Irony In Stephen Crane's War Is Kind

When it comes to protesting war, few manage to capture and expose the nature of its senseless slaughter better than the writers of the literary world. The three main instruments used by writers to accomplish this are usually imagery, irony, and structure. They’ll often use these powerful tools to give the audience a more vivid look at the true face of war. A face which constitutes a river of bloodshed all in the name a country that sentences the soldiers who fight to an early grave. These three components of the literary world are by far the most well known way to protest war through passionate writing, with irony perhaps being the easiest to understand .

Writers typically use imagery to give the audience a clear mental image of the many horrors that war brings with it. Stephen Crane’s War Is Kind is a striking example, as it reminds the reader of the father who “raged at his breast, gulped, and died”(A), leaving his children behind in a broken family with no father figure to guide them. Wilfred Owen’s Dulce et Decorum Est also uses imagery to reveal the blight of war through depicting soldiers who began “yelling out and stumbling… like… [men] on fire”(B) after being struck with noxious chemical weapons. Imagery also shows the

Some may actually use it as an ironic tool, repeating things such as “war is kind”(A) to help readers understand the truly bizarre, backwards thinking disposition of war. Another prime example of such irony would be Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried. The story repeats how the sacrifices of war was required because it was determined “by necessity”(C) that the soldiers must die for their country. The emphasis on such things aids the audience in seeing the how war is nothing more than needless slaughter of men, women, and even children in a country’s attempt to gain power over its