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Patrickcasey

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Flags of Our Fathers

by James D. Bradley

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Patrickcasey said: " Checkpoint 1/3:
As I have just completed reading one third of my novel I would like to look back upon what I have read and connect to the novel All Quiet on the Western Front. In both novels the main characters struggle to overcome new challenges tha Checkpoint 1/3:
As I have just completed reading one third of my novel I would like to look back upon what I have read and connect to the novel All Quiet on the Western Front. In both novels the main characters struggle to overcome new challenges that are imposed upon them during a period of war. Paul Baumer struggles to adapt to the sociological stress that is imposed upon him while in the trenches of World War I. As the novel progresses the reader can come to an understanding that he comes to realize that he will die during this war and he accepts this fate. This understanding of death is similar to the main characters of Flags of our Fathers in which the main characters reveal to their closets friends that they believe they will not be coming back home because something inside them has made them realize that they will die while on Iwo Jima. In both novels the main characters have a sudden realization which helps them in completing their duties as soldiers during the war because they no longer fear the idea of death, they now accept that they could die and in turn work harder to do their duties as soldiers to try and avoid death itself.
Although both novels are set in different periods in history each character has to adapt to the war itself and those who do not adapt will die. This inability to adapt is exemplified in characters in each novel as those who cannot adapt either turn depressed or die in battle because their bodies cannot handle the amounts of stress imposed on them by war. In the novel Flags of our Fathers this inability to adapt is exemplified in Ira Hayes who during the war could not release the stress imposed upon his body and mind because of his quietness and in turn he became depressed after the war. This depression drove him to become an alcoholic and it led to his early death. This inability is also exemplified in All Quiet on the Western Front by the new recruits who at the young age of fourteen and fifteen where thrown in war when they were too young. This caused them to go insane due to the lack of ability to cope with the stresses imposed upon them by the trench warfare. They crack under the stress like Ira Hayes and in both situations those who cannot adapt to the society of war will die. ...more "

May 07, 2012 08:50AM · see review