Monday, November 11, 2019
A study of the social representation of war Essay
War, a reportage of the crude reality of the Afghanistan conflict started in 2001. Junger, the author and also protagonist, let usà live as a US army soldier in the ââ¬Å"terribleà geologyâ⬠à ofà theà Korengal Valley. Even the soilà appears to be the perfect place to host something as horrible as the Afghanistan war. Jungerââ¬â¢sà first accomplishment is surely the terribleà masterpieceà representation of the US soldiersââ¬â¢ lives in Afghanistan. The combination of descriptive sequences and figurative language throws the reader into the cruel battlefield whereà Taliban and Americans play a ââ¬Å"slowà gameà that everyone was enjoying too much to possibly bring to an endâ⬠. à Junger, however, doesnââ¬â¢t limità himself to the plainà reportageà of hisà five journeys. Hisà book succeedsà at representing the sociological interactions that originate withinà the platoon. ââ¬Å"The menâ⬠, livingà in a hostileà environmentà withà extremely poor living conditions, seemed to have established higher social moral values than our society. The courage, the love they feel for each other brings about the ââ¬Å"collective defenseâ⬠, described by Junger, as an addictive feature of the society of this platoon. Through the dialogues, I felt extremely surprised in noticing that those men essentially were happier than us, because, in their societalà reality, the core systemà was taking care of each other. The social institutionsà of the platoons imposed brotherhood andà knowing that you had a family, your platoon, soldiersââ¬â¢ need wereà accomplished.à I was then allowed to understand why the return to the normality is neve r anà easy process for veterans. Given the sociological representation of war, I could not avoid the comparison betweenà the society of the platoon with our Westernised reality.à Isnââ¬â¢t it crazy in our civilized Western society, that all we seem to lack, is care for each other? Our modern society focused on our own self-fulfillment, allows to ignore the moral calling,à to withdraw from moral engagement; however, in war, as Junger made me notice, nothing is taken for granted, everything is shared and everyone represents your family. If you save someone, itââ¬â¢s your duty, and accomplishing this duty takes you away from the psychological trauma of the daily atrocities of war allowing you to return to a familiar environment. I found Junger explanation of veteransââ¬â¢ traumatic return to reality very insightful.à As he suggests, once you experience the caring society of the platoon, real-world seems even more hostile than war. Perhaps it is, perhaps the real battlefieldà is our 21st-century society. Junger made me reflect and wonder whether a hostile external environment is the only criteria where Marxââ¬â¢sà communism principlesà hypothetically could work within a society; as the company of each otherââ¬â¢s is all humans have got, the creation of a reality where equality and common goals would establish the social institutions, could in turn act as a defending barrier from the external hostile environment, allowing the shared commitment to a communist system. Junger in hisà analytical reflectionà (220-260) attempts to explain humansââ¬â¢Ã love of war.à As mentioned above, the returnà to normalityà seems to scare soldiers more thanà the combat itself,à because there is no combat in the society. Throughoutà his travels, the journalist never questions who gives us the right to be God. And if somehow we are allowed to fight for God position, as we accept that God was long gone from that Valley and the God position is ââ¬Å"vacantâ⬠, are the soldiers trulyà fightingà onlyà because they are told to do so? Fighting means killing. Every day, it meansà taking over human lives. Junger never explores this topic in depth. He superficially justifies menââ¬â¢s engagement intoà conflict due to a physiological adrenaline addiction. Butà I reckon that human nature is three-dimensional, and the analytical chapters neverà exploredà whether the combat was addictive becauseà killing is a ââ¬Å"joyful slaughterà ¢â¬ (Bourke, 1999). I felt that thisà relevant aspectà of conflictsà was being avoided and it seemed like Junger maybe could not acceptà our terrible human nature, our ââ¬Å"terrible love for warâ⬠(Hillman, 2004). Personally, I believe that war is part of human beings and cannot be avoided, as neglecting ità would imply neglecting the human nature itself. Why do soldiers ââ¬Å"miss the good stuffâ⬠?à Junger superficialà argumentation of addictionà to adrenaline seems too weak to support this argument. It is indeed scary, but war is natural, and I feel confident in claiming this as empirical history shows us war constancy. Another side of this book review focuses on the consequences that I noticed on my emotional spectrum throughout the reading. My judgment vacillates betweenà the ability of Junger as a great writer and the negative implications of his writing abilityà onà my emotional reaction.à War further explores ââ¬Å"how easy it is to go from living to the deadâ⬠(p. 85), the transcendentà condition of being on the ââ¬Å"realâ⬠battleship: the Koregan Valley. Jungerââ¬â¢s writing style leaves its mark, his climax, the vast use of short sentences to finish paragraphs and peculiarity to leave white empty space. It is here in these white whereà he allows me, the reader, to feel and imagine, and thusà bring my persona intoà those empty spaces; this writing whatà took me back into my past. Passing from one paragraph to the other, carrying a heavy burden of sadness, I started remembering. Anxiety made me overthinkingà rendering the reading experienceà not pleasurable anymore. Junger was able to make me so engaged that I could not detach emotionallyà anymore. Jungerââ¬â¢s great ability to describe the soldier life conditions triggered the reminiscence of my past, whereà I could, to a much lesser extent, resembleà the soldierââ¬â¢sà anxious life situationà with my past 13-year-oldà self. Alone in my own land, now as well, governed by war; my parents, respectively the Taliban and the Americans. The gunfire, in my reality, pictured byà the lawyers, and as much as Junger, Iââ¬â¢m unable to move, sometimes unable to remember. Until now. My gear, my responsibilities, and as much as the men felt too hot, I felt too young. I always thought that a good book is like a good soundtrack that accompanies an as well good movie. But would the good movie create the same effect on the audience without the musical notes? The movie would still be good, but emotionally steady. What Junger is able to do in his book is allowing a natural development of this soundtrack throughout the entire duration of the reading travel. For me, the soundtrack were the emotions, I could feel the pain and the emotional dimension of the platoon and linked it back to my personal experience. Could Junger have triggered a better emotional engagement, be it negative or positive? Another proof of the great ability of Junger in letting the reader assimilating the images of Afghanistan in war through his simple, emotionally detached writing style occurred when suddenly I found myself thrown into a distorted view of what we would recall as reality. Everything, from the soil, the muffled noises, to the deprivation of light. It was a hostile environment. Chaos dominated the scene. Despair could be felt and seen by glancing at other living beingsââ¬â¢ eyes. The concept of life was no longer alive. I saw myself running, without a purpose, without a destination, without knowing. I was perhaps running for not dying, maybe because fear impregnated the odor of the air. I was not running to survive. I remember falling, and there I clearly felt a fleece trespassing my skin and hitting my lung. Breathing became an unbearable painful experience. And I was lying there, alone, on that desolated land where God had possibly forgotten to visit for a long time.à When the sun rise shone my room, Ià was recollected into this world that we consider real. It took me a while to remove that negativity from my being. I remember hoping for someone to explain to me what had happened but no one of my war dream comrades was there. I could only grasp the ghost of a memory dissolving without leaving a trace. Indeed, I had a negative emotional reaction, but this doesnââ¬â¢t want to diminish Jungerââ¬â¢s skills. However, his emotionalà detachment,à I could say, made meà feelà sometimes frustrated.à As the reporter, it is essential to remain detached as the sole and unique task is to report. However, I, as a reader, was looking for an emotional judgment from the author. I feltà like I couldà readà the mind of a mute child, victimà of an abuse,à who,à due to the trauma, has lost the capability of communication. And the more I was reading, the more the misunderstand was growing. Couldnââ¬â¢t Junger express something, just a small confirmation that what was happening was wrong? It took me a while before understating.à Only by reading chapter after chapter I was able toà realize that the emotionally detached writing style adopted by Junger, was, in reality, an emotional response to the atrocities that he was subject to witness in his travels. The detachment was maybe the only way to survive, the only way to remind himself that the War was not his reality, that his pe rmanence in Afghanistan was just temporary, unlike reality for the Platoon. Perhaps he also wanted to let the reader develop aà critical judgment without intervening. Overall, the representation of the US soldiersââ¬â¢ life condition in Afghanistan, under a sociological and psychological viewpoint, represents the best outcome of this book. Junger proves to be able to communicate clearly what he went through and he doesnââ¬â¢t stop here; his skills overcome the simple flat reading experience and allow the reading audience to develop an emotional engagement, be this emotional reaction positive or negative. Considering what happened in Afghanistan roughly 10 years ago, and how men had to live daily, I feel grateful and lucky to have had the possibility to read this book, as the probability of a bullet hitting Jungerââ¬â¢s hypothalamus seems to have been somehow high. à Bibliography Bourke, J. (1999). An Intimate History of Killing: Face-to-face Killing in Twentieth-century Warfare. Hillman, J. (2004). A terrible love for war. New York: The penguin press. Ã
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