¶ … Settings: Dulce et Decorum Est and the Open Boat
The two pieces of literature chosen for comparison for this essay both reflect the insignificance of life and the arbitrary nature of the universe. Both works are set to reflect man's struggle to survive under extraordinary circumstances. Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen is a poem set on the battle fields of the First World War. The Open Boat by Stephen Crane is set on a life boat on a raging sea. In Owen's poem it is society that is indifferent to the significance of a man's life, while in Crane's short story it is nature that is indifferent to the significance of a man's life. Both works take place in the early twentieth century. In each case men are thrown together because of circumstance and are faced with life and death situations.
Discussion
Owen's poem speaks of the horrific death men suffered from poison gas in the battlefields of World War I. The poet portrays the sickening conditions of death brought on when one is subjected to an attack by a chemical weapon. The battlefield is described as sludge that the tired warriors must march through while on the front as they limped on "drunk with fatigue" (line 7). The actual gas attack creates an ecstasy of fumbling as the men fight to get their gas masks on before the vapors can reach their lungs. The death of those who are too slow to respond...
"And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, / His hanging face, like a devils sick of sin" (lines 24-25). The images of this type of demise in the battlefield in the service of one's country lack nobility.
Crane's short story tells of the plight of four souls lost at sea in a small life boat after the wreck of their sailing vessel. The men are ceaselessly assaulted by the ocean's waves. This constant battle to survive the next wave demonstrates the power of nature and the ever changing demands of the present. Just as the men surmount one wave they are faced with the next. The implication is that just as man is unable to control the sea his life is also out of his control. The truth of the matter is that Mother Nature is unpredictable and uncaring. Man can only respond to the best of his abilities to the forces of nature that are continually thrown in his path. Crane uses the sea to show the challenges that block the progress of an individual toward achieving whatever the goal they have in mind can be purely random.
The last two lines of Owen's poem, "The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est / Pro patria mori" (lines 27 -28) translates into "it is sweet and right to die for your country." The graphic depiction of the effects of gas on the human body (the "guttering, choking,…
