Comparison Of Code Talker And Dulce Et Decorum Est

Margaret Atwood’s quote, “War is what happens when language fails,” describes how language can influence wars. The quote represents the idea that when communication has ceased to work effectively, a war will begin. It means that when people have issues getting their ideas across, it will result in conflict. In the eyes of Atwood, both the wars in Code Talker and Dulce Et Decorum Est can be attributed to the failure of language between the many different countries present in World Wars I and II. The wars may have been avoided had proper diplomacy been used and their “language” had not failed. The book Code Talker and the poem Dulce Et Decorum Est illustrate the consequences of the failure of language and the power vested in proper communication,

Owen describes how the soldiers drowned in the gas, in a stanza of the poem that describes how the soldiers reacted to gas, and says, “As under a green sea, I saw him drowning” (Owen, line 14). Owen also describes the soldiers as “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks” (Owen, line 1), showing the horrors the soldiers were exposed to. World War I was nothing short of a gruesome war, as represented in Owen’s poem, and the war was also a result of the failure of communication. Had the two sides been able to come to a compromise, the gruesome conflict described in Owen’s poem could have possibly been

In one part of the book, the Navajo (Ned) is on the island of Iwo Jima with the rest of the Marines and they are fighting to capture the island. During the invasion, the Americans find boxes labeled “U.S.A. Food Relief,” in a Japanese cave. As said by Ned, “The Japanese military government had stolen it from their own hungry people” (Bruchac, 177). This angered the Marines since the food was meant for Japanese civilians, and the Japanese military had taken something needed by their own citizens. This and many more atrocities committed against civilians during wartime are yet another reason why war is a result of a failure of language. During peacetime, it is typical for a country to try and do what is best for its citizens, though it may not always work in the intended way. However, during war, not only do countries fail to communicate with other countries, but they fail to communicate with their own people. This failure of language with their citizens can result in more conflict, which is seen in civil wars all across the globe. Additionally, Ned and the other Navajo Code talkers represent another example of a failure of communication. The use of the Navajo language during World War II, along with Ned’s Navajo background highlights the larger failure of communication between the Navajo people and the U.S. Government. The U.S. failed