Flags Of Our Fathers Character Analysis

The story of Flags of our Fathers, by James Bradley, tells the story of the 6 men in the famous picture of the U.S soldiers raising a flag on enemy ground during WWII,”Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima”. Braldey’s novel compares and contrasts the effects of war by using word choice to effectively show distinction of perception vs reality of war with both positive and violent sides of mood, tone, and the theme. James Bradley is the son of one of the 6 men who raised the flag. He uses a lot of onomatopoeia and intense imagery to display the hardships of war, like is the midst of battle. ”Soaked with blood, nearly immobilized by pain, Keith Wells continued to direct the third platoons attack through the late morning,”(Bradley 188). This creates

Most stories of war have a hard time showing positivity in something as dismal as war. It's a story of brotherhood, love of people and their country, heroism, and pride. Bradleys father, a hardened WWII veteran, told his son, “Your teacher said something about heros… and I want you to always remember something. The heroes of Iwo Jima are the men who did not make it back,” (Bradley 343). He wants his son to know that all people involved in the war deserved to be honored and remembered, the ones who died more so than the ones who lived. This quote describes the empathy and the love that the fellow soldiers have for another and shows the traits which John Bradley is trying to show his son and people around him. Another detail that helps shows positivity is looking into the characters personal lives, like what Harlon, one of the veterans, said about his wife, “Picking a girl is like picking a flower from the garden, you only pick the best,”(Bradley 224). Talking about love and relationships while the characters were not in battle played an important part in developing the conflicting mood and tone. This imagery is also used along with the positive mood to help evoke emotion and show love and