The Savage Deterioration of Man
Charles Yale Harrison’s remorseless novel Generals Die in Bed strips war of it’s heroic mirage and examines it, rather, as brutalizing. The myths about war’s glory are destroyed by showing the sheer agony of the soldiers’ experiences in the trenches through factors such as abusive officers, lice and starvation. The aftermath of such hardship results in the psychological and emotional ramifications of desperation, barbarism and insanity on the common soldiers. The final chapter, “Vengeance,” highlights these influences revealing the significant transformation of soldiers to shells of men that they once were. Philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes believed that men, when forced out of civilization and into the environment of war, would eventually deteriorate from their honourable and brave manners. Leaving the men to succumb to the ID part of our brains of Sigmund Freud’s Instinctual Personality Theory in order to survive. The men disregard all laws of honour and bravery and enforce …show more content…
In the final chapter “Vengeance”, all the characteristics of desperation, brutality and insanity become clear to the evident change they have gone through. The final battle recognizes the main motifs of pessimism and cynicism towards authority. The men care not for valour, camaraderie and companionship are just more lies that the generals feed them. In reality, war turns men into savage animals when minds are tested to the limits without pause. Desperation fuels insane brutality to survive and eventually leads to the loss of innocence that can never be reclaimed. The soldiers all succumb to the darkness of man’s heart. The common soldiers sacrifice everything they have in war, and in return are granted nothing but painful deaths. The men must choose between humanity and survival. Ultimately, survival always triumphs due to the animalistic transition made in the chaos of
Charles Yale Harrison’s remorseless novel Generals Die in Bed strips war of it’s heroic mirage and examines it, rather, as brutalizing. The myths about war’s glory are destroyed by showing the sheer agony of the soldiers’ experiences in the trenches through factors such as abusive officers, lice and starvation. The aftermath of such hardship results in the psychological and emotional ramifications of desperation, barbarism and insanity on the common soldiers. The final chapter, “Vengeance,” highlights these influences revealing the significant transformation of soldiers to shells of men that they once were. Philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes believed that men, when forced out of civilization and into the environment of war, would eventually deteriorate from their honourable and brave manners. Leaving the men to succumb to the ID part of our brains of Sigmund Freud’s Instinctual Personality Theory in order to survive. The men disregard all laws of honour and bravery and enforce …show more content…
In the final chapter “Vengeance”, all the characteristics of desperation, brutality and insanity become clear to the evident change they have gone through. The final battle recognizes the main motifs of pessimism and cynicism towards authority. The men care not for valour, camaraderie and companionship are just more lies that the generals feed them. In reality, war turns men into savage animals when minds are tested to the limits without pause. Desperation fuels insane brutality to survive and eventually leads to the loss of innocence that can never be reclaimed. The soldiers all succumb to the darkness of man’s heart. The common soldiers sacrifice everything they have in war, and in return are granted nothing but painful deaths. The men must choose between humanity and survival. Ultimately, survival always triumphs due to the animalistic transition made in the chaos of