Death Fear Sparks

Hello internet,

Been bogged down by essay writing and piano practice. At least I'm still writing in some form. Here's the intro to my essay:

War is eternal. It is graphic, bloody, and vulgar. Peace is an illusion. There is nothing more devastating than death through the conflicts of others. Innocent children, teenagers, and adults pay the price of war. Today there are many wars still being fought throughout the world. And here at home, news reports illustrate the destruction and death tolls with an ignorant tone. Humans have not learned how to make peace with each other after thousands of years of living together. After two world wars and their unimagined death tolls, the unimagined racism against the Jews by the Nazi’s and their subsequent death camps, we are still fighting one another with the same means; only now we have perfected how to kill each other. In Canada, we are lucky not to have to experience war first hand unless we are willing to volunteer for it, to help those suffering. How do you help a broken world consumed by hate? Dominant for control? War is eternal. Both Art Spiegelman’s Maus and Michael Ondaatje’s Anil’s Ghost are two novels about war that take place in two separate historical eras which remind us that war is continuous and misleading; remind us that control through fear of death forces characters to few options: detach from death, be consumed by it, or take action against it.

Paul