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Soldier Suicide in Seven War Novels
1. Civil War: "Red Badge of Courage" by Stephen Crane
"He now thought that he wished he was dead. He believed that he envied those men whose bodies lay strewn over the grass of the fields and the fallen leaves of the forest."
1. Civil War: "Red Badge of Courage" by Stephen Crane
"He now thought that he wished he was dead. He believed that he envied those men whose bodies lay strewn over the grass of the fields and the fallen leaves of the forest."
2. WWI: "Sula" by Toni Morisson
"He fought a rising hysteria that was not merely anxiety to free his aching feet; his very life depended on the release of the knots. Suddenly, without raising his eyelids, he began to cry. Twenty-two years old, weak, hot, frightened..."
"He fought a rising hysteria that was not merely anxiety to free his aching feet; his very life depended on the release of the knots. Suddenly, without raising his eyelids, he began to cry. Twenty-two years old, weak, hot, frightened..."
3. WWII: "Ceremony" by Leslie Marmon Silko
"At the Dark Mountain
born from the mountain
walked along the mountain
I will bring you through my hoop,
I will bring you back.
Following my footsteps
walk home
following my footprints
Come home, happily
return belonging to your home."
"At the Dark Mountain
born from the mountain
walked along the mountain
I will bring you through my hoop,
I will bring you back.
Following my footsteps
walk home
following my footprints
Come home, happily
return belonging to your home."
4. Korea: "The Manchurian Candidate" by Richard Condon
"So saved are all those who enable themselves to believe... It was constant; it observed a code of honor in a world where any element of devotion to a rationale summoned scorn; but the world knew itself was sick."
"So saved are all those who enable themselves to believe... It was constant; it observed a code of honor in a world where any element of devotion to a rationale summoned scorn; but the world knew itself was sick."
5. Vietnam: "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
"Telling stories seemed a natural, inevitable process, like clearing the throat. Partly catharsis, partly communication, it was a way of grabbing people by the shirt and explaining what happened to me."
"Telling stories seemed a natural, inevitable process, like clearing the throat. Partly catharsis, partly communication, it was a way of grabbing people by the shirt and explaining what happened to me."
6. Afghanistan: "I'D Walk With My Friends If I Could Find Them" by Jesse Goolsby
"The dense hours crawl. Patrols like a zombie, meals he refuses to eat, Halo 2 for hours. A sergeant asks him if he's okay, and he hears himself say he is, and somehow the sergeant believes him."
"The dense hours crawl. Patrols like a zombie, meals he refuses to eat, Halo 2 for hours. A sergeant asks him if he's okay, and he hears himself say he is, and somehow the sergeant believes him."
7. Iraq: "A Hard and Heavy Thing" by Matthew Hefti
"And this is why you won. You turned the unknowable into the knowable. By talking. By asking. By listening. Ultimately, by caring."
"And this is why you won. You turned the unknowable into the knowable. By talking. By asking. By listening. Ultimately, by caring."
