Summary Of War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning By Chris Hedges

Chris Hedges, a former war correspondent, has a memory overflowing with the horrors of many battlefields and the helplessness of those trapped within them. He applies this memory to write War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, where he tutors us in the misery of war. To accomplish this goal, Hedges uses impactful imagery, appeals to other dissidents of war and classic writers, and powerful exemplification. Throughout his book, Hedges batters the readers with painful and grotesque, often first-hand, imagery from wars around the globe. He begins the book with his experience in Sarajevo, 1995. “The hurling bits of iron from exploding shells left bodies mangled, dismembered, decapitated. The other reporters and I slipped and slid in the blood

In the chapter titled “The Seduction of Battle and the Perversion of War”, one of Hedges’ points is that in modern industrialized warfare the classic caricature of the lone hero is outdated, stating “Such heroism is about as relevant as mounting bayonet or cavalry charges.” He then exemplifies this using “...a Muslim soldier, a father, who fought on the front lines around Sarajevo.” Hedges further empowers this example with “He fired a burst from his AK-47 assault rifle. A twelve-year old girl dropped dead. He saw in the body of the unknown girl lying prostrate in front of him the image of his own twelve-year old daughter… He was lost for the rest of the war, shuttered inside his apartment, nervous, morose, and broken.” Hedges uses heartbreaking accounts like this to make his theses invulnerable. Later he writes about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, about the “celebration of suicidal martyrdom and justification of the tit-for-tat killing of noncombatants.” Once he establishes this point he tells the story of Murad Abdel Rahman, whose son was killed for sport by Israeli soldiers. “A half-hour after he left, people came running to tell me he was shot in the leg. I ran through the streets to the hospital. They would not let me in. They said he would be discharged soon. They told me he was OK. I forced my way inside and saw him lying in the corridor dead with a

In his introduction, Hedges cites The Iliad and The Odyssey, and states that “The Iliad is about power and force. Those who inhabit its space abide by the warrior’s code. Its heroes are vain, brave, and consumed by the heady elixir of violence and the bitterness of bereavement… The Odyssey is different.. In The Odyssey the hubris and inflexibility of the warrior fail to ward off the capriciousness of fate, the indifference of nature.” He also cites Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida, and uses Troilus’ quote, “‘It is,’ he says, ‘too starved a subject for my sword.’ to show the foolishness of the causes fought for in other wars such as the war in bosnia and conflicts in the Middle East. By citing authors whose works are renowned for their morality, Hedges can let these literary titans argue his morals for him, setting his arguments on higher pedestals of righteousness. To further back the conclusions he draws from his experiences as a war correspondent, Hedges uses other veterans of the battlefield to show that he is not alone in his feelings about war. Hedges cites Elsa Morante whose novel, History: A Novel, is written “about those whom history ignores and forgets.” Hhe also cites former U.S senator