Truth of War essay

“For the soldier the horrific scene that plays out all around him toys with the emotion of the mind, the movement of the body, and the pureness of the soul.” War, it is an even that many men and woman attend throughout the world. Some come out un-affected and others come out scared for life. That is if any soldier that goes in comes out alive. When a soldier goes into war they might think that they know what to expect, but when it actually comes time to go out to the front and battle, it’s nothing that anyone could expect. Soldiers lie in heaps on each other bloody and motionless, their body parts strewn everywhere. After the war the memories of war aren’t forgotten by some soldiers, causing them to have post traumatic stress syndrome. A condition where a person is living in the past and not in the present day. Not only are the soldier affected in the war but their family and loved one are affected by the war to. They pray that their loved ones are doing ok in the war and they pray to not get a letter sent home telling them their soldier has either been killed or MIA.
In Slaughterhouse 5 by: Kurt Vonnegut the main character (Billy Pilgrim) was in World War 2. He was an American soldier who what a prisoner in a Russian Camp. Billy was kind of crazy. After he came back from the war he was put into a mental institute, where he talked of aliens called the Tralfamadorians, and how they took him to their planed and put him in a zoo, and all sorts of crazy stuff. I think by imagining that aliens took him away maybe meant the he wished that he had a better life because he wasn’t proud of the one that he had now. Another example of war affecting the emotion of the mind is when soldiers come back from war and they have PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). PTSD keeps a soldier from really being able to see the events that are taking place in front of them. Instead they live in the time of the war. Their heads are spinning with the horrible scenes that they had to experience in the war. People getting shot all around them, others crying out in pain as their body parts are detached from their bodies. Not many of us have to experience that feeling. The feeling of being lost and feeling like there is no hope. That is how war affects the emotion of the mind.
“Roland Weary died- of gangrene that had started in his mangled feet” S5 p.(79)Everyone is born with legs. Even if they aren’t they find a way of moving. But losing a leg scares you. Imagine walking to one of your favorite places. Being able to see the things you have always wanted to see and the things you have seen before. Then imagine yourself doing the exact same thing only with your arm missing, or having to be in a wheelchair because your leg had to be amputated. The world would probably not seem as nice and fun after you have had to experience that. This is what some soldiers have had to go through or are still going through as of today. Many people have had to experience getting a broken bone or cancer which is bad, but it is much worse for a soldier because they have to live with the truth that someone wanted to hurt them intentionally. Whoever shot them didn’t care for their life or if they had family at home. All they cared about was taking out as many people from the other side as they could. When you break you arm or leg it’s usually because of an accident that you have had. When something on your body hurts you can take a Tylenol or Advil to fix it or even go to the hospital and the doctors can give you special medicine to help with the pain but during WW1 and WW2 the doctors didn’t have modern day medicine. Anesthetic to put the soldiers to sleep. They had to operate on them when they were fully awake. This all affects the movement of the body. Not being able to walk on two feet like everyone else is hard to deal with. It was hard back in the old days and it still is now. War affects the movement of the body in so many ways. If I wasn’t able to dance in my lifetime then I would not know what to do with myself anymore. So just imagining what these poor, poor soldiers had to go through it heartbreaking for me.
Imagining war form a soldier’s point of view is very hard to do. So many things happening at once! Soldiers go into war this a pure mind set. Even if they have committed crimes they still go in being pure and untouched. But after a while of being in war they start to not care about other people. I’m not saying that this is a bad thing but they start to be thankful of other people who die instead of them. They become greedy for air and food. For example: “You hear it a long time before it lands. A wind-like whistling orrushing sound. Growing louder and louder. Suddenly it (a piece ofshrapnel) landed right beside me in the earth. Not a trace of fear,not even the simply nervous kind like palpitation, which also usuallyensues without fear in cases of sudden shock. Afterwards a pleasantfeeling. Satisfaction at having survived. Pride, almost. Beingaccepted into a community, baptism. "-Robert Musil, diary entry (22nd September, 1914) The man is in this quote is basically saying that he felt happiness because he didn’t get killed but others might have. I understand why he feels this but its also being greedy. He is greedy for life. He felt shock when the shrapnel fell right beside him which is natural. I think what he means when he is saying “Being accepted into a community, baptism” is that going into a war is like being accepted into a new community or getting baptized into a new religion. Becoming a new person. Whether it’s becoming a better person, or not.
The after math of war is very brutal. In the book “Slaughterhouse Five” the main character Billy Pilgrim became kind of mental after he came back from WW2. The war affected his mind body and soul. Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime. Ask the infantry and ask the dead. (Earnest Hemingway).So for the soldier, the horrific scene that plays out all around him, toys with the emotion of the mind, the movement of the body, and the pureness of the soul.