11/9/2015

Starting off, I had a really hard time following “Rites of Spring,” by Modris Eksteins. To me, the story was very choppy and hard to follow. The only thing I really got out of this reading is that it was talking about the horrors of war, the act itself, and how gruesome war really is at first hand. The second reading, “Soldier’s Home,” was very strange and sad. This story showed the other end of war when the soldiers return home. Being in a place where there is nothing but gunfire and death around can really mess with someone’s head. Going from the intense training, living conditions, and seeing friends die, to being thrown back into to normal society is not easy to adjust to. To me these stories are important to read together because it shows both aspects of war, the soldier during the war, and a soldier going back home after the war.

               “Soldier’s Home” really got to me at the end when he told his mom that he did not love her. He had been so emotionally stripped during his training and during the war that he could not feel for her, or anyone for that matter. He was so emotionally distant from everyone he came in contact with. He even repeated over and over again that the war had made him this way, this is how he was trained. Their training does not just go away when they return home, it stays with them forever. Very few soldiers can turn it on and off like a switch, but for others it is a big adjustment to have to go from war, blood, and death to family, friends and love.

               In “Rites of Spring,” Modris Eksteins talks in detail about battles themselves. Eksteins describes battles and how many people had lost their lives and how bloody the battle field would end up, and so quickly. Hundreds of thousands of people were losing their lives, and that can not be easy to be a part of. Looking back and thinking about a war they were involved in and realizing just how many people had lost their lives due to a battle that they were apart of can not be easy to think about. They could have just as easily been one of those thousands of soldiers lying dead on the ground.

               If someone were to read “Soldier’s Home” first, or all by itself, they would probably have no sympathy or try to give any excuse to the soldier’s attitude and disconnect. Reading “Rites of Spring” along with “Soldier’s Home,” helps the reader make a direct connection between the two. This way the reader can easily see that these soldiers go through a lot and not all of them come back the same. Their personality and behavior have changed drastically due to what they go through when they are in war, and due to the fact that they are trained to think and act completely different than any civilian on the street.