Many say that as long as there is life, there is hope. However, in addition to humanity maintaining its belief in better days to come, it also tears itself apart through civil wars within the conflict within the species; that is, war. War is as evil as the Pandora’s box of emotions that cause it. And yet, the truest malice of war is not causing death, but living with the weight of experiencing it. In its wake war leaves millions of soldiers, civilians and prisoners of war haunted by memories of its horror. Look to the incineration of an innocent population in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, or the agonizing decision to ignore a suffering father in Night by Elie Wiesel. Watch the despair of watching a beloved compatriot slain from enemy
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One case of this occurring is when Cortez speaks about witnessing another soldier’s death. He describes, “I can’t even sleep, honestly. I’ve been on four or five sleeping pills and none of them helped. That’s how bad the nightmares are. I prefer to not sleep and not dream about than sleep and see the picture in my head … pretty bad” (Junger, Restrepo). Even months after coming across his fallen friend, he still cannot shake the dreadful image of the Staff Sergeant Rougle’s death. Like many soldiers, he leaves the war with miserable memories that last a lifetime that affect his reintegration into civilian life, proving that the sprightly downtime fun in Restrepo gives way to overwhelming sorrow during operations. To add on, Elie Wiesel vividly describes his thoughts when his father perishes from dysentery. Wiesel narrates, “I awoke January 29 at dawn. In my father’s place lay another invalid. They must have taken him away before dawn and carried him to the crematory. He may still have been breathing. There were no prayers at his grave. No candles were lit in his memory. His last word was my name. A summons, to which I did not respond” (Wiesel 112). Mr. Wiesel clearly conveys the regret he has from his actions during his father’s death, and this passage provides a powerful recollection of the event to readers. With sensory imagery from his father’s last breaths to solemn reminders of his father’s uncelebrated death, Wiesel demonstrates that the sadness of witnessing his own family’s death has stuck with him for decades. Finally, the trauma of war might be best exemplified by Billy Pilgrim, who suffers from PTSD caused by World War II. His most vivid memory is the brutally unnecessary firebombing of Dresden. He recalls, “When
One case of this occurring is when Cortez speaks about witnessing another soldier’s death. He describes, “I can’t even sleep, honestly. I’ve been on four or five sleeping pills and none of them helped. That’s how bad the nightmares are. I prefer to not sleep and not dream about than sleep and see the picture in my head … pretty bad” (Junger, Restrepo). Even months after coming across his fallen friend, he still cannot shake the dreadful image of the Staff Sergeant Rougle’s death. Like many soldiers, he leaves the war with miserable memories that last a lifetime that affect his reintegration into civilian life, proving that the sprightly downtime fun in Restrepo gives way to overwhelming sorrow during operations. To add on, Elie Wiesel vividly describes his thoughts when his father perishes from dysentery. Wiesel narrates, “I awoke January 29 at dawn. In my father’s place lay another invalid. They must have taken him away before dawn and carried him to the crematory. He may still have been breathing. There were no prayers at his grave. No candles were lit in his memory. His last word was my name. A summons, to which I did not respond” (Wiesel 112). Mr. Wiesel clearly conveys the regret he has from his actions during his father’s death, and this passage provides a powerful recollection of the event to readers. With sensory imagery from his father’s last breaths to solemn reminders of his father’s uncelebrated death, Wiesel demonstrates that the sadness of witnessing his own family’s death has stuck with him for decades. Finally, the trauma of war might be best exemplified by Billy Pilgrim, who suffers from PTSD caused by World War II. His most vivid memory is the brutally unnecessary firebombing of Dresden. He recalls, “When