Relating and Reflecting: "Soldier's Home" and "Rites of War" excerpt from Rites of Spring

“Suddenly our master marksman collapsed, shot through the head. Although his brains were running down his face to his chin, he was still fully conscious as we carried him to an adjoining tunnel” (Junger qtd. In. Eksteins 152). I was reading an excerpt from Modris Eksteins’ Rites of Spring, which I found to be extremely graphic and yet I found myself unable to put it down. In chapter four, titled “Rites of War”, Eksteins describes the frontline soldier during The Great War, more modernly known as World War I. The extremely graphic descriptions of the atrocious acts witnessed during this war described by Eksteins provides a background on which to understand the main character, a returning WWI soldier, in Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Soldiers Home.”

At first glance Rites of Spring and “Soldiers Home” may seem like two separate topics that may be related in a vague sense however, when I began to dive deeper and analyze the two with respect to each other I found that they improved my understanding of what a soldier experiences and why they experience it when they return home. “Soldier’s Home” centers on Harold Krebs’ return from fighting in World War I, only to find that society had changed and despite his attempts to construct a pattern in his life, his parents forced him to put up wall in their relationship. His parents wanted him to be like his peers, successful and engaged, when he had not yet been able to move on from his experiences in the war. The reader could conclude many things from this soldier’s unwillingness to integrate back into civilian life and resume a normal adulthood. However, when the reader acknowledges what Krebs has seen and done in World War I through personal experience, storytelling, or in my case, the graphic descriptions provided in “Rites of War,” we are forced to see him in a sympathetic light. I can only imagine the horror of attempting to save a comrades life only to remove a headless body from a pile of rubble. The reader must feel sympathetic towards Krebs even though we don’t know any specifics about what he saw or did in the war.

The theme that I have struggled to wrap my head around is the idea that during World War I human lives were not cherished or even respected. Eksteins quoted the American ambassador in London as saying “when there’s ‘nothing to report’ from France, that means the regular 5,000 casualties that happen every day” (155). This number is so large and shocking that I almost didn’t believe it. However, if you do some research and see that 8.5 million men lost their lives during WWI. I find even more shocking that the men themselves became so numb to the horrendous sights and experiences that they were un-phased when a mangled body landed next to them. Really grasping what these soldiers experienced is crucial in understanding that Krebs is not withdrawing from society or being a bum. He is merely responding to a situation that he was most likely forced into via the draft. The sights he saw and society’s inability to listen when he needed someone to listen to him resulted in his inability and lack of desire to resume his role within society. 

As a society I think we need to be more understanding and supportive of what our service men and women go through. Without providing support to reintegrate them within society at a reasonable rate we as a society are abandoning them and ultimately hurting society as a whole.

Works Cited

Eksteins, Modris. Rites of Spring. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. Print.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway. New York: Scribner, 1987. Print.

Connections? Yes they are there and yes they are important!

Human lives are viewed by government leaders as an unlimited resource which leads to the devaluing of human life. The United States Government uses monetary benefits as well as even semi-forced enlistment (when a criminal is given the choice between jail or the armed forces) to obtain warm bodies which it inevitably spends all across the world, imposing its presumed authority on weaker nations. Often at the expense of its own. The idea that because America is a world power and should police the rest of the world to maintain overall peace is a huge burden that the United States has allowed to propagate, resulting in unnecessary loss of life. In the interest of preserving itself as well as its citizens, American adventurism should cease immediately.

New York Times journalist Michael R. Gordon reported the death of an American soldier involved in a joint operation against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). American military officials refused to talk about the operation that focused on freeing prisoners and capturing senior militants. However, Iraqi officials claim the “mission appeared to be a significant joint strike against… ISIS” (Gordon 1). The American killed during this mission became the first killed in action (KIA) in Iraq since 2011. Despite the missions presumed success, America lost one of its defenders in a foreign war that it has no business being involved in. 

“The images [The Battle of the Black Sea] produced of dead soldiers dragged by jeering mobs through the streets of Mogadishu are among the most horrible and disturbing in [American] history, made worse by the good intentions that prompted our intervention” (Bowden 331). In Mark Bowden’s book Black Hawk Down he pieces individual accounts of a battle between Mohamed Farrah Aidid’s men and a joint force consisting of Americas Delta Forces and Army Rangers. He provides many perspectives during this charitable intervention-turned-bad within Somalia during a famine and military takeover. The book covers just a single battle that inflicted numerous American fatalities leaving the majority of the remaining wounded as well as inflicting catastrophic Somalian casualties. The most interesting fact about this battle is that it was objectively considered a success, a pyrrhic victory, but a victory none the less. Despite its so called success American military were pulled out a few days later, allowing Somalia to resume its brutal civil war unhindered by outside forces. 

America’s greatness and success in the past has led it to believe it is invincible and should influence the rest of the world in supposedly positive ways. Often America finds itself in wars because of the notion of moral responsibility. However, is it not more important for America prioritize protection of its own citizens and military servicemen? America needs to take a step back from the world scene and focus its financial and military resources on improving society within its borders. Being prepared for war is important, but American adventurism has led America in search of conflict to distract it from its own societal flaws. The end of American adventurism would allow for significant societal advancements.  

Works Cited 

Bowden, Mark. Black Hawk Down. New York: Grove Press, 1999. Print

Gordon, Michael R. "American Soldier Killed Freeing Prisoners of ISIS in Iraq." New York Times       Online 22 Oct. 2015. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.