Cruel wars and bloody conflicts have marked the beginning of the 21st century, where countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan have suffered under these heavy blankets of misery for more than a decade. The misery has long-lasting consequences for the people of these countries of which a whole generation has been lost due to the cruelty of the wars and conflicts. But the wretchedness does not only affect the civil people in the war-torn countries, also the soldiers suffer greatly. The suffering becomes especially prominent when the soldiers return to their home countries and the PTSD sets in. This issue is also the focal point in the article “On War and Redemption”, which was published in the opinion section of The New York Times on the 8th of
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Thus, Kudo introduces the topic on war and its consequences for all involved in the introduction of the article. The introduction is done through an indirect argumentation deriving in the disclosure of a personal story by Kudo: “Instead, when people ask, I make it easy for everyone by responding, “It’s fine.” That’s a lie, though. It’s not fine.” (ll. 3-4) With this quote Kudo implies that the return from a war zone is a difficult transition which affects the psyche of the soldiers terribly. This argumentation continues in the main body of the article, which is mainly characterized by the use of open argumentation. Here Kudo directly expresses his opinion on war and its effects on the mental health of soldiers: “The insanity of war means that incidents like this are accepted. By the standard of those who fight wars we did the right thing. The catastrophe is that these incidents occur on an industrial scale.” (ll. 47-49) The catastrophe that Kudo describes is, in matter of fact, the reality for at least 20 percent of the army veterans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, which only proves Kudo’s point further. In the conclusion of the article, Kudo gets back to this initial point about the deep psychological scars which the soldiers have to find a way to live with for the remainder of their lives: “I thought my war was over, but it followed me. It followed all of us. We returned only to find that it was waiting here the entire time and will always be with us.” (ll. 97-99) Throughout the article, Kudo mainly uses ethos and pathos as forms of appeal. In his argumentation, ethos plays an immense role as Kudo relies greatly on his experience as a soldier in Afghanistan to prove the point he concluded his article with: “The combination of
Thus, Kudo introduces the topic on war and its consequences for all involved in the introduction of the article. The introduction is done through an indirect argumentation deriving in the disclosure of a personal story by Kudo: “Instead, when people ask, I make it easy for everyone by responding, “It’s fine.” That’s a lie, though. It’s not fine.” (ll. 3-4) With this quote Kudo implies that the return from a war zone is a difficult transition which affects the psyche of the soldiers terribly. This argumentation continues in the main body of the article, which is mainly characterized by the use of open argumentation. Here Kudo directly expresses his opinion on war and its effects on the mental health of soldiers: “The insanity of war means that incidents like this are accepted. By the standard of those who fight wars we did the right thing. The catastrophe is that these incidents occur on an industrial scale.” (ll. 47-49) The catastrophe that Kudo describes is, in matter of fact, the reality for at least 20 percent of the army veterans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, which only proves Kudo’s point further. In the conclusion of the article, Kudo gets back to this initial point about the deep psychological scars which the soldiers have to find a way to live with for the remainder of their lives: “I thought my war was over, but it followed me. It followed all of us. We returned only to find that it was waiting here the entire time and will always be with us.” (ll. 97-99) Throughout the article, Kudo mainly uses ethos and pathos as forms of appeal. In his argumentation, ethos plays an immense role as Kudo relies greatly on his experience as a soldier in Afghanistan to prove the point he concluded his article with: “The combination of