Passage W Commentary

Passage W: The War in Eastern Europe

Intro: War is often seen as gory and where many soilders break down emotionally and physically.
Thesis: In the "The War in Eastern Euope" by John Reed demostrates how soilders were much more calm and rational towards each others back then, leading to their downfall because of destroying their emotionall well-being. John Reed displays that theme by his diction, giving the reader a better understanding of the relax relationship between the two parties. His sentence structure shows how fast-paced war is, showing the true destruction behind the mens rational actions. Drastic imagery is shown, as the soilders shown to deal with this on a daily basis.


I: Reeds diction demostartes how war is not as seriou as it seems.
a: "and we were off" -gives a race type of a feeling, to let the soilders focus on competetion to see who would complete the objective first.
b: men are constantly having fun fun with Ivan, ignoring the seriousness of the battle.
c: horses are even "impressed," giving more light in the battle, as they are into war compare to previous wars.

II. Reeds ideas are constantly shifting to what the soilders are doing.
a: Soilders traveling to so many places, such as Romania, Bucouina, etc.
b: Men go through towns with barely any emotions: “great brown soldiers." Associating how the color brown is a dull and not as exiciting, attacking their emotional health.
c: Soilders are constatnly listening to the sound of a cannon, "leisurely sound," as it is commonly heard.

III. Reeds imagery gives the reality of war, the actions of soilders is what brings out the cruel side of war.
a: “Puffs of smoke unfolding” Showing the collapse of many houses
b: "dazzling in the sun" how the tower looks so appealing, but is soon to collapse by soilders.
c: “minute figures running about” many soilders scatter through the bullets, explotions, etc, running from death.

Conclusion: Reed shows even through the calm actions of soilders, they are destroyed by the reality of war.