Comparative Essay Essay
While the free essays can give you inspiration for writing, they cannot be used 'as is' because they will not meet your assignment's requirements. If you are in a time crunch, then you need a custom written term paper on your subject (comparative essay)
Here you can hire an independent writer/researcher to custom write you an authentic essay to your specifications that will pass any plagiarism test (e.g. Turnitin). Waste no more time!
Comparative Essay
In the books, Slaughter House 5 by Kurt Vonnegut and Catch 22 by Joseph Heller there are many themes that at first don t appear to be related but once given a closer look have striking similarities. Both books are about one mans experience through World War II, one being a fighter pilot and another being a soldier. Each man is known as an anti-war hero. They do not agree with the war and do not find it appropriate to fight for it. Neither of the two men was the average John Wayne war hero that fights and dies for his country. This is what makes these two books stand out from other war books. Both of these books also were used during the Vietnam War as anti-war books denouncing the war.
One major theme that comes up in both of these books is the theme of no free will. In Slaughterhouse 5 Vonnegut proclaims through the narrator that there is no such thing as free will and that all things in life are predestined. That no matter what we chose to do we really aren t choosing to do it at all and that the choice was already made. In Catch 22 the theme is the same just brought to our attention in a different way. Catch 22 is a paradox, leaving no way of escaping from a dilemma. No matter what we do or say we can t escape it thus leaving us with no free will. Catch 22 is best described in the book when Yossarian states, You don t have to fly anymore missions if you re crazy, but you have to ask first and if you ask than you re not crazy because anyone that wants to get out of combat is not crazy (Heller 46). The utter simplicity of this catch at one-point makes Yossarian let out a whistle. So in essence both of these characters are plagued with the fact that they have no free will. Billy Pilgrim because everything in life is predestined so he has no say in what goes on and Yossarian because he has to keep flying more missions because of Catch 22.
Another major theme that comes across in these books is the anti-war hero. Both main characters are the exact opposite of what we would consider war heroes. Yossarian has no intention of laying down his life for his country and thinks anyone that would is utterly stupid. He many times in the book tries to get out of flying more missions by admitting himself to the hospital although he is not sick and asking the Doctor to tell his commanding officer he is not suitable for combat. Then there is Billy Pilgrim. Billy is a mild-mannered man who would much rather cruise through life turning the other cheek than having a confrontation. He is a tall lanky, goofy character that when captured behind enemy lines didn t have a helmet, boots or a weapon. He looked so ridiculous that a German photographer took a picture of him to show the Germans how ill prepared the Americans were for war. When Billy enters the POW camp he is portrayed even more as a fool when instead of being given a normal overcoat like the rest of the prisoners he is given a woman s fur coat. These are not at all what I would consider a war hero and that is exactly what the authors were trying to do. They were trying to question many things about war. One was to question our assumptions not only to the right to wage war but also the people who fight in the war and the leaders that run the war. The authors writing about the characters in this way also paints us a picture that is not often painted. This picture shows that all soldiers aren t the rugged, handsome, brave and strong men that we all believe but that many soldiers are people like you and me. Most of them kids, that would just be starting college if it weren t for war. Many of them scared, helpless, and confused as to why they are fighting and killing. These authors question war and its many aspects instead of advertise it.
A theme that...
MLA Style
. EssayMania.com. Retrieved on 26 May, 2012 from
<http://essaymania.com/136674/comparative-essay>
More College Papers
Dreams essay
The paper provides the basic knowledge of dreams, their significance in our lives and discusses sexual dreams to demonstrate how they have the capability to change and make our lives happier and more enjoyable.
What are dreams? Why do people dream? Is there any possible way to understand them? All
W W Ii Beginning To End essay
World War II
Before World War II broke out the world took a wild ride during Hitler s rise to power. The entire world didn t think that he would become as powerful as he became. Hitler achieved his power by relying on the nerviness of the world to sit back and allow him to do what he wanted. The
New Historicism In The Awakeni essay
Summary and Analysis to New Historicism in The Awakening
The term New Historicism is not a well stated expression due to the word
new. What is new today may be old tomorrow. New historicism is actually old,
and the best adjective to describe it is historical. New historic critics are less
f