The Execution of Private Slovik Essay -- Literary Analysis, William B

In the fibbers quest for information ab off the attack of Dresden, he wrote to the Air Force, hoping to realize more knowledge about what went into the decision. His nonwithstanding official response at the age was that the information was top secret still (11). How shelling of Dresden could invariably be considered classified when it had such a devastating effect on so many people is just one of the many absurdities pointed out by the narrator in his quest to provide a match ingest of the war.One novel, The Execution of Private Slovik by William Bradford Huie, details the only execution of an Ameri crumb soldier for desertion during World War II. The narrator quotes from the opinion of a staff judge advocate who supported Sloviks sentence, stating If the death penalty is ever to be compel for desertion, it should be imposed in this case, not as a punitive measure nor as retribution, but to maintain that discip thread upon which alone an army can go after (45). The view t hat a soldier should have to die in cabaret for the military to maintain unit cohesion and essentially teach a lesson to other draftees who may want to desert their post is a arduous one for those not in the military to sympathize with. Furthermore, it illustrates the paradoxical genius of militaristic actions, where one is forced to fight against enemies who wish to do them harm, or face death at the hands of their fellow servicemen if the choose not to fight.During a Lions Club luncheon meeting Billy attends back in Ilium, a oceanic Corp Major who had served in Vietnam addressed the attendees. The Marine spoke of his experience serving in Vietnam, and his view that the Americans had no prime(a) but to keep fighting until the Communists realized that they could not force their wa... ...cation of the bombings of Dresden as tit for tat in an attempt to rationalize civilian killings is detestable to those who see life as sacred, regardless of which side of the civilian line one falls.Saundy is much more sympathetic than Eaker to those who lost their lives in the Dresden bombing. Saundy believed that the bombing of Dresden was a great tragedy none can deny, and that it wasnt necessary to the Allies efforts to win the War (187). However, he does defend those who direct the bombing, stating they were neither wicked nor cruel, but instead forced into fashioning a tough decision in a decisive time in the War (187). Saundy presents a much more humane view of the bombing of Dresden than Eaker. Saundy doesnt attempt to justify or condemn the bombing he instead portrays it as one of the many horrors of war that can only be viewed in hindsight as such.