The Mistakes In The Belief Of The Realiteis Of War

Kyle Platt

Engl 224

Paper Assignment #2: topic #1

11/05/06

The Confusions in the Beliefs on the Realities of War:

Twain, Crane, and Tate: The Impressionists/Anti-Imperialists

War itself has and always will be not only a term, but an event that will never fully be understood. Yes, people do understand that war is usually brought about by a conflict/dispute between two countries. Another reason would be to understand the economic standings before and after wars because wars shoot the economy through the roof. The reason that most people overlook is the fact that the people who fight in the wars and how they have served has changed in the past century. War, due to history, is a glorified event. The country's people supported the army's decisions and did not speak out against them. During this time, it was an honor to volunteer and fight for your country and its purposes even though that death was almost certain! That is hard to fathom. A turn in the outlook of war in America came about after the Civil War took the lives of almost half of the population. The value of life became an interest among all generations. This would lead to the start of an impressionist era in writing. Clemens, Crane, and Tate started writing and publishing their opinions on these emotions of their own personal confusion on how these men seemed to blindly follow footsteps to their own deaths. This would ultimately lead to a start of a movement against imperialism in the realm of writers. Leading the way was Samuel Clemens, Stephen Crane, and Allen Tate. Their works set the emotions which would move the American people to question their own beliefs on the reality of war. These three writers seemed to touch base on the fact that life was precious, but they differed in the areas of how they express their ideas through their writings, sharing their thoughts on how people in general have lost their sense of pride, judgment and patriotism.

Samuel Clemens wrote "As regards to Patriotism" which stated that patriotism was overplayed and abused as a word and as a characteristic of mankind. Clemens stated, "Patriotism is merely a religion - love of a country, worship of a country, devotion to the country's flag and honor and welfare" (pg 103). On the individual level, Clemens states that it can move a man in a whole different direction and his training can make improvements toward one's self being, but on the country level, the term seemed to be misused to swindle the hearts of the people. He uses the comparison of the Austrian government to America's. He claims that religion in Austria during that time was forced upon its subjects by the ruling system. Then he used patriotism as an American "religion" in the comparison and stated that here in America, it is released through the media and politicians. Clemens felt that the media and politicians made patriotism out to be worth more than its face value misleading the American people and blinding them in the stars and stripes of the country's false pretenses of pride. He then goes on and encourages people to start making their own decisions based on their own beliefs and morals: "Then men can be trained to manufacture their own Patriotism. They can be trained to labor it out in their own heads and hearts and in the privacy and independence of their own premises. It can train them to stop taking it by command, as the Austrian takes his religion" (104). He speaks out against the mainstream ideals of politics dealing with reality of warfare and the way that a country's subjects are blindly aroused in pride and unreasoned judgments. He seemed to imply that it was becoming more of a social statement rather than a religion.

Another interesting writer during the turn of the century was Stephen Crane. Crane is well known for his poem "Do Not Weep, Maiden, for War Is Kind". In this poem, Crane