The historical nonfiction book The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson provides a comparison between the impressive White City of the Chicago World's Fair and the horror of H.H. Holmes's murder spree. It starts off in 1890 when Chicago finds out it's going to be hosting the World's Fair of 1893. Winning the bid meant so much to Chicago because it indicated that the city would finally be able to shake off the perception that it was a hog-slaughtering, greedy and isolated city. The Fair would create a more positive global reputation for Chicago. Larson argues that it was Chicago’s pride that led its people to dream big enough to win the bid for the World’s Fair. They were motivated to outdo the Paris World’s Fair of 1889, that produced the…
As summer turns to winter and Finny comes back to Devon there are a lot of things going on all around Gene. With snow covered fields and ice covered rivers there isn’t much to do other than work. As Gene works on the railroads clearing snow out of the way for trains, a train of soldiers goes past, igniting a larger fire in Gene and Brinker, a fellow classmate and friend.who convinces Gene to enlist with him. As Gene is returning to his dorm, he discovers Finny is back at school. One morning as Gene and Finny awake and Finny is complaining about no maids yet again because of the war, Brinker comes to carry out his plans to enlist with Gene. Finny talks sense into them and they both decide against enlisting. Finally the war begins to settle in their minds and the winter becomes more bearable. “ For the war was no longer eroding the peaceful summertime stillness I had prized so much at Devon, and although the playing fields were crusted under a foot of congealed snow and the river was now a hard grey-white line of ice between gaught trees, peace had come back to Devon for me (Knowles 109).” Now that the war was no longer the main concern, Gene was now able to find peace in the winter, as he had in the summer. Due to the war’s frightening and poignant nature, moments of peace become more meaningful. Peace is important because, like the eye of a storm, it provides a tranquil and unperturbed moment allowing for regroupment before the storm (in this case the war) sweeps you up again. Later as the jaws of war begin its second bite and people are getting swallowed up, Gene finds it more and more difficult to find…
In 1675, the Algonquian Indians rose up in fury against the Puritan Colonists, sparking a violent conflict that engulfed all of Southern New England. From this conflict ensued the most merciless and blood stricken war in American history, tearing flesh from the Puritan doctrine, revealing deep down the bright and incisive fact that anger and violence brings man to a Godless level when faced with the threat of pain and total destruction. In the summer of 1676, as the violence dispersed and a clearing between the hatred and torment was visible, thousands were dead.(Lepore xxi) Indian and English men, women, and children, along with many of the young villages of New England were no more; casualties of a conflict that was both devastating to the lives and the landscape of New England, as well as the ideologies of both the Indians and the English Puritans that inhabited this land.(Lepore 18)…
This in depth film shows, with facts and the historical memories of actual witnesses or descendants of people, how The Long Walk of the Navajos is the most deeply traumatic and problematic incident in Navajo history. It is estimated that a large number of Native Americans passed away during the scorched-earth campaign conducted by Colonel Kit Carson in 1863 and 1864. Approximately 8,000 Navajos were starved into obedience, and once they surrendered, forced to walk several hundred miles to a forty-square-mile reservation on the New Mexico border that had been instituted for them, along with the enslavement of over a hundred Mescalero Apaches. Once on this cruel reservation, the Navajos and Apaches were held captive under inconceivable conditions, where rape, abuse, and…
Today, these men are recognized as the famous Navajo Code Talkers, who exemplify the unequaled bravery and patriotism of the Navajo people. These Navajo men were selected to create codes and serve on the front line to overcome and deceive those on the other side of the battlefield (Discover Navajo). However, “unknown to many, the Navajo language was used to create a secret code to battle the Japanese. A lot of visitors from around the world are intrigued, yet also confused, when they hear the Navajo language – so, too, were the enemy during World War II.” (Discover Navajo)…
How to Tell a True War Story The Irony of Truth in Tim O'Brien's "How to Tell a True War Story"…
Chester Nez was born in Chichiltah in the Navajo Nation walking from 15-20 miles to the grass for their sheep. But you didn’t hear any complains from the Navajo, they have their own little peaceful time. It was about collaborating and sharing. Even though it was a daily routine for them, the population of the livestock grew bigger. In that being said, the federal government than past on a livestock-reduction policy because the sheep were destroying the land by overgrazing. He remembered his Grandma cried that night because more than half of her sheep were dead. When he turned 18, the Marines came to his school. Pearl Harbour had been attacked, the Americans needed more men. The U.S. Marines were looking for a noteworthy type of guy. They got the answer, it had to be the Navajo Indians. Chester Nez was one of the original 29 Navajo Code Talkers and those 29 original Code Talker were informed of their mission to make an unbreakable code. They devised a code that was the only unbroken code in modern warfare. A connection between Louie Zamperini and Chester Nez is that they both had an unexpected mission. For example Louie is an Olympian, his goal is to break record and wins medal. Chester Nez is just an ordinary Navajo Indians and he faces hardship about his culture and heritage outside of his home. Everythings for them came too fast for them to realize about their past. A question I have for Chester is “Did he see the sheep burned up in the trenches, if he did. How would he describe about what happen at that time. At the Presentation there was a simple powerful saying he says that I would never thought anyone would say. The question was What is one of your most memorable moment you have, “ One of my most memorable moment was herding sheep. said Nez” This tell me that he really care about his grandma’s sheep and that it was a big part of his life. Another question I would as him is, Did he learned anything he thought he would never learned when he went to war?”…
Young people often do not know what to expect of the future. They do not know how to act when something unexpected comes along, and their actions are based on what they do know; usually limited, biased information. This idea is central to the short story, ʺWar,ʺ by Timothy Findley. The young boy, Neil Cable, narrates the day he found out his father had joined the army. He speaks of his actions, feelings, and confusion surrounding that day. At first glance, his actions are all too often misinterpreted as violence and hatred, but after careful consideration, one can see that they are merely his way of dealing with the troubling news. He has not experienced enough in his lifetime to have a true understanding of war, and acts upon what he does know. In the short story, ʺWarʺ, by Timothy Findley, the young boy’s image of war and actions throughout are explained through the use of symbolism.…
“Dulce Et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen and “The Soldier” by Rupert Brooke are both poems borne out of World War One. Despite the vast differences between the two, Rupert Brooke and Wilfred Owen were both poets during the war and their poems were written with 3 years of each other, “the Soldier” at the start of the war and “Dulce Et Decorum Est” towards the very end. Rupert Brooke wrote “The Soldier” right after the outbreak of the war, when patriotic fervour was high. The soldier persona in the poem reflects on how the loss of his life would be a bittersweet event and that no matter where he dies, his burial place will always have the essence of England. Fighting for Great Britain was the ultimate sacrifice;there was no greater glory than dying for your country. This attitude was far and wide-spread at the start of the war. Brooke however, did not live to see much of the war, as he died of sepsis from a mosquito bite before he was involved in any real combat. Brooke was a celebrated poet and after his death, he became a symbol of the tragic loss of talented youth due to the war. Ironically, Wifred Owen was inherently opposed to the war, due to it resulting in the tragic loss of youth. Having experienced the horrors of war firsthand, Owen knew that there was nothing glorious about dying men. “Dulce Et Decorum Est” is well known for its horrific imagery and its condemnation of war and has a bitter, cynical tone about it. Despite representing similar themes, both poets are vehement in their convictions and they position their reader very differently on the issue of war.…
Robin Jenkins effectively conveys loss of innocence and ant war through sophisticated symbolism in the short story “Flowers”. It tells the story of a young girl, Margaret, who was evacuated from the city of Glasgow to the highlands of Scotland in an attempt to avoid the inhumanity of war, but it is in the highlands where she truly witnessed the brutality of war.…
There are many characteristics that help define a true war story. In The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, O’Brien explores these different characteristics to put together a strong collection of stories. In this collection of stories, the author shares stories from the points of view of many different soldiers in the Vietnam War. He shares different stories of life before, during, and after the war that change who these characters are as people. O’brien uses short stories with common themes of what makes a true war story to describe what a true war story is.…
For Gene and his best friend Phineas, the war always seems far away even though their reality pushes it upon them. The seniors are training for the draft, all efforts at the school are judged by their usefulness in the war, and every boy is expected to want and try their best to join the war effort. When one is faced with unwanted pressure, he/she is bound to at first neglect, or deny the pressure’s presence, and this is exactly what Gene does. Influenced mainly by Phineas, he drives this war and all of its sorrows and efforts away. Gene and Phineas even go as far as blatantly lying to themselves and saying the war was a hoax put on by the greedy, powerful old men of the world. However, in doing this, Gene buries the stress of the war in his subconscious which comes back to haunt him. When one suppresses emotions and thoughts, they always find a way to come back up one way or another. Eventually, all of the pressure to get ready for war gets to Gene and since neglecting it does not…
Leaving the northwest, headed southwest the Navajo’s had to battle against the white man in what is now known as “Window Rock, Arizona”. Although the Navajo’s were known as fierce warriors they did not stand a chance going up against the white man as within no time at all the White man had killed thousands of Navajo Indians. Then they set their crops on fire; this forced the tribe to head towards New Mexico on foot, we now know this journey as “the long walk.” The long walk was approximately a three hundred mile journey. Thousands of the Indians died during this journey due to rough terrain and lack of supplies. Of the many that didn’t survive consisted of the elderly, and the young. The Navajo Indians started to settle in what we now call “the Four Corners” region; New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, and Colorado. They live on reservations, which is land that belongs to them and is under their own control. The Navajo’s are known as “the land of the people”, living within the four sacred mountains, Mount Blanca, Mount Taylor, Mount La Plata, and the mountains in the San Francisco…
As a younger child, Ned was taken away from his family and home to go to boarding school where he was not allowed to speak his language. From 1880-1902, Native American children were forced to go to boarding school. The teachers and staff of these boarding schools had a saying, "Kill the Indian, Save the Man." The boarding schools were forced upon the Native American children so that they could be "Christianized" and "tamed". Ned was to learn the 'American' way of living. The teachers at the boarding school were very cruel to the students and punished them for speaking their Navajo language or using it in any way. The punishments consisted of public humiliation for example dunce hats and washing the students' mouth's out with soap. The Navajo language is something that has already been imbedded into the student's heads, and for them to learn the 'American' way was challenging and something they had to get used to. The student's culture made it hard for them to live in the…
Deceit is the key device used in politics and everyday life to acquire power, status, success, and in many instances, revenge. Deceit and revenge are often repeated in Shakespeare’s Hamlet through many of Hamlet’s actions and of those of the play. Hamlet’s hesitation in killing Claudius, and Hamlet’s eventual death are a direct result of deceit in the court, and the futility of war be it domestic, as in Hamlet, or with in the world, as with the wars being waged both in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hamlet tries to deceive everyone into thinking that he is crazy. He believes that with this "manic disposition" he can seek his revenge on Claudius without any consequences, and avenge his father’s death. This has been argued to be of similar view of why the United States went to war with Iraq. Many have said and argued that the real motives behind George W. Bush’s reasons for going back to war with Iraq was justly for the vengeance for the attempted plot to kill his father, the former president George Bush by Sadaam Hussein, the former dictator of Iraq. (CNN News September 27, 2002)…