The Salvation Army

Function: Often times, people that experience war struggle to conform back into the routines of society. In Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five, protagonist Billy Pilgrim has difficulty dealing with the traumatic effects of the bombing of Dresden during WWII. To cope with his experiences, Billy develops this idea of Tralfamadore, a planet far more advanced than Earth. The Tralfamadorians can see time as humans “might see a stretch of the Rocky Mountains” (85). They see all time as a physical…

Women in combat. It has recently sparked a debate on whether women should be allowed in combat or not. In my opinion, women shouldn’t be allowed in combat because they are too emotional to handle the long periods of time of being on tour, they aren’t physically built like men, and there would be too many problems with having men and women living together. Women are way too emotional to withstand being in combat. They wouldn’t be able to handle the 100+ degree temperatures, the stress of being…

In the novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, all of the young soldiers feel hopelessness fighting a gruesome war on the front lines and being away from their families for so long. Living in a world without hope would be absolutely devastating. There are many instances where Paul feels hopelessness throughout Chapter 9. For example, “I curse and grind my teeth in the mud; it is a raving frenzy; in the end all I can do it groan and pray.” (215) In this instance, Paul is hopeless about what to do…

The physical journey into the jungle that took place in the film Apocalypse Now directed by Francis Ford Coppola, was shadowed by the psychological journey that Captain Benjamin Willard went through in his search for Colonel Kurtz. The expedition became a physical chase for Kurtz, but also a symbolic journey in which Captain Willard confronted his own darkness. The journey began in a cluttered hotel room in Saigon, where an intoxicated Captain Willard is desperate for an assignment. His mental…

The Things They Carried, was written by Tim O’Brien. Tim was part of the Vietnam war. In this novel, Tim describes all the horrible things that happened in the war. From describing what everyone carried, to watching friend die, Tim listed it all. Once, O’Brien received his draft notice, he became extremely scared. He knew he was not ready and probably would never be. During his time in college, O’Brien took a stand against war and now he is getting drafted into it. “After college, I began…

for desertion and endangering of troops. His defense lawyers say that he does not deserve to be punished for it because no troops were killed specifically looking for him and it is partially the army?s fault for enlisting him knowing he had an ?adjustment disorder with depression.? On the other hand, Army prosecutor, Maj. Margaret Kurz, described how bad and tiring it was for the soldiers looking for him. She mentioned how they had barely enough food…

began to take shape George Washington stressed the need of a standing formal army, going against the principles of Whig ideology. Many people were willing to participate in the standing army at the beginning of the war, but as it progressed the enthusiasm began to fade. After the Battle of Saratoga and addition of the allies, enlistments dropped. General Washington’s goal was to lead the nation with a large standing army, and without growth this goal could not be met. At the time congress…

“I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its stupidity (War/Defense).” Wars bring devastation to humanity while bringing out hidden qualities of character. War is necessary due to its ability to keep a check on societal values. The drastic effects of war on an individual are shown through the movies Saving Private Ryan by Steven Spielberg and Hacksaw Ridge by Mel Gibson. Spielberg and Gibson focus on the reality of war rather than a Hollywood…

“War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.” This is a quote from William Tecumseh Sherman,civil war soldier, that flew through the ranks and became general. A general of war, stating that war is cruel nothing else. William experiencing war must have experienced PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder . If war was cruel in the civil war, the past wars have been doing some work on our loyal soldiers. Take the example of the Vietnam war…

After the Vietnam War many former-soldiers came back from combat with stories that would bewilder the psyche of any common citizen. These stories highlight the extreme difference between the lives of a soldier both at home, and in the horrific situations of a field of combat. In Tim O’ Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried accurately conveys the removal that former soldiers felt by being ripped away from home by explaining with exquisite word choice and diction, the fear and horror that young…