My Country Tis of Thee

An essay I had to do in college in 2016

“True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.” This quote was by Authur Ash to those veterans who sacrificed their lives for the country. With that being said there are two poems and one short story about those fighting for their country and they all three deal with love and death equally. In “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner,” Dulce et Decorum Est” and “The Things They carried” it is not hard to see that these soldiers sacrificed their lives for the love of their countries.

      In “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” death is most important to this work because it is actually the dead soldier speaking the poem. For Instance, he says “When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose” (550). Obviously noting it is him. Also the poem uses imagery that suggests abortion to somewhat say what a waste the war is. For example, he says “From my mother’s sleep I fell into the state” (550) meaning like a coma type death and  “...black flak and the nightmare fighters” (550) meaning he awoke to die.

      Secondly, in “Dulce et Decorum Est” both love and death seen here not to mention the title means “it is sweet and right.” In the end the poem says “Dulce et Decorum est Pro patria mori” (680) meaning it is sweet and right to die for your country. We see here that these soldiers believe it is wonderful and a great honor to fight for their country. The true example of loving your country so much you will be happy to die to save it.

      Lastly, in “The Things They Carried” the most important of love and death is both. Throughout the mention of what the soldiers carry physically and emotionally, the soldiers keep going back to the image of a fellow soldier that got killed by a grenade. This reoccurring memory symbolizes guilt over war’s horrible acts. Could they have done something about it? Should they have paid more close attention? On the other hand, love is on a soldiers mind throughout the war and that is where the guilt comes in from the other soldier getting killed. The soldier that was thinking about this girl was distracted and away from reality when the death happened. For example, it says “He felt shame. He hated himself. He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war.”(107). The worst place to get distracted is on the battlefield.

      All in all I believe we can say it takes guts to be on the battlefield but if you love your country enough to risk your life for it that is true honor. It was shown through “The Things They Carried,” “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” and “Dulce et Decorum Est” both showing love and death in the most important ways possible.