We started this semester with the question, "What is the truth of war?". We looked into this subject by studying war itself. We read two books, one on WW1 and one on WW2. These books were chosen because they give insight on the destructiveness of war. After we read these books we were assigned to write a short story on either war that illustrates the truth of war.
Short Story Reflection
We started at the beginning of the semester reading a book about WW1 called, “All Quiet on the Western Front”. Reading through this book, we annotated pieces we thought were important to the book. After we finished this book we discussed the book and its overall message of the truth of war. Later we started on the subject of WW2, for this we read “Slaughterhouse Five”. While reading both of these books we were thinking about the Truth of War that we felt the author was trying to send across. In Seminar we discussed, with our classmates, the different messages that we got from these two books. Then we chose which war to write our story on and researched specifically to our storyline. I chose to research what Poland went through during WW2.
The message that I got from “All Quiet on the Western Front” was that war accomplishes and it turn once normal people into dysfunctional, broken, and lost souls. The main character in AQotWF, Paul, went into the war as a boy and became so accustomed to the way of life on the Western Front that he was not able to function anywhere else. A quote that seemed very powerful to me was, “I will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war.” This quote really summed up for me one of the truths of war that the author was attempting to get his readers to understand. At the end of this book Paul says that his generation is lost and the men will return home as empty shell of who they once were. This book for me showed me a glimpse of how useless war is for all parties involved.
“Slaughterhouse Five” was written very differently from AQotWF. In this book there was a very large aspect of science fiction. The author Kurt Vonnegut brought in the aspect of aliens that saw time very differently than humans. The aspect of time travel and seeing all times as the same was incorporated in the story line. This made it so the author Kurt was able to jump from different experiences that he had. He was more able to tie thing that he experienced during the war to experiences that he had afterward. This made it easier for him to get the points of what happens during war across. This book was less clear with the authors view on the war. Kurt Vonnegut left the readers more room to take what they wanted from the book. Kurt Vonnegut was less critical about war and more critical about the human race. A quote showing this is, “They do not love one another because they do not love themselves.” In the book when Kurt said this he was talking about poor people but I think he was referring to the human race in general. The points that he made about Humans weaknesses as a total made it easier to see why war has and will exist.
At the end of this project I looked into Poland’s part in the war. I learned more about the cruelties that were committed by all of countries that were involved. I learned about the crimes committed by Germans and the things Poland citizens had to suffer through. My project involved media of that time and the influence that had on the people. I researched a lot about Nazi propaganda and how the radio was involved in this. Another form of propaganda was posters that Nazi loyalists designed. Some of them read things like, “Jews must sweep the streets, clean all the public latrines, and fill all the street trenches.” Most of these posters were oriented toward putting jews in negative light. I learned about the life of the citizens who were relocated to Warsaw Ghetto. It was clear when learning about this subject that this war like many others only had negative impacts.
Reading these stories written by people who experienced the terrors of war I came to the realization that war is inevitable but it can’t have any positive effect if we have to sacrifice so much for it. Reading about or listening to these first hand accounts of the War I heard many accounts of people watching while family members or friends were killed in front of their eyes. People argue that war has driven us to invent the most relevant and useful technologies around. Such as; Microwave, Watches, Zips, Stainless steel among other inventions. Although I do think that these are important to humanity are they worth the 32 million casualties. I think that the reason so mush is accomplished during war is because it is what the most money is put into. I think we could put our money into a more constructive place and we would still have these essential technologies but we could gain these without so much pain. The truth of war is that it is unnecessary and it accomplishes nothing.
The message that I got from “All Quiet on the Western Front” was that war accomplishes and it turn once normal people into dysfunctional, broken, and lost souls. The main character in AQotWF, Paul, went into the war as a boy and became so accustomed to the way of life on the Western Front that he was not able to function anywhere else. A quote that seemed very powerful to me was, “I will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war.” This quote really summed up for me one of the truths of war that the author was attempting to get his readers to understand. At the end of this book Paul says that his generation is lost and the men will return home as empty shell of who they once were. This book for me showed me a glimpse of how useless war is for all parties involved.
“Slaughterhouse Five” was written very differently from AQotWF. In this book there was a very large aspect of science fiction. The author Kurt Vonnegut brought in the aspect of aliens that saw time very differently than humans. The aspect of time travel and seeing all times as the same was incorporated in the story line. This made it so the author Kurt was able to jump from different experiences that he had. He was more able to tie thing that he experienced during the war to experiences that he had afterward. This made it easier for him to get the points of what happens during war across. This book was less clear with the authors view on the war. Kurt Vonnegut left the readers more room to take what they wanted from the book. Kurt Vonnegut was less critical about war and more critical about the human race. A quote showing this is, “They do not love one another because they do not love themselves.” In the book when Kurt said this he was talking about poor people but I think he was referring to the human race in general. The points that he made about Humans weaknesses as a total made it easier to see why war has and will exist.
At the end of this project I looked into Poland’s part in the war. I learned more about the cruelties that were committed by all of countries that were involved. I learned about the crimes committed by Germans and the things Poland citizens had to suffer through. My project involved media of that time and the influence that had on the people. I researched a lot about Nazi propaganda and how the radio was involved in this. Another form of propaganda was posters that Nazi loyalists designed. Some of them read things like, “Jews must sweep the streets, clean all the public latrines, and fill all the street trenches.” Most of these posters were oriented toward putting jews in negative light. I learned about the life of the citizens who were relocated to Warsaw Ghetto. It was clear when learning about this subject that this war like many others only had negative impacts.
Reading these stories written by people who experienced the terrors of war I came to the realization that war is inevitable but it can’t have any positive effect if we have to sacrifice so much for it. Reading about or listening to these first hand accounts of the War I heard many accounts of people watching while family members or friends were killed in front of their eyes. People argue that war has driven us to invent the most relevant and useful technologies around. Such as; Microwave, Watches, Zips, Stainless steel among other inventions. Although I do think that these are important to humanity are they worth the 32 million casualties. I think that the reason so mush is accomplished during war is because it is what the most money is put into. I think we could put our money into a more constructive place and we would still have these essential technologies but we could gain these without so much pain. The truth of war is that it is unnecessary and it accomplishes nothing.