War and Peace in Literature and
Photography
Martin Donohoe
http://www.publichealthandsocialjustice.org
http://www.phsj.org
Why Literature
• Vicarious experience
• Explore diverse philosophies
• Promotes empathy, critical thinking, flexibility,
non-dogmatism, self-knowledge
• Encourages creative and ethical thinking
• Allows for group discussion/debate
• Valuable for educating health professionals
Themes
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Honor
Futility
Suffering
Death
Abrogation of Rights
Protest
Peace
Famous Novels of War and Peace
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War and Peace, Tolstoy
Red Badge of Courage, Crane
All Quiet on the Western Front, Remarque
Johnny Got His Gun, Trumbo
A Rumor of War, Caputo
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Miller
“The War Prayer”
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
• Written during the US war on the Philippines
• Submitted to Harper's Bazaar (exclusive
contract) in 1895 - rejected as "not quite
suited to a woman's magazine.“
• “I don't think the prayer will be published in
my time. None but the dead are permitted to
tell the truth.“
• Published posthumously in 1923
“The War Prayer”
Mark Twain (aka Samuel Clemens)
Christopher Columbus
Upon meeting the Arawaks of the Bahamas
They…brought
us…many…things…They willingly
traded everything they owned…They
do not bear arms…They would make
fine servants…With fifty men we
could subjugate them all and make
them do whatever we want.
John Wayne
I don't feel we did wrong in taking
this great country away from them.
There were great numbers of people
who needed new land, and the
Indians were selfishly trying to keep
it for themselves.
William Tecumseh Sherman
War is hell.
Alexander Pope
Our business in the field of fight,
Is not to question, but to prove
our might.
Horace
Odes (III.2.13)
Dulce et decorum est pro patria
mori
It is sweet and fitting to die for
one’s country
"Dulce Et Decorum Est"
Wilfred Owen, 1917-18
…
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking,
drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could
pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
"Dulce Et Decorum Est"
Wilfred Owen
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,My friend, you would not tell with such high
zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
Ernest Hemingway
They wrote in the old days that it
is sweet and fitting to die for
one's country. But in modern war,
there is nothing sweet nor fitting
in your dying. You will die like a
dog for no good reason.
Josef Stalin
The death of one man is a
tragedy. The death of millions is a
statistic.
“Survivors”
Siegfried Sassoon, 1917
…
No doubt they'll soon get well; the shock and
strain
Have caused their stammering, disconnected
talk.
Of course they're "longing to go out again," -These boys with old, scared faces, learning to
walk.
“Survivors”
Siegfried Sassoon, 1917
They'll soon forget their haunted nights; their
cowed
Subjection to the ghosts of friends who died, Their dreams that drip with murder; and
they'll be proud
Of glorious war that shatter'd all their pride. . .
Men who went out to battle, grim and glad;
Children, with eyes that hate you, broken and
mad.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Every gun that is made, every
warship launched, every rocket
fired signifies, in the final sense, a
theft from those who hunger and
are not fed, those who are cold
and not clothed.
The Bible
Book of Matthew
All they that take the sword, shall
perish with the sword.
Mahatma Gandhi
An eye for an eye only makes the
whole world blind.
Herbert Hoover
Older men declare war. But it's
the youth who must fight and
die!
Issac Asimov
Violence is the first refuge of the
incompetent.
Jean-Paul Sartre
When the rich wage war, it's the
poor who die.
Arthur Ponsonby
When war is declared, Truth is
the first casualty.
Hermann Goering
(at the Nuremberg Trials, shortly before being
sentenced to death)
Of course the people don't want war.
But…it is the leaders of the country who
determine the policy, and it is always a
simple matter to drag the people along,
whether it is a democracy, or a fascist
dictatorship, or a parliament, or a
communist dictatorship . . .
Hermann Goering
Voice or no voice, the people can always
be brought to the bidding of the
leaders…All you have to do is to tell them
they are being attacked, and denounce
the pacifists for lack of patriotism and
exposing the country to danger.
Samuel Johnson
Patriotism is the last refuge
of a scoundrel
George Orwell
Nineteen Eighty-Four
War is Peace.
Freedom is Slavery.
Ignorance is Strength.
Benjamin Franklin
They that can give up essential
liberty to obtain a little
temporary safety deserve neither
liberty nor safety.
Will Rogers
You can't say that civilization
don't advance, however, for in
every war they kill you in a new
way.
Solomon Short
The only winner in the War of
1812 was Tchaikovsky.
Mao Zedong
War can only be abolished
through war, and in order to get
rid of the gun it is necessary to
take up the gun.
Albert Einstein
A country cannot simultaneously
prevent and prepare for war.
Jeannette Rankin
First Female Member of Congress
You can no more win a war than
you can win an earthquake.
At the Un-National Monument along the
Canadian Border
William Stafford
This is the field where the battle did not happen,
where the unknown soldier did not die.
This is the field where grass joined hands,
where no monument stands,
and the only heroic thing is the sky.
At the Un-National Monument along the
Canadian Border
William Stafford
Birds fly here without any sound,
unfolding their wings across the open.
No people killed—or were killed—on this
ground
hallowed by neglect and an air so tame
that people celebrate it by forgetting its name.
Eleanor Roosevelt
We have to face the fact that
either all of us are going to die
together or we are going to learn
to live together and if we are to
live together we have to talk.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Our only hope today lies in our
ability to recapture the
revolutionary spirit and go into a
sometimes hostile world
declaring eternal hostility to
poverty, racism, and militarism.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Darkness cannot drive out
darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only
love can do that.
John F. Kennedy
Mankind must put an end to war
before war puts an end to
mankind.
R. Buckminster Fuller
Either war is obsolete or men are.
Albert Einstein
I know not with what weapons
World War III will be fought, but
World War IV will be fought with
sticks and stones.
John F. Kennedy
War will exist until that distant
day when the conscientious
objector enjoys the same
reputation and prestige that the
warrior does today.
Günter Grass
The first job of a citizen is to
keep your mouth open.
“First they came for the Jews”
Pastor Niemoller
First they came for the Jews, and I did not speak up, for
I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the communists, and I did not
speak up for I was not a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not
speak up, for I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to
speak up for me.
Bob Dylan
Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know I can see through your
masks.
“Mother’s Day Proclamation, 1870”
Julia Ward Howe
Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
…
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by
irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking
with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
“Mother’s Day Proclamation, 1870”
Julia Ward Howe
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of
charity, mercy and patience.”
…
From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice
goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
“Mother’s Day Proclamation, 1870”
Julia Ward Howe
Let women
…
…promote the alliance of the different
nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international
questions,
The great and general interests of peace.
Margaret Mead
Never doubt that a small
group of thoughtful,
committed people can change
the world. Indeed, it is the
only thing that ever has.
African Proverb
If you think you are too small
to have an impact, try going to
bed with a mosquito in your
tent
Contact Info, References
Martin Donohoe
martindonohoe@phsj.org
This slide show and others available at
http://www.publichealthandsocialjustice.org
http://www.phsj.org