Soldier Boy Essay Example for Free

Soldier Boy Essay Soldier Boy is a book about a young boy named Jim Martin, and how it was his dream to join the army and fight with the Australian troupes. However, Jim Martin was no ordinary soldier to join the military; he was the youngest at 14 years of age. The topic, which I am doing my essay on, is Solider Boy is a tragedy. This book shows why war is a tragedy, and what war does to families, and how adults and authorities make war seem more glorious. The book highlights how it was young boys dying during the war not older men. First Paragraph Solider boy is a tragedy because it shows what war does to families and how death and injury effects families and tears them apart. These soldiers were never advised about the dangers of war. They were never advised of the drastic effects to their near and dear ones. Most of the time families were not strong enough to handle the stress and pain of seeing their loved ones going to war. Anthony Hill also informs the reader of Soldier Boys whose parents kept their grief and pain that the loss of a child causes them on the inside, in order to keep their families together. A quote on pg 8 shows that this is what Amelia did for her family. Amelia is the brick if the family in this time of desperation, and helps her family come to terms with Jim’s death. Second Paragraph Something that was quite sad in Solider Boy was that schools, adults and authorities made war seem more glorious than it actually was, and enticed young boys to join the army. Most adults made war seem like a sort of video game, you can play the game and nothing will happen to you. None of the adults explained to the young boys what it was like to see one of your team members die, or how to deal with their fellow soldiers rotting corpses in the trenches and how once you came to Gallipoli, if you did not like it there was no turning back. A quote on page 8 shows what the law thought was fit for young boys. Third Paragraph One of the main reasons of why Solider Boy is a tragedy is because it was young boys that were dying, and not older men. Young boys that had a whole future ahead of them, but had there life cut off because a bullet shot them, or they died of an illness. Jim Martin could have grown up and had a family, but instead his life was cut short because he died of typhoid. If it were, older men that were dying it would still be sad but not a tragedy, because they would have finished what they wanted to do and achieve in life. While some of the young, boys may not have even had a girlfriend. The quote on page 35 shows how young Jim Martin was. Conclusion In conclusion, I think that what war did to people and how adults handled it was quite sad, because it was teaching young people to fight and how violence and conflict is not the answer. Young Solider Boys should not have had to go through that, because all that it brought was grief, pain, suffering and stress. Solider boy is a tragic story that I hope will never be repeated again.