Comparison "Soldier's Home" And "Speaking Of Courage"
To be engaged in war is to be engaged in an armed conflict. Death is an all too ordinary product of war. It is an unsolicited reward for many soldiers that are fighting for their country’s own fictitious freedom. For some of these men, the battlefield is a glimpse into hell, and for others, it is a means to heaven. Many people worry about what happens during war and what will become of their loved ones while they’re fighting, but few realize what happens to those soldiers once they come home. The short stories "Soldier's Home” by Ernest Hemingway and "Speaking of Courage” by Tim O'Brien explore the thematic after effects of war and how it impacts a young person's life. Young people who go to war come back dramatically changed, and as a result, it is challenging for them to return to their homes.
Hemingway’s character, Krebs, and O'Brien’s character, Berlin, similarly demonstrate the consequences of war on the lives of these young returning soldiers. Although they came from historically different wars, Krebs, from World War I, and Berlin, from Vietnam, both experience disillusionment. With regards to the stories’ tones, one can infer that both Berlin and Krebs are men who’ve seen their ideas of valor disappointed. Many join the war in the hopes of becoming somehow closer to their country or their ideals of masculinity, only to see these ideals crushed by war’s harsh reality. These boys both hold stories from their respective wars, and they’re sure that they will be heroes when they come home and share their stories of that heroism, but when they return, it seems to them like no one cares about what they have been through. Berlin’s town “could not talk, and would not listen.” Berlin’s only liberation of contemplation is that which is self-induced. He pretends to have a conversation with his father about his