War

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer points out that a variety of artists and others have sought to encourage people to consider both the horror of war and whether a need for warfare actually exists. The writer notes that in her essay "Warfare: An Invention-Not a Biological Necessity," anthropologist Margaret Mead argues that waging war is a choice made by humans and not something innate to our species. The writer describes that in "The Man I Killed," Tim O'Brien communicates the effect of choosing warfare on one soldier. The writer also explains that Garry Trudeau, in his cartoon "Doonesbury", uses visuals to broaden the message and demonstrate the high number of soldiers who have endured the trauma of war. Further, the writer discusses a painting by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, that shows an image of warfare based on civil war in Spain that demonstrates the terrible toll war can take on non-combatants. The writer concludes that the four artists present war as both avoidable and terrible.

From the Paper:

"Mead did not analyze any particular war. Rather, she demonstrated that warfare is an act that was invented by societies, not something necessary for human existence. By doing this, she argued that warfare was avoidable. She used the parallel of how trials developed through time in societies, evolving from barbaric practices to civil, logical proceedings. Through this analogy she suggests that war is barbaric and that societies should strive to find nonviolent ways to settle differences between countries and societies, just as societies have found civil ways to settle disputes between individuals or between individuals and the societies in which they live."
"Having established that warfare is only one way to settle differences, the other artists in this selection of examples demonstrate what it is that makes war barbaric. Tim O'Brien's story draws the reader into the mind of both the American soldier and the Vietnamese soldier he kills. We feel the horror of the American soldier, Tim, as he views the terrible damage done to the enemy soldier."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Mead, Margaret. "Warfare: An Invention--Not a Biological Necessity," in Writing About the World. McLeod, Susan, Jarvis, John and Spear, Shelly,, Eds. Australia: Thompson, 2005.
• O'Brien, Tim. "The Man I Killed" 1990. Taken from Literature and Society, Annas, Pamela J. and Rosen, Robert C., eds., Fourth Ed. pp. 979 - 983. New Jersey: 2005.
• Picasso, Pablo. "Guernica." 1937.
• Trudeau, Garry. "Doonesbury." April 24, 2005.

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