Tears In The Darkness

“Tears in The Darkness” by Michael and Elizabeth Norman had excellently portrayed the Bataan Death March in what it truly was, an event of great suffering and sorrow for the American soldiers that fought for America in the Philippines through the many factors of portrayal the novel uses to develop the story and the emotions of the reader. This novel successfully portrays the horrors of the march and leaves no detail out to spare the emotions of the reader; it tells all that happened, informing the reader about the atrocities that not only occurred during the march, but the struggles of both the American and Imperial Armies were included as well. What gives an essence of validity in the historical facts presented in the novel, is that it gives

The Japanese had an odd view of war in comparison to the Western Nations in the sense that they were instilled by their country to be fearless of death. Where Europe and the United States focused on keeping the top condition for each soldier and keeping as many soldiers alive as possible, the Imperial Army focused on recruiting as many soldiers as possible and sacrificing as many lives on the battlefield as possible. The Imperial Japanese Government had seemed to have glorified suicide on the battlefield. This is reinforced by the quote, “… all those killed in battle were installed as kami, soldier gods on perpetual duty protecting the fatherland. There was no greater glory, the government said, no better way to for a man to bring honor to his family …”. This quote from the book really shows how bizarrely the Imperial Japanese government had treated the lives of the average soldier. Giving these examples of comparing the average American soldier to the average Japanese soldier displays how well “Tears in the Darkness” was created. Most stories usually focus on one side of the war; however, what Michael and Elisabeth Norman had done, was display the lives and struggles of both sides of the conflict. They had excellently shown that stories aren’t

As these atrocities were committed, however, we have learned in the modern age how to avoid such actions being repeated. Its important that we teach these stories of struggle and war to not only students in the classrooms, but to even the populace of citizens all around the world. If people had heard of these soldiers and their clings to survival and humanity, it would become an agreed upon idea that atrocities, like those found in wars all throughout history, must be prevented at all costs to develop further as humanity in a global manner. These stories, however, must be written properly and in such a manner as to truly feel like the reader is reliving the awful nature that is found in war. “Tears in the Darkness” by Michael and Elizabeth Norman is an example of how a war story should truly be written and portrayed. What makes their work so exemplary, is that they spare no emotional shock by describing the horrors of combat vividly, they included both sides of the war instead of being a one-sided story, giving accurate number and analytics when specific numbers were shown as the story progressed, and giving multiple stories displaying the troubles of the soldiers who had participated in WWII. This novel really does justice to what real war was through not