Trench Monologue

Deeply challenging involved governments all around the world, the impact of war is an issue of ensuring that there is enough food for every person on the planet: especially during times of hardship. There are boundless reasons justifying that scarcity is not to blame for food shortage, but humans and policies are. As exemplified in Remarque’s, All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul and his friends are constantly in search for food, even with the policy of Army rationing, which was indicative of Germany’s losing war effort. Because of World War I’s high demands, food shortage grew to be an extreme problem all over.

In war, soldiers and civilians will experience the loss of friends and families. In Tim O’Brien’s work, The Things They Carried, the reader is introduced to soldiers fighting in the Vietnam war who lose their comrades’ loves due to mishaps. These soldiers in combat, along with civilians, learn to accept or become numb towards death by understanding the situation they are in and by finding comfort in oblivion. Early in the plot, the reader is made aware of how the soldiers comprehend their allies’ deaths. According to the author, when Lieutenant Cross’ team was contemplating about who is to enter the tunnel, “Lee Strunk drew the number 17” then he laughed (O’Brien 10).

In contrast, the Canadians received minimal food and rations. The Canadian Soldiers complain, “You know, I think that soldiering makes your belly shrink--"8At this we lapse into silence. We are hungry. It is four o'clock and it is a full hour before we will get our hunk of grey war bread dipped in bacon grease and a mess-tin full of pale unsweetened tea.” We can see the Canadians received much less food and were at the brink of starvation.

However, things took a turn for the worst when “… all kinds of consumer products persisted and, in many cases, worsened after peace was declared.” (Corbis, n.d.) There were high numbers of food, fuel, and supply shortages everywhere because of how much was put forth for the soldiers,

The other way soldiers were affected was through psychological trauma which can be seen on page 130 when O’Brian writes, “"He was slim, dead, almost dainty young man of about twenty. He lay with one leg bent beneath him, his jaw in his throat, his face neither expressive nor inexpressive. One eye was shot. The other was a star-shaped hole. "(130)

"Come read the rest of this, honey. " His mother had joined him on the porch. "It's a trip. " The torture chair looked normal in the hours before tea. M​adame poured a second cup of tea for herself, and offered to do the same for the visiting luminary.

No Meat!.” This shows and proves, that over a long period of time these soldiers were slowly dying. Losing food and taking away lives, losing essential supplies to stay alive in this sickly state. The next reason I’m engaging into, as to why I will not re-enlist in the Revolutionary War during this time provoked by supply shortages is “THESE are the times that try men’s souls.” (Doc. D).

Between American soldiers and civilians, the estimated death toll during World War 2 (WWII) reaches an outstanding 418,500 ("By the Numbers: World-Wide Deaths"). The success of American Soldiers on the battlefront required the efforts of each citizen back on American soil. In order to supply war efforts, the United States government began to place restrictions on items that were in high demand on the battlefront. This practice became known as rationing, and soon Americans knew all too well the sacrifices that came with surviving a war. How did rationing affect everyday life of those on the home front during WWII?

A warrior’s death is not nearly as romantic as legends would like one to believe, and this information would never reach the public if writers, such as Jarrell, never shared their experiences and observations with others through writing. These horror stories are not restricted to the past, an article from 2006, “Healing War’s Wounds” by Karen Breslau, discusses the physical and mental hardships faced by today’s active military and

Things have become so atrocious that George Washington had to ask the Congressional Committee for more money. I doubt they have any to give, for they are more focused on the bigger picture, rather than a few deteriorated soldiers (Doc B). Dr.Waldo wrote in his journal, “A general cry thro’ the camp this evening among the soldiers, “No meat! No meat!” -The distant vales echoed back the melancholy sound- “No meat!

Still the food does not last out; we are damnably hungry. I take out a scrap of bread, eat the white and put the crust back in my knapsack; from time to time I nibble at it”(Remarque 78 All Quiet On The Western Front). When soldiers need something essential to survive than a certain ability to improvise begins and anything that will help will be done in order to

Grief, terror, love, longing – these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight”. It wouldn’t be fair to make the other soldiers carry his suffering along with their own. Therefore, he takes it out on the animal, trying make it understand his pain without words. However, the violence is only a temporary solution, “Rat Kiley was crying. He tried to say something, but then cradled his

The True Weight of War “The Things They Carried,” by Tim O’Brien, brings to light the psychological impact of what soldiers go through during times of war. We learn that the effects of traumatic events weigh heavier on the minds of men than all of the provisions and equipment they shouldered. Wartime truly tests the human body and and mind, to the point where some men return home completely destroyed. Some soldiers have been driven to the point of mentally altering reality in order to survive day to day. An indefinite number of men became numb to the deaths of their comrades, and yet secretly desired to die and bring a conclusion to their misery.

Getting food is hard. It’s very hard to survive. It has come to the soldiers to decide whether to stay or re-enlist and fight or quit (not re-enlist) and helplessly die from freezing to death or smallpox. After thinking long and hard… I have decided to re-enlist, because General Washington needs healthy men, the people need my help, and I want my freedom.

The soldiers “[urge themselves] deep into [the earth] with [their] face[s] and with [their] limbs” like a frightened infant burrows their face into their mother (38). To