[lit-ideas] Re: [Fwd: Re: The Soldier as Sacrificial Victim]
- From: "Andy Amago" <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 08:45:54 -0400
What you're basically saying is that society runs according to myth; Joseph
Campbell's hero. In reality, soldiers rape and pillage and kill innocents.
They are also only recently held in lower esteem. Jane Austen's books,
among other literature, overflow with the desirable marriagable officer.
In other words, there is concurrence here that humanity as a group might be
functioning on a level other than the conscicous. The real question it
seems to me is why we need The Hero so desperately. Presumably if we
didn't need heroes, we wouldn't need war. K's point is something along
those lines.
Shirley Temple had a soldier's uniform? I'm not surprised. She's so
conservative.
> [Original Message]
> From: Eric Yost <mr.eric.yost@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: 8/11/2005 1:01:26 AM
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: [Fwd: Re: The Soldier as Sacrificial Victim]
>
> Any suggestions as to why the soldier is historically so attractive?
>
> ---
>
> Lots of suggestions but no definite thesis.
>
> 1) The soldier protects the families in one's group or nation from
> being slaughtered or raped by soldiers from other groups or nations.
>
> 2) Following a code of discipline and duty, the soldier exhibits an
> intensity that is often missing in ordinary peaceful life. (Consider
> the leaf-hidden code of the samurai, and its modern treatment in
> Robert Stone's novel, _Dog Soldiers_.)
>
> 3) The soldier is simply an alpha-male, and in a patriarchal
> society, alpha-males get all the attention and respect.
>
> 4) It's in the interest of a society to valorize its soldiers since
> a society needs a lot of them to maintain borders and mount a
> credible defense against invasion.
>
> 5) Soldiers are not uniformly treated with respect. Consider Hasek's
> _The Good Soldier Svejk_ or the "Miles Gloriosus" of Plautus. Bad
> soldiers are often held up for more ridicule than nonsoldiers.
>
> Remembering what Zorro did to Sergeant Garcia,
> Eric
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
> digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts:
