Occurring both in fiction as well as the real world, people and characters are subjected to factors that affect how they think, act, and behave. As such they often have sides that are unknown to others through mere observation. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut and The Wars by Timothy Findley both utilize characters that display inconsistent personalities in public contrasted to how they act in private. Especially in wartime, humans are pushed to their limit and more than often emerged disfigured physically and mentally. Through this observation of the public and private lives demonstrated by the characters of The Wars and Slaughterhouse-Five, all that they held private are lost or publicized through war, ultimately resulting in their
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Before his wartime experience, he has difficulty and avoids any type of killing. In an attempt to remedy this, he turns toward Eugene Taffler as his mentor. Robert’s respect for Taffler originated from his prejudgment, as he believed himself to have traits similar to Taffler: “He had also been a Varsity all-round athlete, though this was before Robert’s time and therefore Taffler’s face was not familiar to him. His name, however, was credential enough.” (Findley 29). All of that, however, vanishes when Robert visits the brothel with his fellow soldiers. After Taffler assumes the public identity as a successful soldier, the war then forcibly tailors it to his private life. Ella, the prostitute that he meets, invades not only Robert’s privacy, but Taffler’s as well, and forces him to witness Taffler’s homosexuality: “..he couldn’t step aside, even if he wanted to.” (Findley 39). Due to the war, Taffler is forced to suppress his homosexuality because of widespread social unacceptance as evidenced by Robert’s attempt, “desperately trying to comprehend” (Findley 39) the scene. In Allan Weiss’ essay, he described the world before war as “one in which there is a clear and proper distinction between the public and private”. Yet, before Robert even left the country for war, the idea of “proper distinction between the public and private” evaporates, as Robert publically witnesses the private life of another. The war presented Robert with a decoy very much like himself, who is impacted by the war, and struggles to keep private emotions hidden. In this sense, Taffler is foiled by war which publicized his homosexuality to
Before his wartime experience, he has difficulty and avoids any type of killing. In an attempt to remedy this, he turns toward Eugene Taffler as his mentor. Robert’s respect for Taffler originated from his prejudgment, as he believed himself to have traits similar to Taffler: “He had also been a Varsity all-round athlete, though this was before Robert’s time and therefore Taffler’s face was not familiar to him. His name, however, was credential enough.” (Findley 29). All of that, however, vanishes when Robert visits the brothel with his fellow soldiers. After Taffler assumes the public identity as a successful soldier, the war then forcibly tailors it to his private life. Ella, the prostitute that he meets, invades not only Robert’s privacy, but Taffler’s as well, and forces him to witness Taffler’s homosexuality: “..he couldn’t step aside, even if he wanted to.” (Findley 39). Due to the war, Taffler is forced to suppress his homosexuality because of widespread social unacceptance as evidenced by Robert’s attempt, “desperately trying to comprehend” (Findley 39) the scene. In Allan Weiss’ essay, he described the world before war as “one in which there is a clear and proper distinction between the public and private”. Yet, before Robert even left the country for war, the idea of “proper distinction between the public and private” evaporates, as Robert publically witnesses the private life of another. The war presented Robert with a decoy very much like himself, who is impacted by the war, and struggles to keep private emotions hidden. In this sense, Taffler is foiled by war which publicized his homosexuality to