War Novels

Paper Summary:

This paper compares and analyzes the depictions of war and its effects on men in the novels "A Farewell to Arms", "The Things They Carried" and "Going After Ciaccato". The paper explains that, even though these three works are written by different American authors from different generations, are written at different times in the 20th century and are written about distinctly different wars, geographical locations, settings, characters and circumstances, similarities between the novels do exist.

From the Paper:

"Tim O'Brien, on the other hand, while depicting similar brutalities; chaos, and anguish of war, in general reveals more of his various characters' thoughts and feelings. Another key difference between these two authors' depictions of war is in narrative viewpoint itself. For example, Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms is told strictly from Frederic Henry's viewpoint, and is therefore written from a third-person limited omniscient perspective. Tim O'Brien, in contrast, within The Things They Carried1 uses multiple perspectives, thereby putting multiple characters "onstage". In and Going After Ciaccato, O'Brien's narrator, Paul Berlin, alternates in telling the story between past and present and fantasy and reality, while A Farewell to Arms progresses chronologically."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms. New York: Scribner's, 1929.
• O'Brien, Tim. Going after Ciaccato. New York: Broadway (Reprint edition). September 1, 1999.
• The Things they Carried. New York: Broadway (Reprint edition). December 29, 1998.

More papers on War Novels:

• Book Review # 1954 : "Catch-22: An Anti-War Novel"
• Analytical Essay # 83864 : "Saburo Lenaga's "The Pacific War"
• Book Review # 29964 : "A Rumor of War"

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