The journal entries reveals Deward Barnes crucial experiences that shaped him as a soldier, and makes the readers truly appreciate and understand these first hand accounts of a Canadian soldiers' experiences on the Western Front. Through reading Barnes' accounts, his dramatic experience of being shot, his participation in the firing squad that executed a deserter named Private Harold Lodge, and his transformation from a frightened soldier, to a a brave veteran, the reader witnesses how the individual experiences of a soldier shaped his character the longer he stayed in the war. Barnes provides memorable descriptions of his experiences on the Western Front as he illustrates why he did things, his reactions to doing them, and how he felt about it afterwards. One of the major themes in this source, that I can most definitely use in my essay, is his negative reaction to his participation in the execution of the deserter, which was the key experience in altering his character as a soldier. Furthermore, his experiences outside of battle, as well as in it, such as his more relaxed reactions to the cruelties of war, portrays a more mature soldier.
It had suffered severely from the first, but the gallant captain was seen all along the line encouraging his men with brave words and inspiring them by his noble example. His left arm was shattered [struck by a Minié ball above the elbow], but he refused to leave the field. Now in English and then in French, with his voice faint from exhaustion, he urged his men to the fullest measure of duty. In one heroic effort he rushed to the front of his company and exclaimed, “Follow me!” When within about fifty yards of the fort a shell smote him to death, and he fell, like the brave soldier he was, in the advance with his face to the foe.
Within multiple occasions, the writer adds the emotional effect to grab the reader’s attention and to make one aware of the sacrifice the first responders contributed. Now that the writer has caused the audience to feel emotional or uneasy of the matter, the writer then states, “I showed him a photo of my brother, FDNY Capt. Billy Burke, Engine Co. 21, who perished in the North Tower after refusing to leave
The author writes, “Sergeant Simpson took a grenade, pulled the pin, and threw it into the opening as hard as he could.” (page number 125) This shows that no matter who was down there he was willing to have them die to win this battle. Another example of this literary element is “ The woman's other child
There are two phases to Kiley’s reaction: torturing a baby water buffalo and writing a letter to Lemon’s sister. The former conveys loss’ ability to corrode a victim’s mind, while the latter reveals a barrier between the soldiers and regular members of society. By
He goes on to produce this story of the boy’s life had he not killed him. He would have gone to University for mathematics, and he would avoid politics. He probably met a girl before the war and they exchanged gold rings, and she liked that he was thin and frail. The author uses repetition in this short story by repeating the details of the wounds. He mentions “his jaw in his throat” and the “star shaped hole in his eye” several times.
Beah describes one of his best friends being killed by an RPG directly in front of him, this grief, mixed with the drugs the men had given him, sends him flying into battle, where he shoots a man dead, and continues shooting anyone he sees until he is ordered to retreat. This follows with extremely common signs soldiers show in war, specifically night terrors, in
Crane describes Flemings experience, surrounded by all these bodies, in great detail. The reader learns that the battle is gruesome, and there are many lives lost. We also learn, as the reader, that Fleming is now experiencing the real effects of war. The diction in this sentence is graphic and intense. The reader is visualizing the truth of a war battle.
In the story, the audience, is immersed in a typical Germans soldiers life when going to the front, waiting to go to the front, injured, and when on leave. The audience is shown the terrible experiences the soldiers experience and the emotions that they feel in many
Priestley portrays the character of Sheila in a male-dominated society. The challenges she faces and how she conducts herself through life illustrates her maturity journey. Priestley uses Sheila to allow the Birling family to understand their faults; in the play, he positively presents her naivety. Priestley presents Sheila as adolescent and fatuous.
The first thing we notice is the emotions through the narrator's trauma. In “The Man I Killed” Tim O’Brien the main character wanted to contain his emotions by adding more positive emotions. You can see the negative when the soldier is constantly looking at the man and standing there shaken,
This led to the soldiers being desensitized to the violence that surrounds them, leading to a sense of disconnection between themselves and their emotions. During one of their days in the trenches, Brown stands up to reach for a spoon when “At the crack of the sniper's rifle…Brown's body fell…We look without resentment towards the woods. We are animated only by a biting hunger for safety. Safety...”. The narrator shows a lack of response and does not experience any feelings of shock or grief, rather they are solely focused on their safety and survival.
This disconnect makes it hard for the military men to explain their experience and how one small death or win out of thousands can be so significant to them, when people on the other side see it as one of a million casualties. The war is not personified as it is with the soldiers who actually lived through it. Another soldier who feels detached from reality is Adam Schumann, who was put on countless medications to fix him with no help. After the war, Schumann has “lost all hope” and can’t live with himself, feeling that “the end is near for (him), very, very near. Day by
In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” demonstrates the personal growth of the dynamic protagonist Louise Mallard, after hearing news of her husband’s death. The third-person narrator telling the story uses deep insight into Mrs. Mallard’s thoughts and emotions as she sorts through her feelings after her sister informs her of her husband’s death. During a Character analysis of Louise Mallard, a reader will understand that the delicate Mrs. Mallard transforms her grief into excitement over her newly discovered freedom that leads to her death. As Mrs. Mallard sorts through her grief she realizes the importance of this freedom and the strength that she will be able to do it alone.
Michael Holtzapfel, son of Frau Holtzapfel, experiences a lot of guilt. He served in the German Army and fought in the Battle of Stalingrad alongside his brother, Robert. Within battle, Michael hurts his hand, and Robert severely injures his legs by getting them blown off. Robert is taken to a makeshift hospital, where Michael watches him die. “I spent three days of that week sitting with him before he died…” (Zusak 467).
