"One death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic" (J. Stalin 1947). War... War is one of the most tragic events that can take place between men. Homer portrays this perfectly, In the Iliad, Homer doesn't say "oh and a couple thousand people died" he fleshes out each characters' death and describes cruel and gory casualties as well as the tragedy that each individual's spouse, father, and kids feel with each loss. " [...] The son of Tydeus killed the two of them on the spot, he ripped the dear life out of both and left their father tears and wrenching grief. Now he'd never welcome his two sons home from war, alive in the flesh, and distant kin would carve apart their birthright." (Homer, 169) He here shows us two characters that haven't been introduced to the story and shows us that this isn't just two young men dying. Their deaths also foreshadow a depressed father, a cursed bloodline, a widow, and a fatherless child.
Homer shows us that the rewards of war are far outweighed by the casualties, like a feather being measured against a rock. While only a few heroes receive riches, masses of men will die fighting for a cause they don't believe in or care for in gruesome ways. "Just as Diomedes hefted a boulder into his hands, a tremendous feat- [...] flung it and struck Aeneas' thigh where the hipbone turns into the pelvis, the joint they call the cup- it smashed the socket, snapped both tendons too and the jagged rock tore back the skin in shreds." (Homer 174)
Comments: Ian Blair and Braylan Stringfellow
Jessef, I think you really understood the point Homer was trying to convey. I forget where I heard it, but I remember someone saying "When you write about war, you don't write about bombs and armies. You write about a burnt sock on the road. You start in the small horror and extend from there." Homer really had a good balance between showing the innumerable masses and the personal horrors of war. You really highlighted that in your post!
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