The short story “Sudden” written by Duncan Long and the poem “Anthem for Doomed Youth” by Wilfred Owen presents how war has corrupted our humanity throughout history. This issue is shown through texts where writers reflect their belief on the tragedy of war. This is evident through Duncan Long’s story which shows the reality of war that is brutal and violent through imagery and suggests that war destroys innocence in youth through characterisation. The poet, Wilfred Owen uses symbolisation to explore the idea that deaths in war are insignificant, dishonourable and is not commemorated. The authors convey a message that war is not glorious or honourable and will never bring peace; however war destroys lives and is meaningless.
Duncan Long highlights…show more content… The majority of soldiers who fought in wars such as the Civil War in Sudden were very young men who were forced to take part in war because conscription was compulsory. Therefore, they have to experience the horrific things such as killing and brutality which no one should ever have to go through and so this takes away their purity. Long’s short story features soldiers who were “eighteen and nineteen-years-old with eyes of old men”, this suggest they have witnessed and experienced many horrible things at war at an age too young which leaves them demented. The narrator of the story was also a ‘new green Lieutenant’ with no true experience of war even though he was the leader of the group which suggests he is also young and is inexperienced to the horror of war. The Viet Cong or the ‘enemy’ side in the story also had a young girl which shows that no one is excluded from the effect of war, regarding their age or gender. Through the characters, Long demonstrates that people who fought in war were not yet adults and are barely mature enough to be forced to fight in the horrific war which could leave them traumatised and demented souls. Duncan Long presents to readers the issue that war has destroyed humanity by haunting and corrupting the mind and innocence of adolescence that have experienced war as to the saying “No one can see peace once they have seen
