War stories surround us whether it's on television, a new movie or a book, they are easily accessible and known to everyone. But lets look at them from a literature perspective. By comparing and contrasting “Speaking of Courage” by Tim O’Brien, “Soldier’s Home” by Ernest Hemingway, and “Game” by Donald Barthelme we can better understand how theme, conflict, and mood connect these stories and in turn better understand the author's purpose in writing.
Theme is a very important part of any story it is an observation that may or may not teach a lesson.
The theme of “Speaking of Courage” is showing the Dehumanization of people returning from the vietnam war.
This is shown with how all the narrator regrets how he didn't get another medal and …show more content…
An example of this is when he said “ he wanted a girl but he did not want to have to work to get her.” The theme of “Game” is to show how crazy and insane the Cold War really was. Just how crazy the Cold War drove everyone is shown by how Shotwell and the Narrator are starting to gain childish traits such as not sharing.
When looking at the struggle between two opposing forces there can be more than just one at play.
In “Speaking of Courage” the conflict is both man vs. himself and man vs. society.The narrator show his difficulty returning to society by his way he orders his food almost as if he is communicating over a radio. In “Soldier’s Home” the conflict is man vs. himself.We know this because it said he had a “distaste for everything that had happened to him in the war because of the lies he had told.” Krebs is battling with himself because it feels wrong to lie and make up stories about the war but at the same time he wants and needs to talk about it and that is the only way anyone will listen. In “Game” the conflict is both Man vs. Nature And man vs. man Man vs Man is shown by the fact that they are waiting for a bomb so that they can set off their own bomb.Man vs. nature is shown by the natural progression to insanity that is caused by
Theme is a very important part of any story it is an observation that may or may not teach a lesson.
The theme of “Speaking of Courage” is showing the Dehumanization of people returning from the vietnam war.
This is shown with how all the narrator regrets how he didn't get another medal and …show more content…
An example of this is when he said “ he wanted a girl but he did not want to have to work to get her.” The theme of “Game” is to show how crazy and insane the Cold War really was. Just how crazy the Cold War drove everyone is shown by how Shotwell and the Narrator are starting to gain childish traits such as not sharing.
When looking at the struggle between two opposing forces there can be more than just one at play.
In “Speaking of Courage” the conflict is both man vs. himself and man vs. society.The narrator show his difficulty returning to society by his way he orders his food almost as if he is communicating over a radio. In “Soldier’s Home” the conflict is man vs. himself.We know this because it said he had a “distaste for everything that had happened to him in the war because of the lies he had told.” Krebs is battling with himself because it feels wrong to lie and make up stories about the war but at the same time he wants and needs to talk about it and that is the only way anyone will listen. In “Game” the conflict is both Man vs. Nature And man vs. man Man vs Man is shown by the fact that they are waiting for a bomb so that they can set off their own bomb.Man vs. nature is shown by the natural progression to insanity that is caused by