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What Are You Fighting For?
Kelsey Sprague
Seminar No. 4 Lit 131
2/14/02
War is one of the most dealt with, debated over, and scrutinized subjects today.
There's a war on terrorism, a war dealing with the issues dating back into Biblical times
and a war over land. In my opinion there is only one noble reason for war, a war for the
protection and preservation of one's country and the people in it. However, sorry to say,
these wars also involve strong convictions that may lead to death for the men and women
fighting. Personally, war means an end to something old and the start of something new.
War has many aspects, in the poem, "War is Kind," by Stephen Crane he includes
all the ingredients of war. I also believe there are wars that are fought over hopeless
and wrong reasons, blood is shed for meaningless purposes and in turn causes heartache and
agony.
Prisons, soldiers, death, victory, defeat, and family can all be aspects of war. In,
"War is Kind," Crane uses irony to emphasize his point, and uses many of these
ingredients to round out his thoughts and convictions. Carnage, and gruesome scenes are
also things that you find when a war is going on. Ferlinghetti uses as an example a
painter who paints war landscapes, mostly gruesome, painful, and ugly death scenes. I
believe all the things we get caught up in, distract us in times of war what others are
suffering, enduring and losing.
In his poem Crane includes many things. The heartbreak of a young maiden for her lover,
the excitement of the naive soldiers going into their first battle, death, victory and
defeat, and how a mother weeps for her departed son. When I read this poem, it clicked
with my thoughts and feelings. Even though he uses the phrase, "War is kind,"
(Crane 710, Line 5), I think it is meant to be sarcastic. How the leaders of a country
tell a young man to go and die for them, Crane is really saying, war is kind to everyone
but that one soldier. Soldiers generally feel excited to fight, but they forget there is a
great chance they may be killed. "Little souls who thirst for fight, | These men were
born to drill and die | The unexplained glory flies above them," (Crane, Lines 7-9).
The "unexpected glory," is the unnoticed risk of dying for ones country, or the
dream thereof. Some rise to this for noble causes and do receive glory from others, from
the world leaders who lead others to fight but do none themselves.
Ferlighetti's "In Goya's Greatest Scenes," described what he sees in pictures
by an artist who truly expressed the loss and destruction of war. This poem in comparison
does the same thing, just with words. Describing war as bleak, gray, useless and pitiful;
Ferlinghetti describes the reality of blood and the carnage of it. "they are so
bloody real | it is as if they really still existed | And they do," (Ferlinghetti
718, Lines19-21). If a war is not fought for a good purpose, then to me it is just wrong.
All that carnage for "honor," or greed is basically worth nothing to the people
fighting; but for the families and the spouses it is worth everything in the world.
War is a fact of life. People are going to fight, die and be remembered for what they
believe. As an American, I would be proud to serve my country, but as someone who is
against useless bloodshed, I would need to have very strong convictions about what I'm
fighting for.
Post Script-
This paper was a bit hard to write considering I've never really focused on what my view
on war was. It was difficult to express my emotions about this subject onto paper.
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