Soldier's Home and Dulce et Decorum Est - Book Report/Review Example

Comparing and Contrasting "Soldier's Home" and "Dulce et Decorum Est." War is one concept of humanity that has been in existence ever since time immemorial. From the times of biblical conquests to the contemporary world, people have always argued and fought over diverging viewpoints. From this, the notion has incorporated into society and the avoidance of war has many at times appeared baseless. The engagement of war requires a high level of charisma from the fighters and thus an attribute to their efforts should rather ensue. There have been many wars in the world and one of the most recognized is the First World War. Many publications have been made about the war and two of the acclaimed works are Soldier’s home and Dulce et Decorum est. The attitudes towards war in "Soldier's Home" and "Dulce et Decorum Est." are somewhat similar, but the actions and words of the characters show that their opinions differ of what it means to be a soldier. While looking at the two different publications, the first story to characterize is Soldier’s Home. This short story talks about a war veteran who got home after the war expecting much appreciation and rejoices from people in his background. However, upon arrival, astonishment hits by the amount of neglect portrayed towards him. This is from the manner through which the people did not attribute his success but rather went on their ordinary lives with disapproval. The soldier does not appeal to any of his age mates too from the attire that he wore. Having gone for only two years, he did not expect that much development in his town and this astonished him from the slender clothes that the people wore to the many casual relationships in the area. This notion rather expresses war to be a phase less of significance and undeserving of any attention. A sharp contrast to this is experienced in the poem Dulce et Decorum est. Unlike in the first story, the attitude towards war is rather different from the expression. War ideally receives treatment as a very important and courageous institution that required much effort for the attainment of success. The writer expresses this clearly from the visual aspect of poetry that he incorporates into his story. The way in which he talks about the soldiers dwelling in terrain that is rather inhabitable for human beings brings compassion as a major concept. Compassion is the pathway that leads to appreciation to the soldiers as without their undying hearts, the course rather lacks essence. Another difference between the two stories is from the manner through which the war patriots in the poem are expressed as having a union not easily drawn by any enemy lines. The plot of the story clearly portrays the character of the fighters being there for each other at times of dire necessity. A point in time is expressed where the patriots were injured but their charisma and urge to live through the rough patch kept them in line. The unity also expresses through the fact that they kept giving each other the necessary support whether emotionally or physically which was important to push to the end of the war. In Soldier’s Home, there is the lack of the unity aspect. In the story, the soldier goes home to find that people have moved on with their lives and did not even care what had happened in the war. This is directly in negative contrast to the poem where a soldier could not move on without helping a comrade in need during the conquests. The notion brings much emotional dilemma on the side of Krebs. There was no form of unity in the community and the viewpoint towards war was that of an institution that did not matter and despite the struggles that the soldiers went through, life still moved on. Expectations are that the community would welcome the soldier in unison giving much commendation to the achievements made in the war but this was not the case. Another form that showed the amount of disunity in the story is the diverging viewpoints of people whereas some like the soldier’s family commended his efforts others took them for granted (Hemingway 37). A similarity of the attitudes towards the war is experienced between both Krebs in Soldier’s Home and the soldier that wrote the Dulce et Decorum est. In Krebs story, he explains that he had a jagged time through the first years of the warfare. The amount of training that he went through was rough and many of his body parts consistently hurt even after his return home due to the entire trauma. He consistently explained of the dilapidated conditions of the areas where he fought upon questioning by the mother. This is similar to the poem where war gains the attribute of being rather harsh. The fact that the soldiers survived many days bleeding from injuries due to lack of medical help and still managing to fight back showed the relentless attitude towards the war. Both Krebs in the story and the poet share this attitude towards war. Another sharp similarity noticed is from the viewpoints of the authors. This is from the manner in which the two stories bear characters that have hope of having a future that is free of oppression. Despite the difference in conditions at which the two works of art develop, the soldiers both express the war as being a rather stressful and meek place. They express it as a place where hopes and dreams appeared an illusion and many are the times they felt like giving up. The portrayal of this lack of essence feeling is from the poem where the poet states that he saw his friend drowning in the sea and his hopes and dreams started diminishing (Owen 2007). This is sharply similar to the point where in the short story; Krebs describes different times at war where he felt like giving up on his dreams due to the vast appalling experiences. He talked of the vastness of dilapidation in his dwelling places, the high amounts of risk and the associated ordeal. Contrast experienced in the two writings is from the fact that the poem takes war to be rather grizzly in the manner through which it analyzes and states the conditions there. It shows the soldiers to be merciless on the rivals and it does this in a rather vivid manner from the fact that the poet describes blood oozing from their bodies all many times. In Soldier’s Home, the presentation of war does not come in the same manner from the fact that the soldier does not describe it fully to have all the bloodshed visually ordained in the poem. The fact that the community in which the soldier dwells takes his comeback assumingly shows the general attitude towards the war as being rather a simple breakthrough rather than an important aspect in life that people suffered to get through. The poem and the story bear a rather similar perspective of the war but still debate at some point. The fact that makes it rather clear that the two stories have a similar base is that they both talk about the same war that is the First World War. However, the fact that the stories are told in different grounds brings the much difference in attitude towards the war. One story’s expression is at a calm place after the war had settled and shows the war as having a much less significance; however, telling it from the actual Warfield as in the poem portrays the emotions and visual aspects during the war. This was rather important to develop the actual mood and attitude towards war. Despite the differences and similarities, the two stories bring out the concept of war in a definite manner. Work Cited Owen, Wilfred. “Dulce et Decorum Est”, 2002. Retrieved on 14th April 2012 from http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/dulce-et-decorum-est/ Hemingway, Earnest. Soldier’s Home. New York: McGraw Hill Publishers, 2007. Print. Read More