Four Countries

Four countries . Name: Course: Professor Name: (Date) Four countries What is it really like to be a solder in the times of war. The only way to know it well is for you to be there yourself. Imagine, been a solder fighting in Iraq or Vietnam; it is not a sweet ideal to go through. The second way is to read stories of those who participated in the different wars in this world; the First World War or the Second World War. These stories represent the four stories written by Tim O’Brien (“the man I killed”), Isaac Rosenberg (“dead man’s Dump”), Andrei Voznesensky (“I am Goya”) and Erich Maria Remarque (“all quiet on the western front”). These stories give us an insight of the experience in the war zones. The authors aim at sending to us almost a similar theme in their stories (Ausenda, 2002). In the Rosenberg’s poem he reflects to us on the fragility of life. He says his colleagues and him could in the next minute join the list of the dead. He goes further to say in death both friends and enemies have a common ground. This Jewish author does not shy away from portraying his religious belief by using the Christian imagery “the crowns of thorns” to show the degree of suffering they went through. Its major effect that is all shown in the poem is one of shock and brutal imagery. He says doomed men mixed with the ones that were dead and the dying as the machines crushed the bones (Roberts, 2003). In reference to O’Brien, who wrote concerning the Vietnam War illustrates the complexity and ambiguity by the use of beauty and gore. His observation of his victim lying alongside the path; his upper lip gone and his jaw on the throat, truly shows the brutal effects of war. He also points out the common ground of them all, the death (Smith, 2005). The poem “I am Goya” by Andrei Voznesensky who is th...