Complexity of war and its contradictions
The text’s central message is about the contradiction and complexity of war. To convey the central idea of war, the author employs the literary technique to juxtapose opposing ideas. He states that although “war” is the worst, it’s only half. War is, however, also “horrible”, because “war is not just terror, mystery, adventure, courage, discovery, and holiness, and hope and despair and longing, love.” Nearly everything is false. It is almost impossible to believe that the author does not use vivid, emotive language. He calls war “grotesque”, and “beauty” and also “evil,” as well calling it “evil”, and offering a chance of “decency,” justice and human concord. This conflicting description highlights the complexity of war and makes it difficult to make generalizations. In order to show the devastating and destructive nature of war, the author employs the metaphor of “killer forests fire” as well as the simile of “like cancer under microscope”. Through vivid language and poetic techniques, the author successfully conveys war’s central theme that it is complex and contradictory. Cont…