The Madness of War - 1458 Words

War is the epitome of cruelty and violence, an experience that can prove maddening and strip away some of the most intrinsic characteristics of humanity. Kurt Vonnegut’s experiences as a prisoner of war during World War II inspired his critically hailed novel Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), in which characters continually search for meaning in the aftermath of mankind’s irrational cruelty (Kurt Vonnegut: 1922-2007 287). Both the main character, Billy Pilgrim, and Vonnegut have been in Dresden for the firebombing, and that is what motivates their narrative (Klinkowitz 335). In his anti-war novel Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut expresses the adverse emotional effects of war through the psyche of Billy Pilgrim. Vonnegut’s distinct style†¦show more content†¦The emotional separation that Billy experiences is a direct result of the awfulness he faces in war. Billy encounters countless atrocities and absurdities in his life and his war experiences that all contribute to his mental withdrawal and deterioration. The horrors of Dresden, including death, senseless cruelty, and absurd injustice, make up the panorama of violence and inhumanity that defines Pilgrim’s world (Broer 70). All of this violence and death around him leads to his descent into schizophrenia and insanity. Billy becomes increasingly crippled by the psychologically damaging blows he receives during the war causing him to withdraw from reality and ultimately lose his sanity (Broer 70). Billy’s prisoner-of-war experience is a nightmare of victimization and madness described as â€Å"an acrimonious madrigal, . . . everybody, seemingly, had an atrocity story of something Billy Pilgrim had done to him in his sleep† (Vonnegut 100). Broer states that Billy â€Å"and everyone around him exhibit some form of insane, mechanically conditioned behavior, that which is overtly aggressive, or that which allows aggression to happen† (73). The most traumatic horrors of war to Billy, however, are the destruction of Dresden and the death of his best friend, Edgar Derby. These eventsShow MoreRelatedCeremony By Leslie Silko Ceremony Analysis1041 Words   |  5 PagesTayo, shows apparent madness as he suffers from PTSD due to fighting in World War II. Madness can be defined as mental delusion or the behavior arising from it. The delusions that result of Tayo’s madness, hallucinations of important people he has lost and frequent flashbacks of the worst parts of the war, occur in a reasonable manner because it is common for people to be affected by war in such a negative way and fail to understand what is truly real. The product of Tayo’s madness gives truth to theRead MoreApocalypse Now By Francis Ford Coppola1073 Words   |  5 Pagesthe Vietnam war and all the horrors –seen and unseen— associated with it. Specifically, the dissent into madness and the dehumanizing effects of war. Coppola uses the river to symbolize this dissent into madness. The further up the river the crew got, the more dehumanized they became. Even Coppola’s choice of title Apocalypse Now screams what this movie is about. This symbolism accompanied by perfectly paired music and camera angles that often cast shadows strongly show the madness of war. CoppolaRead MoreSignificant Elements Of Joseph Conrad s Heart Of Darkness1326 Words   |  6 PagesSignificant elements of Joseph Conrad’s novella ‘Heart of Darkness’ are appropriated into Francis Ford Coppola’s film ‘Apocalypse Now’ in the setting of the jungles of Vietnam during the Vietnam War. 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(Ginsberg, 1) This generation dealt with civil rights movements and communism at the home. (â€Å"The 1950s†) But with all the pressure of all that is going on around this how did this generation turn out? It was during this time that author Allen GinsbergRead Morethe theme of madness in mrs dalloway1443 Words   |  6 PagesMadness in Mrs Dalloway Madness is a prevalent theme in ‘Mrs Dallway’ and is expressed primarily, and perhaps most obviously through the characters Septimus Warren Smith and Clarissa Dalloway – however the theme is also explored more subtly in more minor characters such as Lucrezia and Mrs Kilman. Virgina Woolf’s own issues inspired her greatly, as she herself suffered her first mental breakdown at the tender age of thirteen and was prescribed ‘rest cure’ – just as Septimus is; Woolf is often describedRead MoreEssay about Issues in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway630 Words   |  3 Pagespreoccupied the Bloomsbury writers and thinkers as a group. Issues of androgyny, class, madness, and mythology run throughout the novel. While that is hardly an exhaustive list, these notions seem to form the core of the structure of the novel. Woolf herself, when envisioning the project, sought to produce â€Å"a study of insanity and suicide, the world seen by the sane and the insane side by side.† This issue of madness, in particular, gives the novel its form as we follow the twinned lives of SeptimusRead More Elements of Darkness in Apocalypse Now and Heart of Darkness1263 Words   |  6 Pagestruth. Conrad portrays the idea of the darkness of the human heart through things such as the interior of the jungle and its immensity, the Inner Station, and Kurtzs own twisted deeds. Coppolas heart of darkness is represented by the madness of the Vietnam War and how even to look for a purpose in it all; is itself quite mad.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It was no accident that a documentary was made on Francis Ford Coppolas 1979 film, Apocalypse Now entitled Hearts of Darkness- A Filmmakers Apocalypse since