Vietnam War Novels' Thematic Reconstruction And Development Of WWI Novels

War novels have played an important part in the history of American Literature. From Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage to Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, and to lately Tim O'Brien's In the Lake of the Woods, these novels represent classic models among American literary works. War novels not only reflect the cruelty and violence of the war, but also expose war trauma and its negative effect on American society.As one of the leaders of American Literature before the 1950s, Hemingway reveals the inhumanity of the war and the confusion of the lost generation. A Farewell to Arms is one of his masterpieces. This novel depicts damages and desperation caused by the First World War. The author demonstrates the disappearance of humanity and the loss of virtue through Henry's experience during the war.Compare to WWI novels, the Vietnam War novels more extensively reflect the trauma and negative effects of the Vietnam War imposed on American society. As one of O'Brien's famous novels, In the Lake of the Woods has been mentioned a lot by plenty of critics. The novel meditates on the inhumanity of the war and the war trauma. Moreover, it explores the relationship between politics and war.The thesis attempts to interpret the theme of these two novels by analyzing the texts in details, through putting the novel in American historical and social contexts of the time. Meanwhile, the thesis also compares the themes of these two novels and demonstrates the Vietnam War novel's thematic reconstruction and development towards WWI novels.The thesis consists of four parts. The introduction is a brief survey of the background information about war novels. And then the thesis elaborates on these two authors as well as the status quo of these two novels at home and aboard. Next, this part discusses the reconstruction and development of themes from Vietnam War novels towards WWI novels. The purpose and theme of the thesis are contained in it, too.Chapter one focuses on the construction and collapse of war myth. After witnessing the cruelty of the war, Henry and Wade lost their faith. They find that when the sacred halo loses its light, there is nothing but the collapse of faith and the decease of humanity. Their different attitudes on war and their diverse pursuits of life form the main contents of the two novels.Chapter two discusses separately on war trauma and American war policy. In the first part, the death of Catherine and the baby make Henry desperate and lose his hope. The war trauma ends Wade's political life and his family breaks up accordingly. In the second part, Henry reconstructs the traditional meaning of "courage" and "heroism", indicating that the meaning of these two words changes with the nature of the war. In addition to the description of war trauma, O'Brien digs deeply the affinity of war policy and magic. Furthermore, the analysis of American "political correctness" exposes the ambition of America's imperial ideology over the world.The conclusion is the summary of all the aspects mentioned above. It elaborates on the similarities of the themes and the thematic reconstruction and development of the Vietnam War novels towards WWI novels. The novel In the Lake of the Woods discusses that the wars are affected by war policy, and this theme is not mentioned in WWI novels. The Vietnam War novels not only reconstruct the themes of WWI novels, but also develop them. At last, the thesis puts forward the significance of the study on the comparison between Vietnam War novels and WWI novels.