AuntShecky
11-11-2008, 12:33 PM
Today the U.S. honors and remembers its military veterans. Originally this date was known as "Armistice Day," since the 1918 treaty ending World War I was signed on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
American literature is rich with works about war, from the Revolution through World War II and more recent conflicts of the late 20th century. Contrary to popular opinion, one can be a pacifist "against" all wars or merely a particular one without dishonoring those who have fought and are even today fighting -- for our country. Most citizens, regardless of their individual political philosophy, are grateful to those who have died fighting for America, for us. This is only right -- to feel otherwise would be absolutely wrong.
On this date in November of 1922, another American hero was born, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. He died last year, but he left a legacy of literature through which American readers were not only entertained but prodded into some hard thinking about their values. The author of many satirical novels, some of which contained pseudo-science fiction novels within novels, Vonnegut called into question some of the conventional wisdom we are taught to take as unvarnished truth. He based his masterpiece, Slaughter-House 5 , upon his own experiences in World War II, in which he witnessed first-hand the fire-bombing of Dresden, Germany. Through the eyes of his time-traveling protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, we are forced to look at the horrors of war and the consequences of our actions, even when we are convinced that what we are doing is right.
Studs Terkel, the journalist, raconteur, and actor, died last week at the age of 96. He adopted his first name from another literary hero, Studs Lonigan, the eponymous title of a novel by one of America's great neglected authors, James T. Farrell. Like Vonnegut, Terkel served in World War II, but in a non-military capacity, as a worker for the Red Cross. Having refused to give evidence to the HUAC and the Joseph McCarthy hearings, he was blacklisted from television in 1953. The Good War, which received a host of awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, is an oral history of World War II. In preparation for this work, Terkel interviewed countless ex-soldiers not only from American but from the very countries with which we had fought at the time. Some of the veterans returned home with grave injuries, and they did not receive the best medical treatment. The war reminiscences of these former military men do not skip over or expunge the horror and the madness of combat; in that way their voice is unanimous. But the courage of the men themselves is the same as that which was shown by Tom Brokaw in his book, The Greatest Generation.
And finally, America's literary genius, Mark Twain, is conventionally known as
the creator of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, characters whose personalities are often held up as icons of Americana. Yet the pages of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are rife with an indictment of the institution of slavery, which various critics have called "America's original sin." Like World War II, the aims of the Civil War were "good," -- in that they helped to removed the stain of slavery from our land -- but the
pragmatic waging of that war, as in any war, was horrific, tragic, unspeakable.
In "The War Prayer", a work which he refused to have published until after his death, Twain examines what we really mean when we say "God is on our side." When we pray for victory, what are we really praying for?
These authors, as well as many others over the relatively short history of America, are in no way "unpatriotic" by examining the moral implications of warfare. On the contrary, they loved their country enough to be willing to take the risk of being vilified for adopting unpopular social and political positions. It has been said that the best authors reflect the age in which he or she lives, yet their artistic response to reality is timeless. It can be a step toward "forming a more perfect Union." Even criticism of society and its accepted norms can be pointed toward that goal.
This does not by any measure diminish the fact that our veterans of every war have given their lives to their country; indeed, we should endeavor to make ourselves worthy of their sacrifice.
"No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." John 15:13
American literature is rich with works about war, from the Revolution through World War II and more recent conflicts of the late 20th century. Contrary to popular opinion, one can be a pacifist "against" all wars or merely a particular one without dishonoring those who have fought and are even today fighting -- for our country. Most citizens, regardless of their individual political philosophy, are grateful to those who have died fighting for America, for us. This is only right -- to feel otherwise would be absolutely wrong.
On this date in November of 1922, another American hero was born, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. He died last year, but he left a legacy of literature through which American readers were not only entertained but prodded into some hard thinking about their values. The author of many satirical novels, some of which contained pseudo-science fiction novels within novels, Vonnegut called into question some of the conventional wisdom we are taught to take as unvarnished truth. He based his masterpiece, Slaughter-House 5 , upon his own experiences in World War II, in which he witnessed first-hand the fire-bombing of Dresden, Germany. Through the eyes of his time-traveling protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, we are forced to look at the horrors of war and the consequences of our actions, even when we are convinced that what we are doing is right.
Studs Terkel, the journalist, raconteur, and actor, died last week at the age of 96. He adopted his first name from another literary hero, Studs Lonigan, the eponymous title of a novel by one of America's great neglected authors, James T. Farrell. Like Vonnegut, Terkel served in World War II, but in a non-military capacity, as a worker for the Red Cross. Having refused to give evidence to the HUAC and the Joseph McCarthy hearings, he was blacklisted from television in 1953. The Good War, which received a host of awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, is an oral history of World War II. In preparation for this work, Terkel interviewed countless ex-soldiers not only from American but from the very countries with which we had fought at the time. Some of the veterans returned home with grave injuries, and they did not receive the best medical treatment. The war reminiscences of these former military men do not skip over or expunge the horror and the madness of combat; in that way their voice is unanimous. But the courage of the men themselves is the same as that which was shown by Tom Brokaw in his book, The Greatest Generation.
And finally, America's literary genius, Mark Twain, is conventionally known as
the creator of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, characters whose personalities are often held up as icons of Americana. Yet the pages of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are rife with an indictment of the institution of slavery, which various critics have called "America's original sin." Like World War II, the aims of the Civil War were "good," -- in that they helped to removed the stain of slavery from our land -- but the
pragmatic waging of that war, as in any war, was horrific, tragic, unspeakable.
In "The War Prayer", a work which he refused to have published until after his death, Twain examines what we really mean when we say "God is on our side." When we pray for victory, what are we really praying for?
These authors, as well as many others over the relatively short history of America, are in no way "unpatriotic" by examining the moral implications of warfare. On the contrary, they loved their country enough to be willing to take the risk of being vilified for adopting unpopular social and political positions. It has been said that the best authors reflect the age in which he or she lives, yet their artistic response to reality is timeless. It can be a step toward "forming a more perfect Union." Even criticism of society and its accepted norms can be pointed toward that goal.
This does not by any measure diminish the fact that our veterans of every war have given their lives to their country; indeed, we should endeavor to make ourselves worthy of their sacrifice.
"No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." John 15:13