Loss of societal comforts during war in No Man’s Land
War is one of the worst things a human can experience. During times of war, the soldiers’ level of comfort decreases because of losing access to food, water, and other necessities. In No Man’s Land by Kevin Major, one of the main themes is the soldiers’ loss of societal comforts. Major uses food, stories, and specific locations to illustrate that during times of war, the comforts of society are lost. Firstly, the introduction of everyday foods, and the soldiers' glorification of them, shows that during war, the social comfort resulting from proper nutrition disappears. Secondly, the locations that the soldiers are forced to reside in, and their treatment of these locations, demonstrates
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Major illustrates this every time a soldier does something to make one of these locations more homelike. For example, when the barn which A Company uses as living quarters is described, the men are said to have “pinned up pictures, of ocean scenes sent from home” (34) as well as later being said that one of the men carved “a crude rendering of a caribou head” (73) into the wall. The men hanging pictures of home and carving pictures into the wall to make the barn feel more homelike shows that they do not feel the comfort and warmth of a home and feel longing for a home. It can in turn be inferred that if the men from one company feel longing for their home, that the men in the other companies feel the same. The men longing for home proves that during times of war the comfort of a home is lost. Another occasion in which Major makes his point is when Clarke claims the captain’s dugout as his own and it says that he “already made the place home, with the brass-framed photograph of his family that he took wherever he went” (173-174). The use of the words made the place home, in correlation with the picture of Clarke’s family shows that he associates home with being with his family. Clarke taking the photo with him wherever he goes, shows that he misses them and wishes to be with them. If Clarke thinks of …show more content…
For instance, when Moss and Smith make up a story about being fishermen back home, they are described as “forever carrying on as if they were still fishermen back in Newfoundland” followed by a description of how they use their “Father’s skiff” (19). Moss and Smith making the distinction of using their father’s boat alongside the before mentioned description of the two, demonstrates their desire to return to their homeland and the subconscious desire of seeing their father’s. Furthermore, each of the men’s desire to see their father can in turn be said that they have the desire to see their family. Thus, proving that during times of war, the comfort of family is lost. Another example which proves the author’s point is when the new recruits are assigned to their companies and it is described that they are “offered cigarettes'' (88) by the other men in their newly appointed company. The soldiers' willingness to share their decreasing supply of cigarettes with the new recruits in exchange for hearing any news they had about their families reveals how desperate they were to hear of their family. Serving to prove that the comfort of family is lost during war. In conclusion, Moss and Smith's subconscious longing to see their fathers, as well as
More than 5,000 families in the United States, have sedulous relative fighting for our country’s freedom. Many of those families have not the slightest idea of what war is like, and all of its physical and mental effects. The author uses descriptive words to take the reader on a mental voyage. The soldier keeps a conversationalist tone and uses rhetorical strategies such as imagery and rhetorical questions to show how miserable he is living. The e-mail begins with the solider mentally describing your living area; he describes it like a million dust particles that are glued to you.
This passage shows how the soldiers are emotionally and mentally drained by the horrors of war, and how they feel disconnected from the world they once knew. The
Every soldier and animal faces the horrors of war, whether its through personal experience or witnessing a commrade endure the immense pain and slow death. The horrors of war are in escapable and wear away at the soldiers hope of survival and will to
Finally, society is deeply affected by the loss of loved ones during war. Feeling lost, family members are desperate for anything left of their precious ones. Loomis describes how there was a mom who “wanted any photo [he] had, to gather any scrap of information, conversations about him, anything she could hold onto. He was her only son” (Loomis 6). War has the ability to destroy the lives of those at home as
This has a significant impact on the reader’s understanding of the novel, and their subsequent interpretation of it. The repeated use of abbreviations and specialized terms clearly defines the novel’s characters as a group that the reader is not a part of. This alienates the reader from the experiences of the soldiers. The feeling of isolation created in the initial pages of the novel remains with the reader as the story
All of the thing that they were missing from their lives, or were encountering during war were things that could never leave their minds. The narrator claims that, “Grief, terror, love, longing- these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight” (O’Brien 20). Everything they see, somehow reminds them of their home and what they are missing out on. The people they love, the people they left, and how much better their lives are than his. The emotional struggles are the things that stay with them during the war, and long
This brings focus specifically to the things the men are carrying, both tangible and intangible, without deemphasizing the narration. O'Brien gives only straight forward descriptions in these sections and the writing is nugatory of any feeling or sentiment whatsoever. On the other hand, when describing the intangible items, the writing is automatically perceived as more in tune with the emotions of the characters in the novel. The author's writing tends to be taking more sentimentality in these segments and adds a great deal of emotional weight for the reader. The soldiers all clearly want to escape the reality of what is going on around them in the war.
War and the experiences encountered within it create countless stories, both heroic and horrific. A few of these war stories are shared throughout the book, The Things they Carried, by Tim O’Brien. The men involved in these war stories respond to the uncertainty, fear, and death that surrounds them in their own distinct ways. During a time of war, the soldiers in combat respond to their stimulative surroundings through their own coping mechanisms.
If we come back late from the Soldiers’ Home we have to show passes” (Remarque,1985,1929,p.187).Although the soldiers were not under the same exact confinements as the prisoners some of their restrictions flowed over into the lives of soldiers. The soldiers were confined and watched under the guards along with the soldiers unknowingly. The separation from their families is something both men had to deal with unwillingly due to the circumstances they were placed in. In war, men are separated from their family for months at a time.
Between the danger of firefights, the suspense of night raids, and the explosions of mortar strikes soldiers experience many near-death experiences. These experiences, however, give soldiers an irreplaceable rush of adrenaline and endorphins. Throughout the novel “The Things They Carried,” Tim O’Brien uses many different stories from his friends and his time fighting in Vietnam to illustrate the ups and downs of war and the effect it has on those involved. Through the use of different perspectives, he is able to give the full Vietnam experience ranging from the fun with group members to witnessing the death of a close friend. In The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien illustrates how war can give soldiers a feeling of belonging, camaraderie, and
The lasting effects of war are more than anyone could ever imagine. War is a traumatic experience for many soldiers and oftentimes they are unable to return to the way things were before. In The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien uses sadness in people's eyes and life after war to convey the idea that it is nearly impossible to relate to the feelings during and after war if people did not experience it. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien emphasizes the effects that war has on different soldiers. It illustrates their separate but similar struggles.
More than just the chance to get shot, the war institutionalized the characters. "We became hard, suspicious, pitiless, vicious, tough […] We did not break down but adapted ourselves. " The 20-year olds, fresh out of school, were forced to adopt a mindset that allowed them to acclimate to the constant death surround themselves. They learned to take pride is small victories, that to the everyday civilian were normal, but to them were rarities, like comradery and a good meal. "When I see them here [..] I feel an irresistible attraction in it, I would like to be here too and forget the war […] but also it repels me."
Other times, the younger boys sat by rocks weeping and telling us that the rocks were their dead families. Then there were those instances when we would ambush the staff members, tie them up, and interrogate them about the whereabouts of their squad, where they got their supplies of arms and ammunition, drugs, and food” (175). The trauma from the war sticks with the boys and causes them to have an altered perspective on their
The author was writing the story “The Things They Carried” expressed so many thoughts and feelings about what the soldiers had faced, they showed their feelings and duties, life or death, and overall fear and dedication. This story shows the theme of the physical and emotional burdens that everyone is going through in the war. By showing his readers what the soldier’s daily thoughts are and how they handle what is going on around them. Tim O’Brien expresses this theme by using characterization, symbolism, and tone continuously. In the story, physical and emotional burdens plagued several characters as they all had baggage weighing them down.
Soldiers train rigorously, preparing for the departure of war. They sacrifice all that they have to fight for their country. As they return after the war, they are left with painful experiences and traumatizing memories, suffering from their inevitable conditions. However, the spouse, families and children back at home are suffering even more than soldiers.