The beleaguered individual: A study of twentieth-century American war novels

This study examines twentieth-century American war novels. Many American writers use the battlefield as the stage upon which to work out their explorations of what it means to be an individual in the twentieth century, an individual mired in the mass culture of the modern industrial world. Thus, I argue that for these authors war is a sort of intensified experience of and an allegory for the world at large. The novelists I have discussed all seem to believe that our modern technological society tends to diminish and reify individuals, thus alienating them from one another. To combat this tendency many of the authors are searching their materials for any signs that our society might be capable of achieving better communication between individuals, more cooperation, and a recognition of the interdependence that binds humanity together while affirming the value of the individual. I claim that their novels tend to reduce human aspirations to either naturalistic or existential dramas—naturalistic in that individuals are at the mercy of circumstance or existential in that isolated individuals accept the responsibility of their own freedom. Responses to the plight of the modern individual range from totally hopeless to cautiously optimistic. These novelists often obscure the role of community in the creation and maintenance of individual identity and posit an ambivalent freedom, at best. Some, though, do attempt to provide a model of what constitutes a genuine community. Ultimately, I argue that a significant amount of hope for the future of the individual can be found in twentieth-century American war novels. Beleaguered individuals are portrayed holding positive values and taking positive action often enough to give the reader something to ponder and reason to hope.