Wallace Stevens' Poem "The Death Essay

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Thus, we can see that the perils of man seem meaningless in the overall scheme of the world, "When the wind stops, and, over the heavens / The clouds go, nevertheless, / In their direction," (Stevens 1923). Nature, and the rest of the world will always go on. Death, as well as life itself then seem meaningless.

Faulkner too paints a much more inglorious image of death, especially death on the proving grounds of battle to protect and serve one's country. In "Two Soldiers," a young rural southern Pete Grier leaves his family in the South to join the war, inspired by the patriotism which swept over much of the country at the time. Even the young eight-year-old narrator can see Pete's noble ignorance, yet is caught up in the image of glory it would bring to him and his family. It is within this fantasy the boy tries to stay with his brother through his deployment. This brings up the concept of proving yourself through service.

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However, in real life practicality, going to war actually puts the family at disadvantage. Pete's pop says to him "Besides, what'll I do for help on the farm with you gone? It seems to me I'll get mighty fat behind," (Faulkner 85). Pete's father also served in WWI and saw no rewards for it, having only stayed stationed in Texas. All Pete's leaving would do would cause his family grief, without the glory for his country. Thus, through going to war you are removed from the life in which you really matter. Pete is eventually killed, his body lost to the sea -- a similar fate to the soldier in the other piece.

Dying for one's country has long been seen an honorable sacrifice. Yet, within the context of modern warfare, it is clear that most soldiers who fall for foreign causes do not get the memorial they would dream of. Rather, death for one's country has become quite meaningless.

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