Stolen Identity (Truth of War Essay)
As soon as men become soldiers, that is all they have to define themselves. On page 88 of All Quiet on the Western Front, a soldier says, “The first bomb, the first explosion, burst our hearts.” Being a soldier defines all they are and all they ever will be. Before war, soldiers have hopes and dream, they have life goals and want to achieve things. “We are cut off from activity, from striving, from progress. We believe in such things no longer, we believe in the war.” (Remarque, page 88) War robs soldiers of being normal in a way that doesn’t allow them to connect back into society. The extreme emotional damage caused by war is so disguised that nothing can prepare us for it. War makes soldiers see themselves differently; it ruins their perspective of themselves.
Soldiers have no idea what war is really like because of ideologies they obtain from society. They are just trying to be heroic like they think soldiers should be. War is glorified beginning as early as little kids playing with toy guns and soldiers. After the bombing of a German city left between 35,000 to 100,000 civilians dead (Black), the deputy air marshal at bomber command, Robert Saunby commented, “What is immoral is war itself.” There is no way to avoid the devastation of war, and soldiers struggle with comprehending this. They’ve given up so much to be heroic. During Urban warfare in WW2, being a soldier required killing innocent people, and they had to cope with that. There were millions of civilian deaths in World War 2, innocent deaths that soldiers had to deal with. Along with claiming lives of innocent people, comes the responsibility of claiming the emotional baggage for those lives. The baggage that comes with killing innocent families is a baggage of great weight. War defines soldiers, and what war is isn’t what they imagined. They attempt to focus on identifying themselves and lose the ability to identify other emotions.
When soldiers have given up everything to serve their country, and witness the tragedy of war, they forget the purpose, which leads to them forgetting their identity, “It struck me at the time, the thought of the women and children down there. We seemed to fly for hours over a sheet of fire- a terrible red glow with thin haze over it.” –Roy Akehurst, a member of the RAF bombing crews about the bombing of Dresden, Germany. Soldiers come into the war with heroic intentions; they want to serve their families, their friends, and their neighbors. But they have to start killing other innocent people to accomplish that- they have to start killing other friends, families, and neighbors. They become the bad guy. The one thing that they once thought defined them, becomes a lie. Soldiers can’t feel like heroes while they’re killing innocent women and children. They are forced to become the villain.
When soldiers are unsure of their identity, they lose the ability to connect to society. Paul Baumer, a soldier in All Quiet on the Western Front, goes on leave and while trying to reconnect with society states, “They understand of course, they agree, they may even feel it so too, but only with words, only with words …” (Page 168, Remarque). War is so tragic, barbaric, and so incomprehensible, no one knows how to process it. It changes people who are so close to it. Soldiers lose the ability to connect to society, and society loses the ability to connect to them. War becomes all they know, all they are, and then they realize it is all the every will be.
Soldiers become so fragile. They are constantly thrown into situations they may not make it out of, and they know it. They constantly have to live in the moment, and so when they are put back into the real world, they can’t manage their lives. The only thing soldiers can focus on is the war. Upon leaving the war they are expected to be able to experience emotions that there wasn’t time for during their service. War takes away the ability to react and feel the way society has taught soldiers to. In AQotWf on page 296, Paul Baumer, a soldier who wanted more than to be a soldier but knew he could never overcome his fate, fell in October 1918 “He had fallen forward and lay on the earth as though sleeping. Turning him over one saw that he could not have suffered long; his face had an expression of calm, almost glad that the end had come.” Paul knew he wouldn’t ever be able to revive his identity, and found serenity in death. Sometimes when the only thing you’ll be for the rest of your life, the thing that defines you, is so heart-wrenchingly tragic, there is no way out.
The inevitable tragedy of war is somewhat incomprehensible. We don’t understand war at all, and neither can soldiers. It alters their perspectives, perspectives on themselves, perspectives on the world. War creates a permanent identity for soldiers. They lose grasp of the concept that war is war. There is no solution. There is no way avoid it, “It is not so much this or the other means of making war immoral or inhumane. What is immoral is war itself. Once war has broken out it can never be humanized or civilized, and if one side attempted to do so it would most likely be defeated.” (Bombing) There is nothing that can prepare soldiers for war. War has to be violent and unreasonably tragic, if it wasn’t, it would be called peace.
Work Cited
Soldiers have no idea what war is really like because of ideologies they obtain from society. They are just trying to be heroic like they think soldiers should be. War is glorified beginning as early as little kids playing with toy guns and soldiers. After the bombing of a German city left between 35,000 to 100,000 civilians dead (Black), the deputy air marshal at bomber command, Robert Saunby commented, “What is immoral is war itself.” There is no way to avoid the devastation of war, and soldiers struggle with comprehending this. They’ve given up so much to be heroic. During Urban warfare in WW2, being a soldier required killing innocent people, and they had to cope with that. There were millions of civilian deaths in World War 2, innocent deaths that soldiers had to deal with. Along with claiming lives of innocent people, comes the responsibility of claiming the emotional baggage for those lives. The baggage that comes with killing innocent families is a baggage of great weight. War defines soldiers, and what war is isn’t what they imagined. They attempt to focus on identifying themselves and lose the ability to identify other emotions.
When soldiers have given up everything to serve their country, and witness the tragedy of war, they forget the purpose, which leads to them forgetting their identity, “It struck me at the time, the thought of the women and children down there. We seemed to fly for hours over a sheet of fire- a terrible red glow with thin haze over it.” –Roy Akehurst, a member of the RAF bombing crews about the bombing of Dresden, Germany. Soldiers come into the war with heroic intentions; they want to serve their families, their friends, and their neighbors. But they have to start killing other innocent people to accomplish that- they have to start killing other friends, families, and neighbors. They become the bad guy. The one thing that they once thought defined them, becomes a lie. Soldiers can’t feel like heroes while they’re killing innocent women and children. They are forced to become the villain.
When soldiers are unsure of their identity, they lose the ability to connect to society. Paul Baumer, a soldier in All Quiet on the Western Front, goes on leave and while trying to reconnect with society states, “They understand of course, they agree, they may even feel it so too, but only with words, only with words …” (Page 168, Remarque). War is so tragic, barbaric, and so incomprehensible, no one knows how to process it. It changes people who are so close to it. Soldiers lose the ability to connect to society, and society loses the ability to connect to them. War becomes all they know, all they are, and then they realize it is all the every will be.
Soldiers become so fragile. They are constantly thrown into situations they may not make it out of, and they know it. They constantly have to live in the moment, and so when they are put back into the real world, they can’t manage their lives. The only thing soldiers can focus on is the war. Upon leaving the war they are expected to be able to experience emotions that there wasn’t time for during their service. War takes away the ability to react and feel the way society has taught soldiers to. In AQotWf on page 296, Paul Baumer, a soldier who wanted more than to be a soldier but knew he could never overcome his fate, fell in October 1918 “He had fallen forward and lay on the earth as though sleeping. Turning him over one saw that he could not have suffered long; his face had an expression of calm, almost glad that the end had come.” Paul knew he wouldn’t ever be able to revive his identity, and found serenity in death. Sometimes when the only thing you’ll be for the rest of your life, the thing that defines you, is so heart-wrenchingly tragic, there is no way out.
The inevitable tragedy of war is somewhat incomprehensible. We don’t understand war at all, and neither can soldiers. It alters their perspectives, perspectives on themselves, perspectives on the world. War creates a permanent identity for soldiers. They lose grasp of the concept that war is war. There is no solution. There is no way avoid it, “It is not so much this or the other means of making war immoral or inhumane. What is immoral is war itself. Once war has broken out it can never be humanized or civilized, and if one side attempted to do so it would most likely be defeated.” (Bombing) There is nothing that can prepare soldiers for war. War has to be violent and unreasonably tragic, if it wasn’t, it would be called peace.
Work Cited