Why does Edmund Blunden imbue his memoir Undertones of War with irony? To understand the intent and extent of his stylistic choices, one has to understand the context of the work. Written following his experiences as a soldier during the First World War, Undertones of War was written as a recollection of Edmund Blunden’s personal experiences as a soldier. As a memoir, Blunden projects his own feelings and opinions into his writing, detailing both the emotions he felt in the moment of his experience as a soldier and those he felt while reflecting on the war. Instead a triumphant tale of heroism, the memoir is almost cynical and very down-to-earth, contradicting the uplifting genre of war writing which often seeks to put its heroes on god-like…
War has proven over a series of time that it destroys the human mind. It turns family against family, brother against brother, leaving a lasting affect on the human psych. Using literary elements, authors have a way of describing war through their writing. Liam O’Flaherty and Thomas Hardy are two examples of this. Liam O’Flaherty’s short story, “The Sniper”, and Thomas Hardy’s poem, “The Man He Killed”, contain a plot, irony, and theme to describe their thoughts on war, and can be used to state how these two pieces of writing are more different than similar.…
The rays from the hot, blistering sun sends drops of sweat down your face as you go into your second hour of hiding and waiting. You can hear the shuffling of your impatient militiamen inches away from you. You freeze as you hear the gallops of many horses coming your way, you know it’s time to fight and there is no turning back. This is one of the many scenes The Patriot portrays of the Revolutionary War. Although there are a few minor inaccuracies, The Patriot has an accurate portrayal of the military, political, and social aspects of the Revolutionary War.…
Throughout history, war has been at the forefront of politics and has led to the formation of some of the greatest societies and movements of all time. That being said, war has also led to the ultimate downfall of enormous empires and movements that at one point were sparked with enthusiasm. In short, it brings the most glorious of times and the worst; thousands of human beings dead, families and nations left grieving, and beliefs shattered like glass – all the aftermath of a brutal, hard-fought war. The United States of America, considered one of the greatest nations of all-time, was not-so united at one point. In fact, throughout the mid-1800’s the whole nation was divided over a single lingering issue – slavery.…
When I picture the Civil War, I picture people fighting in a field and Abraham Lincoln delivering triumphant speeches of freedom and emancipation. Not often do I think about the desperate human struggle for survival in POW camps, the brutal journey many took to escape slavery, or the hundreds of dead bodies that lay mutilated after brutal battles. In the graphic history Battle Lines, by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm and Ari Kelman, such realities and human experiences are visually portrayed. In order to tell these stories, the authors ground each chapter with an object and a story. By centering each chapter around an object, the authors place a great importance on each item and draw a connection between the experience of the individual and the experience…
Surrealism is like an altered reality. The author can tell a true story but can exaggerate details and parts of the story. There is surrealism in both stories in “The Things they Carried”. surrealism adds details that may not be true.…
Storytelling continually blurs the difference between invention and reality which allows O’Brien express war through his perspective. “The Man I Killed” describes the physical appearance of a body and gives an imaginary biography, followed by “Ambush” which “gives voice to the authors retrospective guilt” (Calloway 95). These short stories work together to expose the reader to the reality of the Vietnam…
An additional example would be the sexual culture of this time period and region. Unlike Twain, who used racial titles to describe different areas and the culture of that region’s inhabitants. Harte, not to say was more qualified, due to the fact that he lived in this region his entire life, he could describe the sexual culture that was occurring during this time. Harte displayed this more risky culture throughout his book, Miggles (Reidhead, 352).The author of Norton Anthology American Literature book described this as a challenge of it time, for American sexual and gender behaviors (Reidhead, 352). During this time, California was growing in industry and its towns were flourishing in popular culture.…
The Things They Carried War is a wretched battlefield. It twists the minds of soldiers, scarring them with experiences that can last a lifetime. During war, there are some experiences that one cannot verbally formulate into words that truly capture what had happened. As the author of “The Things They Carried”, Tim O’brien writes with a style that brings his stories to life, as it allows the readers to be able to feel the situation as if them themselves were in it.…
Hi classmates; I have chosen to write my essay on “The Things They Carried” and the use of setting.in a story. Working Thesis and Introduction The use of setting in a story is a vital component in developing background upon which the story will play out. In the short stories by Tim O’Brien, “The Things That They Carried” action takes place in the Vietnam War Era. Throughout this period, there was plenty of political and social conflict taking place in the United States and from this conflict; our protagonist arises to tell his side of the story.…
Tim O'Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried, eloquently (NR) demonstrates the theme of ‘beauty in horror’. The novel emphasizes this theme through the underlying foil between beauty and atrocities that are not uncommon in war stories. O'Brien focuses on the imagery of these events as well as the tone to illustrate the difficulties that soldiers are exposed to and how they have been conditioned to their situation to no longer see the horror in these horrific events rather start seeing them as beautiful events. The relevance of this theme is most prevalent in the short story, “How to Tell a True War Story.” This short story illustrates many different barbaric events that have been very beautifully illustrated.…
War is Hades, it can turn your mind and gut so crazy it begins to make you double think is this reality. Consequently, one might say home, friends and family is a sound setting of stability. Although, could reality in this setting also be viewed in the same as just imagination. With those same thoughts in mind, can it also hold true for the ones who remain drafted into a horrific, bloody, war zone?…
In Tim O’Brien’s novel ‘’How To Tell A True War Story’’ he uses incisive writing to portray the hardship of war life. In the beginning Tim O’Brien tells how he wrote to his friends sister informing her about her brother's death, and including a few stories of his bravery. Then he goes straight to the point and says ‘’A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior.…
Imagine your fifteen year old son going to war, uncertain if he will ever return home again. Growing old is something that should be cherished, not catalyzed. Whether it is committing murder, witnessing death, or being a part of a destructive brotherhood, war has detrimental effects of the lives of all soldiers. All of these aspects of war lead an individual to not only fight for their own life, but to fight for the rights of others as well. The loss of innocence in the Civil War forces young soldiers to welcome adulthood in the face of adversity and chaos in a dwindling nation.…
In America, Realism is a literary movement or school of thought that avoided melodrama and emphasized verisimilitude. Subjects were taken from everyday life and authors placed a heavy emphasis on characters as real people influenced by environment and circumstances. Realism can be broadly defined as being faithful when representing reality or verisimilitude. It is a literary technique important to the school of thought. Realism encompasses the period in which Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Stephen Crane, and others like Henry James, portrayed fiction devoted to accurate representation and an exploration of lives in America in many perspectives.…