Discuss the ways in which war changes people. During John Boyne’s novel, ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ readers are exposed to characters that have been effected by the war. These changes vary between characters, some being effected emotionally where others might’ve been effected mentally and or physically, but the changes in the various characters due to the war are most definitely there.
Father, Herr Roller and Pavel have the most evident changes throughout this novel as the war has effected their views and personalities immensely and are excellent examples of how war does change people. Father has been described as once having ‘a lot of kindness in his soul’ prior to the war ad he took Maria, a Jew, into his home. However after the war and being assigned his ‘important job’ he started to believe that Jews were ‘not people at all’ and that is how the war changed him.
Father might believe himself to be ‘a patriot’ by helping his ‘country reclaim her pride after all the great wrongs that were done to her’, but in truth he was just a ‘puppet on a string’ as his compassion towards misfortunate people, much like Maria who he used to think as ‘family’, flew right out the window after returning home from the ‘Great War’. Perhaps he thought the ‘handsome’ uniform made him ‘something special’ without the slightest concern for ‘what is stands for’, but the war still changed him as he no longer cared ‘what it [the uniform] means’ aft being such a ‘great man’ before going out to ‘serve for’ his ‘country’.
The Essay on The Divine Wind War Changes People
In 'the divine wind', Dishes shows us that war does change things; in fact everything changes in one way or another. Many things become stronger, while others become weakened. Before the war people accepted the Japanese as second-class citizens. Hart and Mitsy were friends and nothing was said. Once war broke out though, Japanese people were treated as enemies, merely there as spies and not to be ...
Another example of how war changed people is from the ‘injury’ Herr Roller received during ‘the Great War’. From previously being described as a ‘lovely man’ Herr Roller is now the man everyone referred to as being ‘crazy’ since he had ‘terrible arguments with himself’ in public. This form of insanity is hardly his fault as he ‘suffered a terrible injury… to his head’ whilst he was serving his country to ‘reclaim her pride’, just like Father. If Herr Roller didn’t actually go to war he would most likely not be told that ‘he’s crazy’ by the many people who encountered him at all.
Herr Roller’s madness is proof of how war can effect people in some of the most incurable ways possible. One of the household ‘slaves’ known as Pavel is another character that has been effected by war, but his change differs form others as he is in fact a Jew being held captive at the camp Bruno saw ‘outside his bedroom window’. ‘Nothing is the same’ once arriving at Out-With and Pavel knows this more than most. After having such an honorable job as ‘a doctor’ he was then forced to live his ‘foreseeable future’ ‘waiting tables’ and he shortly began to feel as though he had ‘always been here [at Out-With]’.
He had obviously lost all hope for ever leaving the camp and didn’t recognize the passing of time as at Out-With it seems that you forget the things in your past once you become tuned into a routine, much like when Bruno forgot the names and faces of his old ‘three best friends for life’. If the war hadn’t been fought Pavel would’ve been spending his days by doing what he loved, helping others by continuing his profession as a doctor. The war stripped that from him though leaving him perceptibly feeling ’empty and cold’ which is how the war changed him evidently proving that war does effect people.
The Term Paper on Tomorrow When the War Began Jhn Marsen – Change Theme
“We’ve all had to rewrite the scripts of our lives the last few weeks.” This quote best represents the theme of change. In literature, a theme is defined as a recurring element which helps the audience receive a deeper meaning, a deeper understanding about the text and most importantly about the fundamental ideas in life. John Marsden’s novel, Tomorrow When The war Began is about the lives of ...
Although war did change many characters in the novel Bruno seemed to remain pure and innocent till his untimely death, the war not having much effect on him at all. Even though he was constantly reminded by Father that he had ‘nothing whatsoever in common with’ the Jews, Bruno still thought of them as ‘a person [people] with a life and history’ and tat they were ‘almost… all exactly the same’. This showed that the influences around him caused no difference in his opinion towards the people on the ‘other side of the fence’.
Despite this though, Bruno had no knowledge on the topic of war or what the ‘striped pyjamas’ and ‘fancy uniforms’ represented at all. If he had actually known the situation that everyone, including himself, was put in Bruno would’ve probably realized that the Jews had ‘nothing to do with him’ and would’ve had the same views as his father that ‘they’re not people at all’. Another factor is that even though Bruno’s opinion remained unchanged, it was the war that killed him. He wouldn’t of died in the gas chamber if the war hadn’t of happened at all.
So in spite of Bruno’s unaltered views of the ‘other children’ and people, he was killed because they were there in the first place, therefore adding to the evidence that war does change people. The war does change people and can damage them in some of the worst ways imaginable. Whether weren’t damaged caused effected their mental, physical and or emotional health doesn’t matter. The characters known as Father, Herr Roller and Pavel are proof that fact. What does matter is that the war certainly does effect people and once it does, it’s unlikely for those people to ever be the same again.
