Analysis Of David Snead's An American Soldier In World War I

In the novel, An American Soldier in World War I the author, David L. Snead seeks to provide the reader with an accurate account of the first war through one of possibly the last remaining written letter of a soldier. Through the novel the reader is able to gain insight on the condition of training and preparation, combat, and a soldiers relationship with those he has had to leave. The way in which the author depicts each of these experiences truly draws the reader in and has them rooting for Brownie, whom which is the main character.
Throughout the novel the author does his best to set the surrounding or condition of the area that the soldiers occupy. From early on it is known to the reader that the United States was at a shortage for many …show more content…
This touch of personality is what brings this novel together without it the reader would have immense trouble being able to place themselves, or find a connection with the story line. Through each letter of Brownie’s to Marty the reader gain an insight of accounts happening that may have never been documented in any other way. Through his letters you begin to see the emotional wear and tear that a war takes on men, the narrator or the knowledge placed in-between the letter only supplies the reader with a physical or outward appearance of the war. In one of his letters Brownie states, “ it makes a guy feel the usefulness of war when he sees men shot up and killed.” (100) This exemplifies that while these men physically and even to a point mentally stood behind the war and the united states there comes a breaking point where one cannot suppress the horrors that they’ve seen. I a letter early on Brownie and some of his comrade “were considering whether we should desert or not just to see our sweet-heart.”(32) Not even having left the states yet he was already missing Marty enough and that continued to wear on him throughout the war but also gave him something to hope for as well did it the