Personnal Writing

THE WAR
The theme of war is usually used either to promote recruitment for it or to denounce its
cruelty. In my four documents war is omnipresent.
We can then ask ourselves: How did the authors deal with the theme of war in their works?
To answer this question I will firstly, present “In Flanders Field” and analyze it. Then I will
do the same for “The Hero”, “Animal Farm” and “After the war, a medal and maybe a job”.
In “In Flanders Fields” it is due to the image of “poppies… Between the crosses” that the
flower has become the flower of remembrance for the men and women who died during
World War I. The poem is still used today in Remembrance Day and Memorial Day
celebrations in the United States, Canada and around Europe.
The narrator states that in Flanders, the poppies are in rows between the rows of crosses
marking the graves of fallen soldiers. The field is a cemetery which is vast and covered with
crosses marking graves, and simply placed as remembrances for fallen men. Larks are flying
and “bravely singing” above the gun fire below.
The second stanza describes the soldiers as they were before. They lived as the reader does
now, “felt dawn, saw sunset glow, loved and were loved". The poet hopes to create empathy
between the reader and those fallen men. He also hopes to create a powerful image in the
reader’s mind as to what those men were like. Now though, they have all passed. They lie
now “In Flanders Field”.
The final stanza is a call to arms and defend their country. The poet is speaking directly to the
reader telling them that it is now their turn and duty to fight and stand up against the “foe”
and forces that are seeking to destroy them. They must take the “torch” from the “failing
hands” of the dead and live on for them. The torch can be seen as a symbol for duty,
obligation, demand…
The poem concludes by stating that unless their war is fought on by others, they will never
rest, even if they do lie among the poppies “If ye break faith with us who die”
Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967) was a war hero, known for his unusual bravery, but
eventually he turned against the conflict which he came to consider as pointless and badly
managed.
In this poem an officer delivers a letter to a grieving mother concerning the death of her
soldier son, Jack. He tells her how her son died heroically and gloriously. She is proud of her
son’s glorious sacrifice, however, on leaving, the officer reflects and tells us about Jack’s
cowardice and incompetence on the front. By reading it, we can learn more about the
situation of the families’ soldiers.
In Animal Farm, the entire fight is an allegory of the Battle of Stalingrad, where the Soviet
army repelled the Nazi invasion. The animals represent the Soviet people, while Jones and his
men represent the Nazis. Snowball represents Trotsky, a brilliant military leader who was
later exiled by Stalin (Napoleon)
It uses animals to represent the Russian government as USSR was an ally from the UK. By
so, George Orwell couldn’t publish a book that criticizes directly the USSR. So, he used a
farm and animals to criticize the Russian government. This is why the entire book is an
allegory of the USSR
John French Sloan (August 2, 1871 – September 7, 1951) was an American painter and
etcher. He is considered to be one of the founders of the Ashcan school of American art. He
was also a member of the group known as The Eight. He is best known for his urban genre
scenes and ability to capture the essence of neighborhood life in New York City, often
observed through his Chelsea studio window. Sloan has been called the premier artist of the
Ashcan School, and also a realist painter who embraced the principles of Socialism, though
he himself disassociated his art from his politics.
To put it in a nutshell, I choose those 4 documents because they show different part of the
war. Bonjourehqdufbudfhdufhudhfudhfudhuhdufhudhf udhfudhfuhdufhudhfudhfuhdufhduu
In Flanders Field deals with it through literary devices, mostly metaphor, imagery and
personification.
The Hero show us the consequences of war in the families which are totally devastated by
sadness.
Animal Farm shows the consequences of war on the soldiers’ behaviors. The soldiers are
traumatized and changed by the war. Snowball became a killing machine and Boxer was
mentally affected by the death and the violence he caused himself.
And After the war, a medal and maybe a job shows the contrast between the promises made
by the politicians and the blunt reality after the war.
The 4 documents: dealt with the theme of war but by different ways. I understand that the
authors use literature to express their opinions and values, and drawing to show really what
was going on.

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THE WAR

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