had thrown in the towel and shot themselves in the foot to be evacuated he ridicules as “Pussies” or “Candyasses”. All the soldiers long for home and naturally sympathize with those who self-inflicted injury because none are there to fight for glory; they only fight to avoid the humiliation of quitting. The ignominy the warriors dread is strikingly similar to what Obrien would have felt if he dodged the draft. Parallel with Obrien’s own experience, the squad avoids embarrassment by forcing their way through each day. This is one of the numerous burdens the men must cope with in their new hellish…
Through these times, being included in these battles was the best flattery anyone can offer. Being a warrior meant you had one of the strongest hearts. This is because that’s what makes a warrior, the heart that he is able to turn to when feeling lost. Through this warriors can rely on what makes them strive to get home. Having your mother, sister, or anyone back at home is what makes them fight so hard to live through it.…
It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor. They died so as not to die of embarrassment." This says a lot about why men tried not to escape enlistment and shows their values as well, as they all seemed to think that going to war and killing people would make them seem more courageous or at the very least less cowardly as they would've seemed if they didn't go to fight for their country. Though this fear of 'embarrassment' may not be the sole reason why everyone enlisted in the war, it is still a truth. There is no fact in that sentence; only truth and truth…
War is standing up for yourself, your nation, your beliefs and rights no matter the cost. Fighting for one’s nation, what they believe in, what they deserve is what drives men in war and in spite of the horrific experiences of war their mindset and perceptions are unaffected due to fighting for what they believe is right and what they love. The horrors of war are remembered and more often than not does not leave an individual’s mind but because of the unwavering duty and patriotism displayed by individuals it isn’t difficult to recall his experiences of war due to the honourable, strong and proud…
Henry is known as "the youth". He joined the war to win glory. "He had burned much glory in them." (Page 3) While he did make some friends he also had to watch some die. The youth was quiet. He kept to himself. He had an over active imagination. Henry dreamed of fighting and romanticized the idea of dying in battle like in ancient Greece. In the beginning, Henry, thought a lot about running. In time those thoughts came true. He did run. The youth felt very guilty and scared to go back to the camp. He thought they would taunt him for running. Fortunately the end of a rifle slapping across his face wounded him. When the youth finally met back up with his regiment he told them he was injured while fighting and everybody thought of him as a hero. Deep down inside he knew he wasn't and it hurt him to say that he was. Henry knew he had to prove it. During a battle while everyone else was retreating, he kept on moving up like a robot. In another battle, as one of his comrades fell to death Henry grabbed the flag from his hand and kept on moving. Truly Henry was a hero. He was courageous.…
After having encountered the enemy, the soldier says, "The war had shown its claws and torn off it pleasant mask."2 After having fought in the war for some time, one would come to realize that war is not all about glory but human suffering. "I could tell from talking to my companions that this episode had somewhat damped their martial ardour. It had affected me too." 3. From the soldier, the reader learns that one does not experience any kind of comfort in war. "It may be imagined that this unaccustomed life came very hard on us, particularly as the old soldiers were quite knowing…
The word prejudice has been used too many times in the history of our country. Throughout wars, as well as immigrants entering the country, that word has been tossed around like it means nothing, but to those who have been persecuted against, it means a lot. The Japanese-Americans and the Jews both have had their fair share of persecution mostly leading back to the Second World War. In Snow Falling on Cedars and The Book Thief the war caused an economic downturn as well as an increased effect of prejudice on the relationships between characters.…
From the first page, The Red Badge of Courage, the main character, Henry, has preconceived ideals of war, that lead him to believe that “it is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.” Henry enlists in the service because of the “newspapers, the village gossip” and his own idealistic images about what war will be. Henry joins the war not because he believes in the war, and not because of some sense of family duty or country duty, he does it so he can come back after the war and be a hero among regular men. He wants the praise and accolades that one gets for doing such a great deed. Henry had a false sense of what war is really like because his lack of experience causes him to correlate real time war to epic ancient battles. He idealistically thinks that his first battle will be “one of those great affairs of the earth (6).” Henry desperately wants to follow in the footsteps of Ancient Greek heroes and become a hero himself. He lacks experience in war; he can only imagine what war is genuinely like. The Red Badge of Courage to Henry is a battle wound received in the war. Henry thinks that getting a wound during battle means that he had the courage to fight the war and in doing so, he received his own red badge of courage.…
“However hard the incidents of war may be, the soldier who is called upon to offer and give his life for his country is the noblest development of mankind”(MacArthur.Duty, Honor, Country). In America honor is often seen as a man or woman going out to serve for their country and risk their life in the process. No matter how hard war may seem a soldier who is given the chance to serve their country and takes that opportunity is a hero. “Around a thousand campfires, I have witnessed that enduring fortitude, that patriotic self-abnegation, and that invincible determination which have carved his statue in the hearts of his people”(MacArthur.Duty, Honor, Country). Throughout all that he’s seen, General MacArthur says that he’s viewed neverending courage, loyalty, and untouchable willpower, that has made its way into the hearts and minds of…
Generals were uncaring and withdrawn. They lived a surprisingly luxurious life as the war went on. They were nicely housed miles from where the frontline lay and fed so they were never left with an empty stomach. In the trenches soldiers were faced with horrible conditions on the frontline with a lack of good food and the threat of diseases due to the decaying bodies of fellow men and big sized rats hungry to feed. They were never safe and would have to live in the fear of being gassed or shelled. The generals rarely fought or even visited the frontline but instead were sleeping ‘in a cosy bed in a quiet country chateau and dined on the best food available’ wrote Gerard De Groot in a biography of Haig. With this it appears that generals were fighting a more comfortable war than the men in the trenches giving them an uncaring attitude. They did not experience the full…
He could not have done this act selfless service with out the other six army values which are loyalty, duty, respect, honor, integrity, and personal courage...…
One soldier is very excited about the idea of defending his country; in fact he is so honoured by this chance, that he does not accept a way out of the trenches when he is offered; even though Blackadder realizes their fate when the go above the trenches and tries to explain he will die. “I never imagined anything as awful as war” this also shows the serious nature that war has on its soldiers, this is also shown when another soldier states that he wants the dying to stop, and everyone to go home, because he cannot see a reason for war, this links in Sassoon’s declaration where he states war has gone from one of “defence and liberation” to one of “aggression and conquest”. Even George has to try and push these thoughts out of his mind and replace them with…
In today’s modern world, the idea of “honor” is very different than it once was many years ago. In the time of the Napoleonic wars, one soldier's honor was everything. A man in arms did everything he could possibly do to preserve his honor, even if it meant death. Even into the time of the early 1900’s, honor was still prevalent, as seen in the Titanic, as the captain held his honor and went down with the ship. But in today’s society, one would not see this level of action taken to preserve honor. Honor has been a recurring theme among many great novels. The idea of honor can drive the plot and motivation of characters into doing things they otherwise…
In Siegfried Sassoon’s Suicide in the Trenches poem, he highlights the idea of some of the youngsters that enlisted in the army, had no aspirations for the future and thought it was a good option to go to war and come back; they thought that there was a good range in the army. Unfortunately, they were deceived by the propaganda of the war, a very influencing form of communication that is aimed at a community like the soldiers or their families back home. An example is a recruiting poster. Sassoon uses imagery such as, ‘he put a bullet through his brain’, to evoke an image of a young man in utter despair. It forces us to consider the way the soldiers and not just the young man on how they were terribly treated in the trenches with rats, the size of cats and other filthy pests living with them. These conditions seemed to encourage them to commit suicide at an early age knew that they had that they have no other options left, hence the title ‘Suicide in the Trenches’. This is important because Sassoon directs us to the idea of propaganda that made the young recruits join the war.…
The modern feminist movement is highly complex, multi-faceted, and broad in scope. Although initially a singular endeavor, rooted in social and political considerations aimed at establishing gender equality, feminism is now a series of separate disciplines with a myriad of definitions and connotations; indeed, it has transformed into a powerful cultural movement that has spawned so many ideological branches the plural form of “feminisms” is now appropriate. Without a doubt, the feminist movement has fundamentally shifted the direction of American society in virtually every way imaginable.…