War Makes You An Animal Analysis

In chapter two, “War Makes You an Animal”, Junger describes how communities react to different situations. Whether it be due to a war or natural disaster, individuals are often brought together in times of need and despondency. Junger addresses the connection between war and happiness, finding that individuals are surprisingly happier during times of war. Regardless of race, class, religion, or gender, The “community of sufferers” that rises when faced with complications and adversity, pushes individuals to utilize their animal-like ancestral instincts (Junger 53). Allowing people to band together regardless of race, class, religion, or gender. Throughout the chapter, Junger uses historical events to support his claims of how modern society has pushed people into feeling less responsible for others. He utilizes an earthquake in Avezzano to show how one minor event can “achieve what the law promises but does not in practice maintain” (Junger 44). Creating an aggregation of people from all over Avezzano, the earthquake was able to bring all internal conflicts to a halt. The same effects can be seen again through the impact the earthquake in Chile, “as Indian and mestizo, lower and upper class, …show more content…
He uses this experience to show how even though the city was ruined and bombarded by attacks, the people still lived their lives happily. He found that governmental authority no longer existed, but instead it was “the crows [that] policed themselves” (Junger 46). The rules that were once in place by the government, were replaced by those created only by the people. Individuals could no longer be possessive of their materialistic objects and food but were forced to return back to their animal-like instinct to share in a communal space. Therefore, instead of dividing the capital of Bosnia, the conflict brought people closer together than they had ever