Another similarity between these two soldiers are the friendships that each have with either a superior or a subordinate. Each play an opposite roll in their respective friendships, but
The son of the war hero began to think of his parent as
Killing is an action that can never be undone. In the novel War Brothers, Sharon E. Mckay examines the impact of this action. War Brothers is a story about four children fighting for survival after their capture by the LRA. During their time in the LRA, they all learn what the true meaning of family is and how you have to look out for not only yourself but others too. There are three characters in the novel that are impacted in different ways by the choice to kill.
It can either break them up or bring them closer, In the short story “Ambush” O’Brien states that, “ When she was nine my daughter, Kathleen asked if I had ever killed anyone.” (O’brien 811). The author did what he thought was right and didn't answer his daughters question, he said he would tell her later on when she was older, he wanted to but he felt like she wasn't grown up and mature enough to know what actually happened, so he just held her. The next quote states that war has given family member of the troops a sense of honor.
One morning in an exchange with a young lieutenant, General Lee used a casual greeting and empathized with the soldier’s workload, believing that speaking as a friend, he would best convey his expectation of a good day’s work (Marrin 108). The relationships General Lee formed with his troops built a foundation of trust. His men expressed that “if he was nearby, they felt safe...” (Marrin 172). General Lee cared deeply for his men and tried to never expose them to unnecessary danger.
When you go to war, and you meet people who are fighting with you, you become closer to them. They become so close to you that they feel like your family or your second family. This is how I would describe Lee and Longstreet’s relationship. It is kind of like a father-son relationship. Lee and Longstreet have become so close that they may fight like brothers.
After the war, the girl and boy are left to catch up where they left off in their daily lives. Inorder to fit they had to act differently due to the consequences that came with being who they were. Whenever their mom would call them from across the street; they would pretend not to hear her so that, “We would never be mistaken for the enemy again!” (Otsuka 114). The boy and girl’s fear of being associated with the enemy causes them to act inaccurate to their identity.
The fear also impacted the relationships the American soldiers had with one another. Most soldiers were concerned about obtaining social acceptance during the war. Social acceptance may seem to be unimportant but played a factor especially since the idea of coming close to death united them daily. Shame was often tied to the soldiers being engaged to dangerous and ridiculous actions. Soldiers were often blinded by the idea of shame and attempted to fight not only in the war but also fought for their loved ones
When soldiers come back from the war all of them have guilt that will be with them for the rest of their lives. They carry it forever. Soldiers can not unsee the seen or undo what has been done, they have to live with it. Every soldier at some time, during and or after the war feel a burden of guilt that they cannot overcome. It tortures them, confines them, and destroys them.
When the family did want to be together, there was a lack of activities available for them to do. “...[they] used to hunt grunion before the war… the reason [Jeanne] wants to remember this is because [she] knows [they] will never be able to do it again” (38). With the fence as a barrier and the absence of games, the Wakatsuki family had almost no other option but to detach. Time passed and it was understood that because of the conditions and segregation, their family would never go back to what it was before the Camps.
Even though there wasn’t a strong friendship between them, Jensen still couldn’t bring himself to hurt Strunk. When we are put in desperate situations, friendship can subconsciously be built, which makes putting harm to the other difficult. Throughout O’Brien’s work, he illustrates how the nature of war can change friendships and develop trust. While those involved are affected by war, each person handles their emotions differently.
The Curious Relationship Between Julia and Winston The government of Oceania in George Orwell’s 1984 stresses strict restrictions on love. The Party claims that relationships of love diverge focus from Big Brother. Yet in this society,there are rebels that still forge relationships despite the pressures placed on them to prevent love.
O’Brien writes, “You can tell a true war story by its absolute and uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil” (76). Regardless of the changes within the narrations, the fact remains, that these soldiers are in the middle of battle and the emotion that follows differ for each person. As Kaplan states in his writing, “the most important thing is to be able to recognize and accept that events have no fixed and final meaning and that the only meaning that events can have is one that emerges momentarily and then shifts and changes each time that the events come alive as they are remembered or portrayed”
Rainer Maria Rilke, author of “From Childhood,” and Alden Nowlan, author of “Mother and Son,” are both understanding of the fact that everyone has a mother—a woman from which each individual in existence was brought onto the earth. Through their literary works of art, their knowledge that the biological tie between mother and child is something that all human beings possess is evident, as well as their understanding that any further relationship past this biological connection is in the hands of each individual mother. “From Childhood” is an account of a mother and son rapport in which the mother is the driving force that stifles and smolders her child’s flame. “Mother and Son” delves into another relationship between mother and son, yet this
The chapter “Friends,” is a very good chapter showing friendship. There are many details of how good of friends people can become during a war. Dave Jensen and Lee Strunk weren 't good buddies for a while but they eventually started to trust each other. “In late August they made a pact that if one of them should ever get totally fucked up- a wheelchair wound- the other guy would automatically find a way to end it,” (O’Brien, 62).
