Literature About War Essay Example

Thesis Statement: Regardless of the set of conditions under which various soldiers combat with in protecting their countries, their experiences and factors affecting them are usually closely related.

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Regardless of the set of conditions under which various soldiers combat with in protecting their countries, their experiences and factors affecting them are generally closely related. Basing on the short stories by Jack London and Philip Roth who wrote "War" and "Defender of the faith" respectively; "facing it" and "Kissing in Vietnamese" poems by Yusef Komunyakaa and Ocean Vuong respectively; films "Apocalypse Now" by Francis Ford Coppola and "Full Metal Jacket" by Stanley Kubrick. Also; "The Things That They Carried" written by Tim O'Brien practically illustrates various factors especially internal conflicts and struggles that soldiers experiences during their time of serving the country.

In the short stories written by Jack London and Phillip Roth, "War" and "Defender of the Faith" respectively mainly demonstrates what the characters had to do to survive (Survival of the fittest) while battling with their internal consciousness. For example, in "Defender of Faith," Marx, one of the characters featured in the poem apart from Grossbart has to choose between being a soldier or a good Jew which is more essential (internal conflict). Marx faces challenges of either to become the right man b declining to do what Grossbart is asking for or defend his religion. The conflict is as a result of disputes between the camp rules and the apparent Jews discrimination. Marx faces challenges relating to the protocol in the base. On the other hand, in "War" short story, the internal conflict is between a man vs. a man just like in the "Defender of Faith." The character (scout) in the short story, battles with himself if killing the enemy soldier would have bear a different result as he decided not to kill him but at the end, the enemy soldier kills him (London). Another factor causing internal struggle among soldiers is the regrets of losing or being far from the loved ones in their lives. The collected short stories by Tim O'Brien, "The Things They Carried," covers at large what most soldiers especially men carry to company them when they are away. For example, according to spark notes, he writes about the Vietnam platoon soldiers' leader, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross who carried Martha physical reminders as a symbol of his unreturned love. Others like Ted Lavender carried tranquilizers and marijuana to maintain and manage is nervousness while Kiowa because he is religious he carries a bible gifted (New Testament) to him by his father. Each particular thing carried by the soldiers' acts as a reminder of the love of their loved ones who are unreached.

In kissing in Vietnamese poetry work by Ocean Vuong, the poet describes in-depth the effects of war trauma experienced by her grandmother who from the Vietnam War experience. The poem portrays horrific war images through certain styles like similes for example "My grandmother kisses as if bombs are bursting in the backyard," also "My grandmother kisses as if history never ended, as if somewhere a body is still falling apart" (Vuong). This clearly illustrates that the trauma of wars causes a distraction in one's life mainly and is unavoidable especially to the soldiers who experienced them directly. The poet shows how his grandmother pain transfers to him through her emotions. Throughout the poem, it is recapitulated that war trauma effects prevail through time.

Moreover, soldier's dehumanization is another factor that soldiers combat with while training and fighting for their countries by being reduced to killers and also by machines in the military. In the anti-war film- Full Metal Jacket by Stanley Kubrick, soldiers in training experiences vicious brutality including chokes, punches, and insults from Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in the name of improving the recruits conducts. In the film, Pyle ends up killing himself along with the Sergeant due to the pain and suffering he was going through.

The training system has reduced most soldiers to killers as who to be blamed for this remains unanswered to most people. In the film in the helicopter to Phu Bai, the gunners vividly describe how they killed children and women as it is a good thing also they debated on various ways of killing the female snipper as most of them preferred killing her slowly through torture. Apocalypse Now by Francis Ford Coppola is another war epic film bringing out the dark heart of soldiers while fighting for a lost cause mostly defeat, death or despair just like "Full Metal Jacket." One of the character in the movie witnesses the innocents' massacre and scaring battles while on the other hand knowing there is no way out. The film portrayed soldiers (Vietnam) as drug-addicts and cold-blooded murders as they have been reduced to killers.

As mentioned earlier, the internal struggle is similar to most soldiers irrespective where and what they are fighting for and the statement has been broadly illustrated through the mentioned poems, short stories, films, and other fiction involved. Another factor common is the effects of the war that tortures someone over a long period mainly war trauma of losing close people or the vivid pictures of how people died during the war.

Works cited

"Spark notes The Things They Carried: "The Things They Carried"." Sparknotes.com. N.p., 2018. Web. 10 Dec. 2018.

Deep Film Analysis. Full Metal Jacket: The Individual Is Dead. Retrieved from; https://deepfilmanalysis.wordpress.com/category/full-metal-jacket/. (2018)

London, J. War. Source; Jack London, the Night-Born (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1913)

Now, Apocalypse. "A Summary of Louis K Greiff's "Soldier, Sailor, Surfer, Chef: Conrad's Ethics and the Margins of Apocalypse Now." Literature Film Quarterly 20.3 (1992): 188.

Roth, P. Defender of Faith. Retrieved from; https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1959/03/14/defender-of-the-faith. (1959).

Vuong, O. Kissing in Vietnamese. Retrieved from; https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/kissing-vietnamese. (2018)