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Similarities Between Dulce Et Decorum Est And The Wars

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The Loss of Innocence in “Dulce et Decorum Est” and The Wars
The poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen and the novel The Wars by Timothy Findley share several similarities when it comes to the theme being portrayed. Both literary texts illustrate that although one may suggest war is an honourable act of patriotism for one’s country, the detrimental effects of reality result in one’s loss of innocence.
Firstly, in Dulce et Decorum Est, the narrator illustrates the reality of the unexpected atrocities of the war that young, innocent soldiers must face. Soldiers enlisted into the war because they were blinded by the idea that it is an honour to die for one’s country. As a result of wanting to fulfill deceiving notions, they are forced to …show more content…

Instead he can only replay the dreadful scene in his mind. The speaker realises that right from the beginning, the truth was concealed and overpowered by rhetoric which convinced the innocent youth that war is glorifying. Owen states, “My friend, you would not tell with such high zest / To children ardent for some desperate glory, / The old Lie” (25). The reality of the war takes many lives and destroys the innocence amongst the young soldiers.
In The Wars, several characters endure their own destruction of innocence as a result of the war. Many innocent characters the reader encounters within the novel suffer the traumatic experiences of the war. The main character Robert is portrayed as a sensitive, loving young man who values life and has a strong connection with his sister Rowena. When he is faced with his loving sister’s unexpected death, this is the moment where he loses his innocence. He feels guilty and ashamed of himself for he did not look after his sister. As a result, he struggles to face his guilt and loses the meaning of his life. In order to run away from his misfortune, he enlists into the war. Even

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World War I is a gloomy and cruel place; it obliterates the beliefs of fighting for one’s country and transforms the minds of the soldiers. This realization is found in Erich Maria Remarque’s book All Quiet on the Western Front. In the book, a young teen named Paul Baumer and his friends join in the war believing it’s going to make them become important and that fighting for their country is such a great privilege, but once they are in the war, they all realize it’s not the same as what they were told. The young soldiers witness what war is truly about and they reflect on what they were told, knowing the truth makes them see they were told lies, so they are the same which obliterates their trust in the adult world. Remarque employs symbolism,

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