Comparing Carl Sandburg's The Man With The Broken Finger
Both the poem, The Man with the Broken Fingers and the novel All Quiet on the Western Front have unique similarities and differences. They both deal with war. The Man with the Broken Finger is a poem by Carl Sandburg and was written about World War II. All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel written by Erich Remarque and it deals with World War I. Erich Remarque was born in Germany and his novel All Quiet on the Western Front its characters are members of the German military. Carl Sandburg is from Illinois and his poem deals with an American war hero. These two literary works both have their similarities and differences, especially in the areas of point of view and theme.
The Man with the Broken Fingers is written third person. Carl Sandburg …show more content…
(ll. 51) The problem with this theme is that it limits the poem to a very narrow viewpoint of the world. This poem is incredible biased due to its time period. It was written at a time when Bugs Bunny was playing pranks on Japanese people. The theme of this poem is not merely one of against torture. No one needs a poem to realize that torture is atrocious. Rather, Sandburg wrote this poem because they needed people to enlist. This poem is strictly limited to the American public of the era. This is mainly due to the fact that as a present day reader I want to make my own judgments and do not want to be coerced into thinking or feeling a certain way. I want to find this out for myself. What we, as readers, need to understand is that both sides used similar tactics. The United States used to torture as well in WWII, but we dont see any of the anti-American poems because we won the war. Sandburg uses the man with broken fingers as an instrument to display how war veterans should be treated. He glorifies battle wounds with a chicks dig scars mentality. This poem is eager to play the victim and to claim to have the answers but the poem lacks any critique on the life lost or the atrocities committed. It is a very simple poem with a complex
The Man with the Broken Fingers is written third person. Carl Sandburg …show more content…
(ll. 51) The problem with this theme is that it limits the poem to a very narrow viewpoint of the world. This poem is incredible biased due to its time period. It was written at a time when Bugs Bunny was playing pranks on Japanese people. The theme of this poem is not merely one of against torture. No one needs a poem to realize that torture is atrocious. Rather, Sandburg wrote this poem because they needed people to enlist. This poem is strictly limited to the American public of the era. This is mainly due to the fact that as a present day reader I want to make my own judgments and do not want to be coerced into thinking or feeling a certain way. I want to find this out for myself. What we, as readers, need to understand is that both sides used similar tactics. The United States used to torture as well in WWII, but we dont see any of the anti-American poems because we won the war. Sandburg uses the man with broken fingers as an instrument to display how war veterans should be treated. He glorifies battle wounds with a chicks dig scars mentality. This poem is eager to play the victim and to claim to have the answers but the poem lacks any critique on the life lost or the atrocities committed. It is a very simple poem with a complex