Our readings in American Studies have covered many events and time periods. Three of the books we have read had to do with war and the effects of war on its surroundings. More often than not the effects of war had a horrendous result for the people and places involved in them. In Slaughterhouse Five an image shown is of men and people acting and being treated as animals and "nothings." Relatable to events in All Quiet on the Western Front, and Night.
"Men were hurling themselves against each other..... Beasts of prey unleashed, animal hate in their eyes"(Wiesel 7.25-29). Once peaceful people now fight viciously in order to gain scraps of food, they fight as if savage animals.
"We march up, moody or good-tempered soldiers – we reach the zone where the front begins and become on the instant human animals"(Remarque 2.27). When entering the battlefield a soldier becomes part animal in order to be violent enough to kill and to survive.
"It had been built as a shelter for pigs....Now it was going to serve as a home away from home for one hundred American prisoners of war"(Vonnegut 152). While living in a POW camp is hardly human, forcing men to live in a place most likely filled with the stench of dead animals is not the least bit humane. Pointing towards the lack of care for the "American Pigs".
Each of these quotes show in some way human beings losing part of their human identity. Whether they themselves were driven to the point of acting as wild animals, had to be animals in order to survive, or were being pushed towards living as an animal. This type of effect on people is a part of war that makes a person question, "is it worth it?"
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