Theme analysis in literature and criticism

¶ … warfare and its meaning in terms of individual experience is the central thematic tread that binds these three works together. Another central symbolic theme in each story and poem can be interpreted as the exposure and critique of warfare and killing. However, each of these works approaches this central theme in a different way using different literary styles and techniques. This paper will attempt to show that the unifying aspects of these works are achieved through different writing processes and techniques.

The most obvious and clearly discernable critique of war and the way that warfare reduces the meaning of being human is the often-repeated phrase "War is Kind" in the poem of the same name by Stephen Crane. The chief literary device used in this poem is irony.

The poem makes an obvious and clear demarcation between the actual events of war and the way that war is represented in the media and popular fiction as 'heroic' and ' brave'. By making use of the contrast between the refrain of the poem, 'War is Kind," and the feelings of those affected, the poem succeeds in focusing attention on the inhumanity of war.

The fist line of the poem is cruel in its intended meaning.

Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind

DiYanni 19)

There is a contradictory use of words in the above line that is intended to create a sense of shock, which leads to understanding: this refers to the words 'weep' and 'kind', which are usually seen as opposites in meaning. The poet is particularly skilful in the choice of the word 'kind'. The word has connotations of compassion and love that is starkly contrasted with the fact that the girl is weeping for her lover killed in the war. The following line expands on this cruel irony by painting a graphic and compelling picture of the lover's death.

Because your lover threw wild hands toward the sky

And the affrighted steed ran on alone

DiYanni 19)

The image of 'wild hands' shows the agony and the distress of the man and the word 'affrighted' adds to the picture of despair and death. This is contrasted at the end of each stanza with the ironic refrain

Do not weep.

War is kind.

DiYanni 19)

Note as well that the poet separates the two lines so that there is more emphasis, which increases the irony.

The poem continues with the creation of images that add to the strong criticism of warfare. In line eight, the reality of war is summarized in a single line.

These men were born to drill and die."

This line is immediately contrasted with the idea of glory in the next line. The poem expertly uses images and contrasting symbols of death and glory to emphasize this critique of war.

The third stanza refers to the child who loses a father in war. Again, the ironic refrain adds to the images to stress the ugliness of war. Note the use of 'yellow" in line thirteen. This possibly refers to the use of mustard gas in the First World War, which was a particularly horrendous and painful weapon. The word in this context also has a symbolic overtone of nausea and death. It should also be remembered that the First Word War was a terrible meaningless slaughter of men - which makes the continual references to kindness in the poem all the more disturbing and ironic. The poem goes on to refer to the mother who loses her son in war.

The theme of warfare and inhumanity is continued in the work by Tim O' Brien, entitled, the Things They Carried. The central thematic trajectory in the story can possibly be encapsulated in the sentence; "He was just a kid at war and in love." (O'Brien 439) There is a contradiction between love and war that permeates the story.

Throughout this narrative there is a sense of the horror of war, which is heightened by a contrast with the ordinary personal thoughts and feelings of young men caught up in the Vietnam War. The writer uses imagery and various literary techniques to achieve this very effective critique of modern war. The use of repetition and the simply-stated juxtaposition of the lives of ordinary men with the inhumanity and insanity of war, are the central techniques used in this story.

There is graphic and explicit usage made of imagery in the descriptions of the reality of war. "He lay with his moth open. The teeth were broken...The check bone is gone" (O'Brien 439).

These realities of war are subtlety contrasted with the love letters that Cross refers to at the beginning of the story. The soldieries carry their human memories and feelings about their lives with them and these ordinary feelings take on the quality of unreality in the war situation. Symbolically, on one level the writer is reducing all normal human emotions to the level of war through the descriptions of what the young soldiers carry with them. The story is about a different war but the theme of the exposure to the horrors of war and the comparisons of war to normal human life are clearly discernable in this story.

While the various material objects are merely what soldiers often carry, the author succeeds in adding a sense of individuality and personality to the descriptions. For example, Henry Dobbins who was a large man "...was especially fond of canned peaches" (O'Brien 434). Lavender, obviously a nervous person, carries tranquilizers. Note how the author refers to Lavender's death in a matter of fact statement. (O'Brien 434) This also emphasizes the impersonal nature of war and this aspect is continually contrasted with the personalities and individuals being described.

Lieutenant Cross dwells continually on normal thoughts about sensuality and love for his girlfriend, even in the middle of danger and conflict. In other words, the point that the author makes is that while they are just ordinary soldiers, numbers in a war, they are also individuals with personal memories and feelings. Furthermore, there is a sense of dreaming and fantasy in thoughts that the main character has about romance and "romantic camping trips," which is severely contrasted and compared with the harsh realities of war.

Possibly the most significant part of the story is that these thoughts and dreams of ordinary life are perverted and even destroyed by the war. On a symbolic level, it is as if the war becomes the new reality for the soldier and that ordinary or 'real' life becomes a dream of a fantasy. At first Cross is focused on his home life and thoughts about his girlfriend. " His mind wandered. He had difficulty keeping his attention on the war" (O'Brien 437). However after Lavender is shot, Cross blames himself for being distracted and his thoughts change. He becomes gloomy and depressed. He even burns the picture of his girlfriend - which again symbolically suggests that he is denying ordinary life and accepting the reality of war. The writer is obviously commenting on the way that war perverts and destroys normal human feeling and experience. Therefore, this story also places war in a certain perspective which shows that it is damaging and crippling, both physically and mentally.

The third work is by the same author but is more descriptive in its style. The story revolves around a young man who has been killed. His past life and the reaction of the American soldier who killed him form the center of the piece. The theme of the contrast between the human individual and his life and the blankness and horror of death and war are brought into sharp focus in this story. The dead soldier is described with the use of vivid and daunting images, as he lies twisted and dead on the ground. "The upper lip and gum and teeth were gone. The man's head was cocked at a wrong angle..." (O'Brien 126).