Death In The Trenches Essay

As humans, we are constantly plagued by our own mortality. Death is one of the many things that we simply cannot escape, try as we might. This hopelessness has remained a constant throughout the entirety of man’s short existence, and will continue so. However, as with just about anything else, this sense of despair rises and falls in relation to the times. For example, wars exacerbate this; and WWI is not an exception to this, in fact this era contained more of this awareness of one’s impending doom, than most. Trench warfare led to many soldiers dying, which eventually affected other soldiers to accept their fate.
The style of trench warfare led to the death of many soldiers. The reading “Echoes and Voices” quantifies the amount and at which
The same reading, “Echoes and Voices,” also explains that, “Ahead of us, wave after wave of British troops were crawling out of their trenches and coming towards us at a walk.” This shows how all these soldiers had just given up and accepted their fate, because of all the people that they saw die. This idea is demonstrated in the quote because if these soldiers had not given up, they would be running at their foes, instead of hopelessly walking at them. Once again the style of trench warfare is culpable for this. Because of the perpetual fighting that always lost more than it gained. Lastly, “Echoes and Voices,” represents this again. This time through the quote, “By then, the world of the surviving Newfoundlanders had been reduced to a few yards of shell-torn earth and their lives; those who had not yet fallen expected to in a few moments.” Clearly, this shows the theme of acceptance of fate, because the soldiers simply expected to die. Instead of fighting for their lives, they simply gave up. To reiterate this is a consequence of trench warfare because of how the fighting was fought. To conclude, because many people died, other soldiers simply anticipated their own end and gave in, all because of the style of trench