This idea of children fighting in the war came up later in the story when we meet Werner Gluck (on page 157), a sixteen year old guard from Dresden. It shows that all sides of the war employe young men to fight.
We saw more of this type of fighting in All Quiet on the Western Front, the soldiers in the first World War were also just children. Boys fresh out of high school were fighting in that war as well. All Quiet on the Western Front followed Paul Baumer, who was only 19 at the time.
I find it interesting that the old men, the leaders get to decide if we go into war, but its really the young ones, the children who are fighting the wars. It is also the children who will be most affected by the outcome of the war. So why is this way that it works? Why don't the men just fight out their own wars? Why do they have to get young men with so much life left to do their dirty work? Also, why don't the younger generations get more involved in the decision making?
I think young men fight wars because if older men fought the war, it would be a "quick" war in the sense that more men would die at a faster rate. Having young men fight a war is more "sensible" since they are more energetic than older men and have seen less of the world than older men so they don't truly know what they are signing up for. As we saw in All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul Baumer and his friends were excited to join the war because they felt they were doing something for their country, and believed it was something great, and not as horrific as they later experienced. As for why the younger generations don't get involved in decision making, that is very similar to how people in the United States are considered an adult when they turn eighteen, when the year before when they were seventeen, they had to ask for permission to use the bathroom. The younger generations aren't involved in the decision making because they "won't" understand what's happening.
ReplyDeleteYes I understand the whole sensible idea for the leaders, but what I still don't get is why young men decide to go into a war fighting for something that they didn't ask to happen. Honestly what I don't understand is why do we need to have all the violence and killing in this world just to settle arguments. I think that war is something that effects our whole world when it happens no matter who is actually fighting. And this affect is usually bad, so why do we keep on fighting if we all live on the same earth, if we are all the same, in some way? Why do we need to fight to solve the problems? We really should be working together to keep our planet alive, and to help each other solve the issues of the world.
ReplyDeletePerhaps, it is because they don't have a choice? Feel pressured by others? It could be a variety of reasons or it could be that they are really patriotic for their country. Many people want power and control, and those two things can't be obtained, the more people that are involved. By using violence and killing, dominance is happening and it's showing others who the "Alpha" of the pack (or the world) is, and who are just the underdogs. Majority of people lack the ability to compromise or frankly, just don't care to use it as they want everything to go their way or no way. As much as I would love to see people using their common sense and compromising skills to solve issues of the world, and truly helping the current generations and future generations to come, I don't think it is going to happen until compromising skills and common sense is first developed/learned.
DeleteI think they don't have a choice and they are just extra bodies on the field. I don't think the kids or the people who sent them there really want them to be there but they have no choice.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to the horses and any other animals that may be present there, as Casey pointed out in another post. They didn't have a choice either.
DeleteI can see this too be true, I still just think its unfair
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