*“In The End, It Is Our Defiance That Redeems Us.” – Mark Rowland*
“To the world you may be just another person, but to one person you may just be the world (Snyder, ThinkExist.com). In Pat Frank’s book, Alas Babylon, Randy Bragg is no one of importance. He is failed politician that lives off his family’s land in a small town, Fort Repose, in Florida. But For this small town lawyer everything was about to change. The United States had been on edge of Nuclear Warfare with Russia for years. Frank writes on about how one man, Randy Bragg, redeems himself from a failed politician to a somewhat of a town hero (Frank).
Pre warned by Mark Bragg, Randy’s brother, Randy prepares for the arrival of his sister-in-law, niece, and nephew; along
…show more content…
Blessed because “the more distance between you [Fort Repose] and the fallout particles, the less radiation you [Fort Repose] received (Protection in the Nuclear Age 4).”
Soon after The Day Randy takes over and becomes somewhat of a dictator of an alliance of people that included Lib and Bill McGovern, Doctor Dan Gunn, Alice and her friend Florence Wechek, Sam Hazzard, along with Preacher and his family. Electricity lines and water supplies have been cut off throughout the town, due to the bombings. Randy soon discovers a way to restore running water to his own house and soon adds it to those houses in his small community of people that were also without running water. Throughout these trying times this newly found community comes together and learns to means of survival by sharing and providing for one another (Frank). They could not hope of surviving this blackout without the support of on another after all the “struggle, for those who survived The Day, was to survive the next (Frank 126).” Though Randy and his community were doing somewhat well others throughout the town had not taken the throwback of a hundred years as easily (Frank 144). President of the bank, Edgar Quisenberry, refused to live in such a world that had been so unexpectedly imposed on him and toke a bullet from his own gun (Frank 122). Edgar would be one of the first to take the
The threat of nuclear warfare has been a fear tactic used multiple times to settle issues between countries. In Pat Frank’s Alas Babylon, Frank focuses on Fort Repose, a small community in rural Florida. Frank centers the time frame on the height of the Cold War between Soviet Russia and the United States. Opening on how connections can save lives and change lives. Randy Bragg and the town of Fort Repose is dealt a lucky hand when Randy’s brother, Mark, a military man tips Randy off to the threat of a nuclear strike. Mark disguises the warning through a telegram telling Randy that Mark’s wife, Helen, and two children, Peyton and Ben Franklin, will be coming down to visit also asking Randy to meet him at the Base Ops McCoy in Orlando at
Where Men Win Glory is an ironic euphemism for war. The title is ironic because there is nothing glorious about war or the way it ended Pat Tillman’s beautiful life. Jon Krakauer orchestrates this masterpiece with his diligently, articulated descriptions and with a timeline sewn together from the threads of two worlds. The author’s style can best be characterized by his challenging, precise diction and his ability to fluently intervene pertinent quotes and facts that further persuade the reader toward his cause. Throughout the book, the author’s tone harnesses resentment towards the militant hierarchy; for through its ingenuousness, deceit, and manipulation, the military uses Pat’s death as propaganda to bolster the war’s support.
Macey gets involved with a Saturday group, where they go and paint a church in a bad part of the neighborhood. While they paint at the black church, an arson walks by smoking, and
Frank looks past surviving the initial hit addressing the survival after the damage has been done. With isolation comes desperation making valuable items, such as silver or gasoline, become items of barter to get necessities for ones survival. Randy and his fellow guests are fortunate enough to have a doctor living with them as it benefits them in two ways. The first benefit they get from
In the novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque depicts the effects of power and authority on the characters. Young school-going “men” are given no choice but to support their country by signing up to be on the front line. Pushed into war by the ones they trust most, these soldiers quickly learn the realities of the abysmal trenches and immediately begin to question the older generations that pressured them to enlist. Furthermore, these leaders who speak of patriotism are willing to sacrifice the lives men of lower social classes even when it is evident that the war cannot be won. In the novel, Remarque brings to light how the circumstances of war influence an individual to abuse their role of authority. Additionally, Remarque depicts an individual’s desire for power exposing that their hunger intensifies over time. As a result, the authoritative figures depict that once power is given to an individual, greed and misuse begin to control the person and sway their decisions. Remarque portrays the abuse of power that arises due to the appalling circumstances of the novel, uncovering their inhumane behavior.
As a young man coming back from the war, Krebs expected things to be the same when he got home and they were, except one. Sure the town looked older and all the girls had matured into beautiful women, Krebs had never expected that he would be the one to change. The horrific experiences of the first World War had alienated and removed those he had cared about, including his family, who stood naïve to the realities and consequences only those who live it first hand would comprehend.
In this essay, I will discuss how Tim O’Brien’s works “The Things They Carried” and “If I Die in a Combat Zone” reveal the individual human stories that are lost in war. In “The Things They Carried” O’Brien reveals the war stories of Alpha Company and shows how human each soldier is. In “If I Die in a Combat Zone” O’Brien tells his story with clarity, little of the dreamlike quality of “Things They Carried” is in this earlier work, which uses more blunt language that doesn’t hold back. In “If I Die” O’Brien reveals his own personal journey through war and what he experienced. O’Brien’s works prove a point that men, humans fight wars, not ideas. Phil Klay’s novel “Redeployment” is another novel that attempts to humanize soldiers in war. “Redeployment” is an anthology series, each chapter attempts to let us in the head of a new character – set in Afghanistan or in the United States – that is struggling with the current troubles of war. With the help of Phil Klay’s novel I will show how O’Brien’s works illustrate and highlight each story that make a war.
What Is More Important? ”Money is flooding into these athletic departments and the athletes benefit in many ways, but do athletes deserve to be paid for what they do?” (Walch). It is hard to make a living out of football in college because the athletes devotes their time and body to the sport, but aren’t getting money which is needed to make a living. The college athletes are the ones who bring in the money, but they don’t get any of it (Meshefejian).
Throughout human existence war has been a glorified way of settling disputes and asserting dominance, a place where powerful men have proven themselves, a place where glory and honor were achieved and a place where noble heroes died. Continuously through history humans looked past the horrors of war and misleadingly saw it as a glorious manner. This glorious view on war went unchallenged for centuries when finally the general William Tecumseh Sherman spoke out about the horrors of war and famously quoted that “war is hell”. In All Quiet On The Western Front William Tecumseh Sherman’s words can been seen in Remarque’s portrayal of the First World War by making display of the close similarities that war and hell have. Remarque exposes how truly horrendous the conditions at the front were displaying similarities between the conditions at war and to conditions described of hell. Remarque shows how the weapons used in the war turned man into ashes and countrysides into dead zones creating a real hell like environment. Lastly Remarque manifests that the horrors that war brought were so deep that the suffering would become eternal just as the suffering of hell. Therefore in the novel All Quiet On The Western Front Remarque brings life to William Tecumseh Sherman's famous quote “War is hell” by exposing how alike war and hell are by virtue of their similarities: How the conditions at the front were so horrendous they resembled conditions of hell; How new warfare technology turned
Roger Chillingworth husband of Hester Prynne leaves for two years and finds out that she had an affair with the minister Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester kept this a secret for seven years and when Roger found it changed him. In the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne writes about the pain and how that changed Roger. The reader feels the most most sympathy for Roger Chillingworth because of three reasons; he got betrayed by hester, The pain of the betrayal and how it changed Roger, and the way he views himself.
history-the rape of a fourteen-year-old Iraqi girl and the cold-blooded execution of her and her family. It is hard to believe that such an abhorrent event could occur under the command of well-experienced and decorated leaders that so many soldiers have entrusted their lives with. Frederick does an excellent job depicting a well-rounded story, taking into fact all accounts of the story, integrating both the perspectives of leaders and subordinates that display how much of an impact poor leadership can have on others, including the lives of the innocent civilians. The story unfolds to show how exactly, in Army vernacular, “shit rolls downhill” and the domino effect of poor leadership that leads to a catastrophic event.
“I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. I see how peoples are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one another (263).” Powerful changes result from horrifying experiences. Paul Baumer, the protagonists of Erich Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front utters these words signifying the loss of his humanity and the reduction to a numbed creature, devoid of emotion. Paul’s character originates in the novel as a young adult, out for an adventure, and eager to serve his country. He never realizes the terrible pressures that war
In contrast, the author uses George as a metaphor for those who would fight, kill, and die in the war; this element is an important part of the author’s persuasive strategy. W.D. Howells wants to appeal to the values and the emotional sensibility of his audience, for this reason, Howells portrays George as passive and unsure of himself. George is fearful of the war and he sees no glory in it. He believes that God is peaceful and the idea that God would advocate for war runs counter to George’s belief in peace. In short, the author uses George’s story to illustrate the consequences of war for the reader. This strategy works to persuade a resistant audience to relate to George, hence, lowering their resistance to the anti-war message of this piece.
" The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices...to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill...and suspicion can destroy...and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own -- for the children and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is...that these things cannot be confined...to the Twilight Zone."
The first thing that Randy wanted to do to change the town, so it could be a better place, which he made three orders.