Theme Of Generals Die In Bed

Generals die in bed is Charles Yale Harrison’s novel written in 1930 about the life of a fictional Canadian soldier in World War 1. It's raw theme and no holds barred images transport the reader from their homes in the 21st century into the front lines of Europe in 1918. To emphasize his points, Harrison uses many illusions that contrast his realistic style of writing. Some examples of these illusions in the book include the situations regarding Browns death and the illusion of brothers on the battlefield, the day the unit went swimming to escape the war to ultimately find that escape impossible and the days the narrator spent with Gladys and the Westminster Abbey priest in London that showed civilians utter ignorance of war at that time.

Using the images of sparrows playing merrily in the skies over the battlefield one is led to believe that the characters are all in a position of safety. [31] The reality of the situation, however, is that in wartime a soldier is never truly safe. When the ration carrier brings forth the tea, brown stands up from his safe position in the trench in order to fetch the spoon for sugar and a sniper snaps the crew back into the realism of war. [32 to 33] even the way of the narrator describes Brown’s body following the shot is an illusion that war is somehow clean. He describes a bullet hole in Brown’s head is a small neat hole with a little red scream. [33] this would lead the reader to believe that war is not so messy, yet not have to page later he is describing Brown’s brains in the morning sun. [33] the author also uses Brown’s body as an example of the true warrior’s death. It is seen as heroic for a soldier to die in battle, and while Brown’s body is laying on the top of the foxhole to give the illusion of somehow he was victorious by pointing out how his feet made the victory symbol underneath the sheet covering his dead body. [34] Brown’s death is also used to show the illusion of brotherly camaraderie of the soldiers on the battlefield when even though these men have been in battle together for months Broadbent raids Brown’s haversack and distributes Brown’s rations to the unit while Brown’s body is hardly even cold.