Sorrow, a Timeless Theme
HIST 021
11/29/12
Sorrow, a Timeless Theme Is it possible for a single theme to exist in the past and still live today? This question is easily answered through a movie of the past and a story of the present. In 1930, All Quiet on the Western Front was released to the public. The film was based on Erich Maria Remarque’s novel, directed by Lewis Milestone, and produced by Carl Laemmle Jr. (“All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film)”). The present day story was written on www.usatoday.com on November 8, 2012, and is entitled: “On Veterans Day, a vet’s suicide haunts those left behind (Raasch).” Despite the time period difference and the type of media, both share the common theme of sorrow. The film and story have numerous similarities that express the theme by using events, processes, feelings, and emotions. Sorrow has stayed consistent throughout the past and present and has proved itself to be a timeless theme.
War changes people. It turns soldiers into new people where the only real life is no longer at home but on the battlefield. For years, Vietnam veteran, Jeffery Davis, was haunted by memories that originated from the war. On Sept. 15, 1984, Davis approached the memorial wall in D.C. and shot himself beside an oak tree (Raasch). His wife Alice Franks and their children, Scott and Kelly, were left on their own. Scott was 3 at the time, and Kelly was 6. Kelly remembers how ecstatic she was to show the neighbor kids’ new Cabbage Patch dolls to her mother just before Alice told her that her father was dead. Scott does not remember anything from that day, but he still felt the anger, grief, and guilt the others shared (Raasch). “I was pretty angry, I got into trouble, I lashed out. I felt abandoned almost” (Raasch). It became a daily routine for Scott to read the newspaper story about his father’s death, with the goal of going through it without crying. Scott eventually learned to accept his father’s fate. The family struggled through their mixed emotions and
11/29/12
Sorrow, a Timeless Theme Is it possible for a single theme to exist in the past and still live today? This question is easily answered through a movie of the past and a story of the present. In 1930, All Quiet on the Western Front was released to the public. The film was based on Erich Maria Remarque’s novel, directed by Lewis Milestone, and produced by Carl Laemmle Jr. (“All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film)”). The present day story was written on www.usatoday.com on November 8, 2012, and is entitled: “On Veterans Day, a vet’s suicide haunts those left behind (Raasch).” Despite the time period difference and the type of media, both share the common theme of sorrow. The film and story have numerous similarities that express the theme by using events, processes, feelings, and emotions. Sorrow has stayed consistent throughout the past and present and has proved itself to be a timeless theme.
War changes people. It turns soldiers into new people where the only real life is no longer at home but on the battlefield. For years, Vietnam veteran, Jeffery Davis, was haunted by memories that originated from the war. On Sept. 15, 1984, Davis approached the memorial wall in D.C. and shot himself beside an oak tree (Raasch). His wife Alice Franks and their children, Scott and Kelly, were left on their own. Scott was 3 at the time, and Kelly was 6. Kelly remembers how ecstatic she was to show the neighbor kids’ new Cabbage Patch dolls to her mother just before Alice told her that her father was dead. Scott does not remember anything from that day, but he still felt the anger, grief, and guilt the others shared (Raasch). “I was pretty angry, I got into trouble, I lashed out. I felt abandoned almost” (Raasch). It became a daily routine for Scott to read the newspaper story about his father’s death, with the goal of going through it without crying. Scott eventually learned to accept his father’s fate. The family struggled through their mixed emotions and
Cited: "All Quiet on the Western Front (film) - Wikiquote." Wikiquote. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2012. http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/All_Quiet_on_the_Western_Front_(film). Lorence, James J.. "The End of Romantic War: All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and Disillusionment in the Interwar Era." Screening America: United States history through film since 1900. New York: Pearson Longman, 2006. 44-54. Print. Raasch, Chuck. "On Veterans Day, a vet 's suicide haunts those left behind."USA TODAY: Latest World and US News - USATODAY.com. N.p., 8 Nov. 2012. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/11/08/veterans-day-vietnam-vet-suicide-haunts-family/1693443/.