Human catharsis in war

Type :

Presentation

Pages :

5 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

07/10/2008

Category :

Philosophy & literature

Sub category :

Humanities/philosophy

Oboulo.com selection criteria

$ 10.95 Add to cart

Summary :

When people make mistakes, why do they say, 'I'm only human'?
Living through war is like hunger.
There is a paradox between the words 'powerless' and 'kill'.
Soldiers suppress their humanity.
The psychological state of a soldier.
Soldiers commit many seemingly immoral acts.
One of the most overlooked ideas of humanity.

Abstract

Do you ever look at something for so long it doesn't make sense anymore? Have you ever been stuck in a moment that was your entire life? Cheated death, but regretted it afterwards? Looked at the man standing next to you and thought, "Who will die first, you or me?" This is every single living moment of a soldier. What he thinks of when he throws that grenade, loads that gun, and looks up at a bayonet, only he knows. But to those on the outside, we wonder if there's still a human being in the empty shell of a man whose body has lived and endured too much. Soldiers are irrevocably changed after war. Most are crippled, mentally instable, or socially disabled. In Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, a man's memoir based on the author's own account of World war I, the men go to the edge of reason and back. They literally become their own worst fears as they often kill without hesitance. Yet, they retain a tenderness that is only present in those who have known compassion. Everyone, even soldiers who have killed, have humanity.