Frist World War Themes

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The Frist World War or the Great War as it is also known was the most formative event of the previous century, and is arguably still influencing the world today. A conflict of this magnitude, naturally, has generated a large amount of media and literature to address the many themes and aspects that were created by the war. While there are many hundreds of issues and themes from the Great War, for the purpose of this paper we will on focus on ten issues that I believe to be some of the most important to come from the war. These themes are: rivalry between classes, why we fight, political consciousness, the so called “color line” in terms of patriotism, the rivalry between tradition and experience, conflicts over region, the rivalry between rivalry …show more content…
In this case political consciousness means being aware of your standing in the pecking order is. In Three Soldiers this represented by the character Eisenstein. Eisenstein throughout the novel points out the obvious facts that none of the solders want to hear. Such as the fact that they are just cannon fodder and how they are all just a bunch of slaves who will do what they are ordered to do. This type of concisions is very unpopular with the men and they hate Eisenstein for it, most likely because they know them to be true or at the very least because they are contrary to what they have always been told. The Dos Passos continues with this idea of consciousness throughout the novel and the things that Eisenstein said are true and that if the men had been conscious before they went to war they might not have gone at …show more content…
Noncommissioned officers (or NCO for short) are supposed to be similar to soldiers but still superior to them, allowing for more direct and hands on eldership than officers can provide. However many people when put in these positions of power exploit the power they are given to make their solders suffer. During the movie this happens when Himmelstoss, the former postman of the town, is made Sargent. He makes the soldiers’ lives miserable for no reason other than he can, which is more or less the definition of sadism. This passage is also a metaphor for the war on the whole, in that in the war people are simply killing each other for next to no reason. In the same way Himmelstoss is cruel and nasty towards the men for no reason other than he can because of his

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