Instead, they carried out their missions without question, and effectively won the war with their attention to detail and sense of duty. The book makes the reader question their own sense of duty, and if they would have the resolve to fight in a war like this if it happened again. It is a powerful book, partly because it is emotional, and partly because the reader realizes that these people are real, their duty was real, and that our freedom really rests on their shoulders.
Ultimately, this is a book about dying. It follows the last days of Greene's father, but it also looks at the bigger picture of America's World War II vets and how many we are losing every day. It also looks at the lives of the Japanese lost in the atomic bomb explosions, and talks about how many more lives could have been lost if the bombs had not been dropped. This book is about many forms of
This book makes the reader stop and think about so many things they take for granted, like their parents, their friends, and a war that many people do not even remember.
Even though there are thousands of brave men and women fighting for the U.S. around the world, it does not seem that Americans today share that same sense of duty the World War II vets felt for their country. There is no military draft today, and if there was, it seems as if most young people would try to avoid it. Men like Greene's father had a strong sense of duty toward their country and the world. They grew up "dreaming" of serving their country, looking at it as if it were an honor, while today it is seen as an obligation at best. There is not the same sense of duty today, but that is at least in part because of the sacrifices the men and women of World War II made. They fought for our freedom, and now, we can enjoy it. Books like this make it seem a lot more precious, though.
References
Sophocles. "Antigone." 1302-1334.
