According to PBS, the United States mobilized a sum of 4,355,000 soldiers to fight in World War I. In total, there were 65,038,810 soldiers who were drafted by their government to fight in a war that brought no form of victory to their country. An eighth of the soldiers died (Amid), but among all the soldiers, how many of them were against the idea of war? How many of them were lured into the inducible war because of propaganda or family related reasons? Joe, the main character from Johnny Got His Gun, and Charlie, the main character from Shenandoah, serve as prime examples for the soldiers who do not believe in war, but are wheedled into somebody else’s fight anyhow. Joe is persuaded into the war through government manipulation and propaganda. Joe becomes injured and loses …show more content…
Charlie, who believes the war does not concern him and his family, finds himself getting sucked into the war when his family and land are put at harm. Even though Charlie does not end up fighting in the war, he experiences physical loss because of his role in the war (Shenandoah). Although the main characters in Johnny Got His Gun and Shenandoah are both against war, each source offers different ways the war lured each man into war.
To start, in Johnny Got His Gun, manipulation and propaganda influences Joe’s decision to fight in the war. Words like “liberty” and “freedom” are meaningless, yet, enough to attract men, like Joe, into war. While Joe is lying on his living death bed, he is upset that he and other men treated their lives so carelessly to fight in a war that served them no purpose. Him and the soldiers were combatting for nothing. Joe explains this by, “But a guy says come on let’s fight for liberty and he can’t show you liberty. He can’t prove the thing he’s talking about so how in the hell can he be telling you to fight for it” (Trumbo 110)? This quote shows that these words are thrown around without a