The destruction of man is one that has been written in stone since the day they inhabited the Earth. Whether this is through global warming or catastrophic event, who knows? The most likely candidate for the destruction of mankind is mankind itself. The warring and destructive powers of humans has been on display since prehistoric times with many tribes constantly finding ways to fight and kill one another for their own benefit. This long term warring shows that human beings have a natural instinct towards violence and conflict between one another. For thousands of years the one thing that will always be true is war never changes. Both The Iliad and The Things They Carried, showed how human beings have a natural tendency towards superiority
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The idea of fighting is not just a daily task for the Greeks, but is a necessity for them. In Homer 's The Iliad, war is what makes a person who they really are. The wealth, honor, and power that each victor receives makes the society glorify war. The soldiers of The Iliad must join the war in order to bring honor to themselves and their family, even if it means losing their own lives. "If I hold out here and I lay siege to Troy my journey home is gone, but my glory never dies. If I voyage back to the fatherland I love, my pride, my glory dies"(Homer Book 9, lines 498-503). The society values glory from war so much that the idea of glory and death becomes synonymous with each other in the ancient world to the point where it is better to have lived a short life filled with glory than a long life with your family and friends. The valuing of war makes it so that the fight for glory is more of an individualistic task rather than fighting for honor and glory for your country. This individual valuing of war is what drives forward the idea that it is not the society that values conflict, but each member of the society. Each soldier enters the field with the sole goal of killing as many enemies as possible before they themselves are
The idea of fighting is not just a daily task for the Greeks, but is a necessity for them. In Homer 's The Iliad, war is what makes a person who they really are. The wealth, honor, and power that each victor receives makes the society glorify war. The soldiers of The Iliad must join the war in order to bring honor to themselves and their family, even if it means losing their own lives. "If I hold out here and I lay siege to Troy my journey home is gone, but my glory never dies. If I voyage back to the fatherland I love, my pride, my glory dies"(Homer Book 9, lines 498-503). The society values glory from war so much that the idea of glory and death becomes synonymous with each other in the ancient world to the point where it is better to have lived a short life filled with glory than a long life with your family and friends. The valuing of war makes it so that the fight for glory is more of an individualistic task rather than fighting for honor and glory for your country. This individual valuing of war is what drives forward the idea that it is not the society that values conflict, but each member of the society. Each soldier enters the field with the sole goal of killing as many enemies as possible before they themselves are