Thirty-Years-War Reflection in Adventures of Simplicius Simplicissimus - Assignment Example

In the novel written in a satirical style, Grimmelshausen depicted the decline and collapse of his country’s population and peasants suffering from the cruel war. He wanted to show the peasants’ protest against injustice, lack of food, taxation, social and religious intolerance, and violence. The fact that Simplicissimus is full of progressive political argumentation shows that Grimmelshausen is very well-informed about politics and the details of the war. As a person who participated in the war, he described the events and draw small details very precisely. The novel is worth-reading and historically valuable.

In spite of the fact that the author chooses no concrete heroes as protagonists, Simplicissimus, who is considered to be the main character of the book, tells the story of an innocent child who got experienced The Thirty-Years-War. In general, he tells the life stories of people who participate in the war and should fight in order to survive, but in the end, they are either physically injured or mentally traumatized.  

The book was written under the horrific impressions of the Thirty Years War and as it contains a lot of facts from the author’s life, it is considered to be an autobiographic novel. Simplicius tries to correct the mishaps of the world and in a funny way tells the truth about all evils. After lots of misfortunes, he decides to settle on an uninhabited island. He undergoes different stages of life (military service, triumph, wealth, disease, travels, etc.), but finally, the character withdraws from the world. Like the author, Simplicius was separated from his family and had to do military service. The place of birth (Hanau), the siege of Magdeburg, and the exploits in Westphalia correspond to the facts from Grimmelshausen’s life. All the events, which are documentary ones, have appropriate chronological order because imaginary events are well documented.     

Thus, “Adventures of Simplicius Simplicissimus” is a great document in German literature, which presents the struggle between good and bad, purity and greed. In order to show all sides of cruel and monstrous Grimmelshausen makes his experience a theme of the novel. The author has depicted the war as a stage for his heroes and named the causes of war. Nobody can tell about the events better than a person who saw them with his own eyes. His novel comprises violence, jealousy, hatred, arrogance, avarice, and oppression, which were the main factors in the war and the causes of 17th-century changes.