Compare and Contrast the Ways in Which the Writers Present the Horrors of the War in "Regeneration" and "Journey's End".

It is no coincidence that Remarque and O'Brien include extremely graphic descriptions of the dead and dying throughout their work, because each author experienced these horrors firsthand from the field of combat. Remarque fought for the German Army during the infamous trench battles of World War I, witnessing death and destruction enacted on an industrial scale for the first time in human history, and his novel

As with any genre, all novels termed ‘war stories’ share certain elements in common. The place and time settings of the novels, obviously, take in at least some aspect of at least one war or conflict. The characters tend to either be soldiers or are at least immediately affected by the military. An ever present sense of doom with punctuated moments of peace is almost a standard of the war novel. Beyond the basic similarities, however, each of these battle books stands apart as an individual. Charles Yale Harrison’s World War I novel, Generals Die in Bed is, in essence, quite different than Colin McDougall’s Execution. Coming years earlier,

This way the reader gets more of a movie type of feel when reading. Just like movies, the viewer can experience a situation of one character, while another character has no idea what is going on. Using the different point of

O’Brien’s unification of fact and fiction is to illustrate the idea in which the real accuracy of a war story is less significant than storytelling. The subjective truth about what the war meant and what it did to change the soldiers is more meaningful than the technical details of the

Having each story been written in a third-person narrative form, the reader knows the innermost feelings of the

The way the authors tell the different stories of the war through flashbacks, deaths, and both physical and mental states. ‘Journey’s End’ is set on the front line, where most of the action happened in the First World War. Whereas ‘Regeneration; is set in Craig Lockhart mental hospital in Scotland, far away from the actual war and the

The author reveals the character/narrator by using indirect characterization. In the story, the character is describing his actions and thoughts, telling what type of person he is in the process. For example, in the story, the character says “In the enthusiasm of my confidence…”(Line 17). This is revealing that the character can be prideful and that it could cloud his judgment. But, simultaneously,the

The author wants to draw us into the story; they want us to feel like we are in the

The Wars, written by Timothy Findley, is a story about World War I, and consists of many shocking images passed over to the reader. Findley accomplishes to pull the reader into the narrative itself, so that the reader manages to feel an impact upon him/her-self about what is read. If it was not for this specific skill, or can also be seen as a specific genre, the novel would not have been as successful as it is now. Also, something that helps the book be so triumphant, there is the fact that Findley never overwhelms the reader with too many gruesome details about the World War I. Instead, he breaks the book down to help the reader calm down from everything that is happening. Throughout the essay, there is going to be some commenting on a

A Comparison in the Presentation of the ‘Horrors of War’ in Birdsong and A Journey’s End

Regeneration by Pat Barker The war in 'Regeneration' is explored 'back home'. Rather than portraying the war in terms of fighting on the frontline in the battlefields of France, Barker demonstrates the effects on the soldiers 'back home', both physically and mentally. The soldiers are those who have been injured, shell-shocked, or had a breakdown and are being treated with the intention of sending those who are able, back to France or at least resuming some kind of war duties. The war is explored, essentially in terms of the psychological effects of those who fought it.

This connects the reader to the story. This connects to the reader and helps the reader relate to the fight between the couple. The author uses dialogue because it helps the reader establish the tension and fury between the two characters. The text states “ What would you like to do? Get the button back and push it? Murder someone “(108). This textual evidence illustrates how the dialogue was worded helped the reader establish how the characters were feeling at this moment. The text states “ Why are you getting so upset? It's only talk.”(108) This evidence portrays the frustration between the characters and how this creates a divide between the characters. In conclusion, the dialogue helps the reader establish the tone and helps the reader understand the story better.

Dr. Rivers is the central character in Regeneration, and is assigned as a Psychiatrist to Craiglockhart, a hospital for soldiers who have suffered a mental breakdowns due to service in combat, commonly referred to then as Shell Shock. The text opens with Dr. Rivers being assigned Siegfried Sassoon as a patient, Sassoon have recently posted an open letter condemning the continuation of the war and the leadership how have no real war aims or plans to win the war. Through the treatment of Sassoon Dr. Rivers undergoes a change in his perception and support of the war, initially supporting the war, than gradually, through a series of encounters with patients, collogues and friends, Dr. Rivers comes to the realization that he can no longer support

The impact on having the narrator explain what both characters are thinking gives the reader a better understanding and clarifies why they react the way they do or say the things they say. The reader gets a better feel on why things play out as they do and how it expresses what happens. For example, if readers didn’t know what Madame Liosel was thinking or thought about certain things and her husband was telling the story we would only know half of this story. If only Madame Liosel was telling the story, she couldn’t have read his mind and so we wouldn't know why he would say this or that or why he made the choices he did. Conversely, with the narrator being able to tell readers what characters are thinking it creates a bigger impact by providing

“Regeneration” deals with war soldiers who have had mental breakdowns; therefore are sent to Craiglockhart the hospital. Craiglockhart purpose is to help soldiers recover, like Billy Prior; a man who suffers from mutism and has extremely bad asthma, and David Burns, who is a man that was traumatised from being blown into a dead Germans corpse which