Charles Yale Harrison’s novel Generals Die in Bed strips away the misconception that war and is glorious and in doing so strongly conveys to the reader the horrible reality that was the First World War Harrison emphasises the harshness of this reality through the constant bombardment of gruesome and desensitising events experienced by the Narrator. The dramatic degree of different between the fictional views held by the public and the truth is highlighted by the contrast of the soldier’s experiences and society’s false impressions. Furthermore the novel shows war for what it truly is, a dominant force with the power to consume, transform and scar all that stands in it’s way. Through GDIB the reader is given a raw and truthful depiction of the
Wilfred Owen Essay. Question: Compare ways in which Owen powerfully portrays the physical and mental consequences of war in both poems. The poem’s ‘Mental Cases’ and ‘Disabled’, both consider and explore the debilitating effects in which war can have on soldiers. Owen reveals the reality of war rather than the appearance created by war propaganda; he portrays the horrific experiences of the battlefield. By exposing his ideas through linguistic sound devices and techniques, in which are vital, he demonstrates his perspective on war, additionally he uses this to create an understanding of what the impact has had on the individual soldier and their lives.
Owen then seeks to convince the reader that it is not honourable or right to die for your country, as the title of the poem suggests so. He does this very successfully by presenting his very own opinion through a series of horrific and blood gorging imagery to show that the war is not honourable to die for. In stanza one, Owen describes the physical state of the soldiers to allow the reader to visualise and sense the cruel reality of how the war was for them. Their situation is made more realistic through the use of first person plural as displayed in the line “we cursed through the sludge”. Unexpected and contrasting descriptions of the soldiers such as referring to them as “bent double, like old beggars under sacks”, and associating them with animals by referring to them as “blood shod”, also changes the reader’s perception of what conditions were like during the war.
The two texts offer readers and viewers different insights into the nature of war. Both texts use very graphic imagery which is disturbing and often macabre to illustrate the confronting reality of war. Annaud utilises visual imagery and music to help create an effectively realistic mise-en-scene throughout the film. Annaud affirms the importance of hope and love whilst demonstrating the brutal political nature of war. In “Fly Away Peter” Malouf constructs characters to show how war affects people.
Generals Die in Bed Charles Yale Harrison’s war novel, Generals Die in Bed, uses a very discrete kind of writing that assists the reader in understanding the sad, miserable and degrading reality of what life in the trenches was actually like. To the general public, troops in the trenches were perceived as heroic and glorious, however Harrison manages to sway the readers opinion by using deliberate writing techniques to help them see the truth. His short, powerful, but brief sentences about emotion, the repetition of certain events, the limited backstory on the characters and the songs he has the characters sing are all methods with which he is able to get the reader to see what life in the trenches was really like. The trenches were always filled with emotion, most of which was fear and sadness. Harrison showed that the emotions within the trenches could change in an instant.
The idea of dramatic irony since Collins is unknowing of this dangerous journey while the audience and his comrades are. The literary critic Frank Gado who wrote the article "Introduction" quotes, "The streaking artillery shells emphasizing the probability of death or mutilation should the men leave the safety of the clay bank" (para. 42). This dangerous expedition means nothing compared to Collin's arrogance to improve the other soldiers, to show and make him a "hero". The technique irony and dialogue both focus on one or more characters.
A common theme used throughout the novel was dehumanisation in which the soldiers were deprived of their basic human qualities and personality due to the numerous horrors of war they faced each day. Remarque manages to introduce and develop the theme of dehumanisation through such techniques as symbolism, imagery and first person perspective which therefore effectively engages the reader’s interest in the novel. In the epigraph Remarque says that he “simply try to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by war.” Ironically Paul and his comrades represent a whole generation of men known to history as “the lost generation” in which eight million men were died in battle, twenty one million were injured and over six and a half million civilians were killed. This also reveals Remarque’s hatred towards the war and how affective it can be although soldiers may escape its physical injuries. The novel is continuously in first person from Paul point of view which makes it seem more real and dramatic as we can see exactly how he feels at a specific time.
O’Brien tells these stories with different tones depending on which recollection; it is light and hopeful during “Love” or dark and hopeless within “The Man I Killed.” To create these works he uses imagination and invention to describe the true difficulties of a true war story. The first place for difficulties to lie is in perspective. There is a tear of perspective, an enormous gap, between the eyes of a soldier and the eye of a citizen. Only the soldier sees the true horror of the events. They are the only ones that know the truth; sometimes the truth is to
Throughout the collection of war poems by Wilfred Owen, all the poems share the same subject; “the pity of war”. Therefore unpleasant details and exaggerated emotions play a big part from a war poet who was serving for his country in World War One. W.B. Yeats dismissed Owen’s poetry as ‘all blood’ and ‘dirt’ you could argue that Owen is a little obsessed with it but with no hope and constant death surrounding him on the Western Front who can blame him for feeling this way? The war poem collection could also be considered to face other aspects of war not necessarily the graphic events, but the hatred of civilians, justified details and distractions from war such as coping mechanisms.
Introduction: Composers have challenged the responder’s concept of war through the use of representations. Different ideas of war allow the audience to develop their understandings in a more unique way. An audience is often challenged by the different representations of war. Body paragraph 1: In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front the notion of survival is explored. This is seen when the main protagonist Paul is discussing the front line and says “for me the front is as sinister as a whirlpool.” She uses a simile in the scene so that the readers can relate to how terrifying the war was.