Destruction because of women is greatly seen with Lt. Jimmy Cross. He blames himself for the death of his men because he engulfs himself in a photograph of Martha. She represents the ideal woman waiting for him at home: beautiful, athletic, charming. He is a man fighting a war that represents, in the long run, nothing at all. Therefore, it is only appropriate for a man to avoid the hands of death for his family, his “woman.” Love is the antidote to a war so vile and destructive. This extreme infatuation leads to lost thoughts and stray minds. Thus Lt. Jimmy Cross spends his time ogling a woman who will never care for him as he does her; as the young soldier tears apart the shit field for a lost photograph, the one that killed Kiowa; revealed their location; provoked an attack. Or in a sense, provoked his death.
“When a man died, there had to be blame. Jimmy Cross understood this. You could blame the war. You come blame the idiots who made the war. You could blame Kiowa for going into it. You could blame the rain. You could blame the river. You could blame the field, the mud, the climate. You could blame the enemy. You could blame the mortar rounds. You could blame people who were too lazy to read a newspaper, who were bored by the daily body counts, who switched channels at the mention of politics. You could blame whole nations. You could blame God. You could blame the munitions makers or Karl Marx or a trick of fate or an old man in Omaha who forgot to vote.” (O’Brien 177)
Women provide the perfect distraction: something beautiful to stare at rather than the earth embracing corpses; blood kissing the earth; the destruction that is their reality. This distraction essentially leads to blame. Although not outright, it is because of women that the death of Kiowa occurred. Had Cross been scanning the fields, observing his men; had the young soldier left his conversation to a mental imagine rather than a tangible… Kiowa’s life may not have been destroyed.
Obviously, the physical woman did not provoke any sort of death. She did not parade herself in her man’s line of vision or call him to her attention. She is not dictated as a trashy, unfortunate waste of existence. She is what she is: a woman; a homely distraction. Although scarcely found in war, she was the often the target of blame.
About Me
- madcrazycool
- i am first and foremost a writer. i have a jim morrison fetish. words are my favesies. :]]
2 comments:
I like the contrast that you show between the woman's beauty and the ugly nature of battle; it definately lends itself to the distraction of the soldiers.The women essentially represent innocence, the innocence of never knowing the horrors that these men experience. While they look to "their" women as their reason for fighting, they also are the on the receiving end of the men's resentment, not because they serve as a distraction, but because they possess something which the men can never retrieve: the ignorance innate in innocence. When they blame the women, they are blaming their innocence,and lamenting over their lack of it.
I like this. I also agree with kaaytea. this contrast is MAJOR. Women become this ideal (which often we are not but for agruments sake) treasure that is desired and reached for compared to the death and distruction going on in the world.
although that is just a girl talking about what men at war think. Hey guys, what do you think about ladies when it comes to war time?
Post a Comment