Disillusionment in War: O'Brien, Owen, and Saving Private Ryan

Introduction: War, Literature, and Disillusionment

More than being a mirror of everyday life, literature has also been a venue for expressing messages that are political in nature. This was evident in literary works that address humanity's experiences in different world wars after the 20th century emerged. With the declaration of the First, and eventually the Second, World War, human — and particularly American — society also became involved in the Cold War. This long history of wars fought by Americans may have demonstrated the patriotism and courage of its people, but praise and glorification of war was offered in the midst of numerous criticisms from civil society. These criticisms arose because civil society understood firsthand the negative and detrimental effects that wars have on people's daily lives, including the plight of soldiers who took on the responsibility of fighting for their country and for what they believed was morally right.

In effect, wars most often bring detriment to humanity — more factions, conflict, and destruction — than peace, justice, or harmonious living. Whether a war was won or lost, human history has shown that both winners and losers suffered the physical destruction and disillusionment that inevitably arises after every conflict. Works of literature have explored this theme of disillusionment through the eyes of the military soldier — the figure best positioned to explain the meaning and significance of war in human life. The theme of disillusionment found in the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, the poem "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen, and the film Saving Private Ryan all circle a central question: was the war worth the soldiers' sacrifice? Did humanity arrive at a better and more meaningful point in history after each world war? From what these works illustrate, the answer is no. War led only to disillusionment — the loss of hope upon realizing that war was a political strategy aimed solely at destroying the enemy, without any regard for peace, justice, or humanism.

Wilfred Owen and the Lie of Dying for One's Country

In the poem "Dulce et Decorum Est" — translated as "It is sweet and proper to die for one's country" — poet Wilfred Owen expressed his profound disappointment in the war effort of the First World War. This war marked the beginning of a war-stricken century, as humanity would go on to commit itself to another world war and eventually the Cold War. Owen's theme of disillusionment is evident in the images of suffering and terror that soldiers experienced, including physical exhaustion ("like old beggars under sacks, knock-kneed, coughing like hags") and the loss of morale ("All went lame, all blind; / Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots / Of gas shells…"). Combining these two illustrations of war's detrimental effects, the poem successfully establishes a mood that discourages and implicitly criticizes conflict, rather than glorifying the patriotism and sacrifice of the soldiers.

The poem's effective use of imagery served as a tool that built the theme of disillusionment. By illustrating the emotional and physical turmoil that soldiers endured in battle, Owen enabled readers to understand how fighting in a war can lead to disillusionment and the loss of hope — not only in one's country, but, more crucially, in oneself. The internal conflict that produces disillusionment lies between the individual's will to live and his responsibility to sacrifice himself for his country. Striving to honor both was physically and morally difficult during times of war, and the difficulty deepens when the individual realizes that he is essentially alone in the fight. Soldiers, as Owen made his readers understand, were merely a means to an end; their plight was of far less concern to governments and political leaders than winning the war and asserting dominance over another nation. The poem thus concludes with Owen's version of the truth about war: there is only disillusionment, and the belief that Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori is "the old Lie."

O'Brien resounded Owen's assertion about the truth of war. For the author of The Things They Carried, war was devoid of any genuine belief in patriotism, bravery, or sacrifice. O'Brien's experience as a soldier in Vietnam during the Cold War revealed that soldiers lacked a clear sense of purpose as fighters for their country; as a result, injustices and inhumane acts were committed against innocent civilians. Yet he also extended sympathy to soldiers like himself, for they too were victims of the war. They were victims because they were forced to engage in a conflict they did not fully understand and to fight for a principle — the idea that Communism threatened democracy and freedom — in which they did not even believe. What his experience taught him was that in war, there exist "multiple, relative truths": truths that each soldier creates and clings to in order to escape the stress, and the physical, moral, and emotional exhaustion, of combat.

Tim O'Brien and the Multiple Truths of War

O'Brien's point is most clearly articulated in the story "How to Tell a True War Story," in which he elaborated his concept of multiple, relative truths created by his fellow soldiers to survive the disillusionment that war brought upon them. In it, he stated (pp. 68–69):

[A] true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue… If a story seems moral, do not believe it. If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted… then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie… you can tell a true war story by its absolute and uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil.

Evident in this passage is the author's disillusionment with the morality embedded in the act of going to war — a morality promoted by governments and politicians to entice citizens into participation. Beyond disillusionment, O'Brien also echoed Owen's belief that fighting for one's country is "the right thing to do," labeling this belief a lie in the same way Owen regarded the sacrifice of one's life for one's country as the lie that caused humanity to tolerate war and its horrors.

Conclusion: A Shared Vision of War's Futility

Though Owen, O'Brien, and Spielberg's works were set in different time and place contexts — World War I, the Cold War, and World War II, respectively — their works offered an alternative view of war and the proclamations of patriotism and bravery associated with it. For all three creators, war was not an opportunity for people to demonstrate their bravery, loyalty, or morality. War was, rather, the result of political leaders' need to assert power and influence at the expense of civil society's sacrifice and loyalty to their country. This sense of disillusionment was borne out of the devastating experiences that human society endured across three major conflicts throughout the 20th century.