Write a 4 page essay on Dulce Et Decrum Est by Wilfred Owen and The Things They Carried by Tim OBrien.Download file to see previous pages... This denotes fatigued and crippled soldiers, both mentally

Write a 4 page essay on Dulce Et Decrum Est by Wilfred Owen and The Things They Carried by Tim OBrien.

This denotes fatigued and crippled soldiers, both mentally and physically, by their experiences in war. They were also young soldiers. Owen also suffers comrade guilt occasioned by circumstances beyond his help. He sees a soldier in dim, green light before his helpless eyes. The soldier is plunging at him, choking, guttering and drowning. The thought of helplessly watching the soldier die of gas poisoning takes a toll on him. He only heard someone fumbling for a helmet, and by the time he saw him choking on gas, he could not help. Similarly, O’Brien’s title, The Things They Carried speaks for itself. He symbolizes the Alpha Company’s emotional burdens with the catalog of physical objects the members had to carry to war (Gioia and Kennedy 1). For example, among the burdens the young soldiers bore was the necessity to face up to the tension between reality and fantasy. Their inexperience and young age compounds this further. They left home as scared boyfriends, students or children. Most did not have the capacity to come to terms with their friends’ sudden deaths or rationalize killing. Differences of Why War is a Burden The two authors bring out this aspect using different strategies. After the war, it took Owen many years reflecting on the sight of his dying, gas poisoned comrade. The images of gas bombs dropping beside them, soldiers scrambling for gas masks and their helplessness are all over in his dreams, thoughts and poetry. He uses these thoughts to describe the burden of war to the people rallying behind the youth at home urging them to go to war and fight for their country and pride (Gioia and Kennedy 1). Here, he also shows there is nothing honorable about war. ...

He portrays a feeling of the burden by wondering how they lobby for war, yet they have not witnessed the physical agony it can create or experienced the emotional disturbance he is undergoing. Here, he also shows there is nothing honorable about war. He would not wish to carry the burden. On the other hand, in Things They Carried, O’Brien uses an episode before the war to portray its burden (Gioia and Kennedy 1). He narrates a personal story of how he was unwilling to go to Vietnam with the army after his summer job in a meat factory. With the help of a fishing lodge owner, he schemed how to escape to Canada. However, while in the lake bordering Canada, pressure overcomes him to comply with the call of obligation and serve the nation, rather than appear a coward. Instead of proceeding to Canada, he heads back home. This shows that he undertook the burden of war although he did not believe in it (Gioia and Kennedy 1). Similarities of Why War is a Tragedy Owen describes how soldiers marched asleep, limping and blood shod after losing their boots. They went blind, lame and deaf that they could not hear the explosions of attacks against them (Owen, Dulce). At this point, the reader will want to believe the war should end, but Owen describes an almost wicked persistence and intention of those in war to push ahead (Gioia and Kennedy 1). Their soaking blood, blindness and lameness, appear to be a critical enemy they must overcome to be victorious. The twist here is that soldiers appear to derive some fun from tragedy (Gioia and Kennedy 1).