For the duration of our lives we face the challenges of grief, sin, jealousy, and war. War is defined as, “a state of armed conflict between different nations or states or different groups within a nation or state” (Merriam-Webster.com. 2017, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/war). Although this definition is true, there is so much more to what we call war. Throughout the heart wrenching story of “Leaving Gilead” by Pat Carr, we can see the major impact of war both personally and physically. Even though there may be one force that comes out on the top, no one truly wins in war.
We can see, in today's society, the toll it takes on one when a family member leaves for war. Saranell the only daughter of Ian Birdsong, who is off fighting …show more content…
“The boy stared at her helplessly. ‘I-I can't-’ He choked. ‘I can't be on the road another night with them.’ He pointed but didn't look at the wagon bed behind him. Saranell raised up to peer it. Men lay in a single row, packed shoulder-to-shoulder between the plank sides that contained them” (Carr 120). Saranell looks at the dead faces of Confederate soldiers, who were fighting along with her father, leaving her wondering if her father is even alive. Reading into the facial expressions and trauma described of this young boy, we can see the lasting effect this will leave on him. Although the boy was only carrying men who seemed to be at the top of this war at the time, it was through this very experience he could have discovered that there is no winner in the time of war. In this time of distress the true characteristics of others can finally uprise. “You just a little girl, but now you got the experience of running smack into wartime greed. It even worse than plain old peacetime avarice” (Carr 149). Saranell dove head first into the Civil War, from her father leaving to traveling to safer land, she has slowly been seeing it all. It is the realities we face that allow us to see the lasting impact one event can leave. With having to fight for just a single piece of hardtack, Saranell realized that this war doesn't only hurt the ones physically in it, but it also hurts those trying to live through
We can see, in today's society, the toll it takes on one when a family member leaves for war. Saranell the only daughter of Ian Birdsong, who is off fighting …show more content…
“The boy stared at her helplessly. ‘I-I can't-’ He choked. ‘I can't be on the road another night with them.’ He pointed but didn't look at the wagon bed behind him. Saranell raised up to peer it. Men lay in a single row, packed shoulder-to-shoulder between the plank sides that contained them” (Carr 120). Saranell looks at the dead faces of Confederate soldiers, who were fighting along with her father, leaving her wondering if her father is even alive. Reading into the facial expressions and trauma described of this young boy, we can see the lasting effect this will leave on him. Although the boy was only carrying men who seemed to be at the top of this war at the time, it was through this very experience he could have discovered that there is no winner in the time of war. In this time of distress the true characteristics of others can finally uprise. “You just a little girl, but now you got the experience of running smack into wartime greed. It even worse than plain old peacetime avarice” (Carr 149). Saranell dove head first into the Civil War, from her father leaving to traveling to safer land, she has slowly been seeing it all. It is the realities we face that allow us to see the lasting impact one event can leave. With having to fight for just a single piece of hardtack, Saranell realized that this war doesn't only hurt the ones physically in it, but it also hurts those trying to live through