Kantorek and his ilk will never know what the soldiers deal with on the field and this fact becomes cruel in its own way. They are not iron youth; they are fearful youth with everything in their futures to lose. The brutality of war goes beyond what a soldier sees and experiences. Eventually, it begins to affect his mind and his heart. Soldiers too long on the battlefield grow hardened toward the war and death. This emerges in the trenches when Baumer says, "Chance makes us indifferent" (101). Life or death hangs in the balance every day for these soldiers and they can only face the unpredictable ways of war with apathy. The destruction of life is no longer shocking in the trenches. While the still, small human voice in Baumer's head tells him he cannot kill another human being, his animal instinct takes over in a "mad moment" (113) and he tosses a grenade at a solider, killing him. Baumer admits, "We have become wild beasts. We do not fight, we defend ourselves against annihilation" (113). Baumer experiences a change in himself while he guards the Russian prisoners. All he knows about these men is they are prisoners. He realizes any other information about these men might make him feel sorry for them. The war controls all aspects of Baumer's mind as he says, "But as it is I perceive behind them only the suffering of the creature, the awful melancholy of life and the pitilessness of men" (193). He sees empty faces when he looks at them. He does not see his fellow man and this causes him to understand the depth of how inhumane the war is....
Powerful men like Kantorek decided these groups of men would be enemies, Baumer thinks. He also realizes, "A word of command has made these silent figures our enemies; a word of command might transform them into our friends" (193). Baumer is full aware that nothing is in his control as far as the war goes. He must take care of defending his life in the immediacy of the moment while others decide further aspects of the war. The sense of loss is within and without and there is no place to escape from it.
War on Terror & Human Rights The so-called "war on terror" -- initiated by former president George W. Bush after 9/11 -- has not succeeded in ending terrorism but it opened the door to numerous violations of human rights. A survey of verifiable, peer-reviewed sources in the literature show clearly that the Bush Administration and members of the military under Bush's command carried out human rights violations in the name of
Even the established chain of command was seen as being too inhuman to the conscripts because of any arbitrary order from a superior. Conclusion In conclusion, this report focused on the frontline battlefield experiences of both American and Japanese soldiers as depicted in the semibiographical but fictional work "The Naked and the Dead" by Norman Mailer and the autobiographical account of World War II experienced by Ooka Shohei in the "Fires
Iraq War As the end of the year slowly approaches, there is an expected transition of power by the United States and its allies to allow the Iraqi people to govern themselves. The media has tried to convince us that we as a nation have liberated the country of Iraq from one of the most brutal dictators in the world's documented history. Saddam equated to a modern day Adolf Hitler. Saddam
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,/as under a green sea, I saw him drowning./in all my dreams before my helpless sight / He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning./if in some smothering dreams, you too could pace/Behind the wagon that we flung him in,/and watch the white eyes writhing in his face,/His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin,/if you could hear, at every jolt, the
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder was first recorded in soldiers after the Civil War, but was not recognized as a common occurrence until after the Vietnam War, when symptoms developed in over 30% of combat veterans (Harvard Men's Health Watch). After they are removed from combat, former soldiers often experience nightmares, flashbacks, outbursts of anger, and the inability to sleep (Cohen 1). Beah experienced all of these symptoms when he and some
War has shown its ugly side many times throughout the ages. As people have seen through battles, the casualties can be devastating. People lose families, lose their livelihoods, lose their dignity, and lose their homes when they are amidst war. The stories and the personal experiences of non-combatants are often shown to shed light on the brutality and violence that exists in war. Soldiers rape women and kill men. They
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