A Very Different Alienation In War

Both Mo Yan’s Red Sorghum and Ishikawa’s Soldiers Alive depict the people involved in the war, whom are evolved into different types of alienation.The people in Red sorghum had lived calm and order life, but the aggressive war encountering, people were forced to fight. My grandpa turned a bandit into a commander of the anti-Japanese team. My father experienced his mother’s tragic death, became young hero hated aggressors from an innocent boy. My grandma, a virtuous young woman turned into a heroine, while my grandpa Luohan, a long-time employee in my family, faithfully guarding the mule, was cut to pieces alive by the threat of Japanese soldiers. In order to defend, people had a great changes in such aspects as words, behavior, ethics, temperament, which are the alienation developing passively with the war environmental changes, full of justice. The people are comfortable in their heart.The people in Soldiers Alive also had a calm and orderly life, but they were forced to participate in the so-called holy war. Kondou, a lance corporal, a former medical graduate, with the first duty of healing the wounded and rescuing the dying became a brutal soldier lost his conscience. Katayama, a monk accompanying the army to turn undead, became a brutal soldier enjoying killing on the battlefield. Hirao, another lance corporal, a former newspaper proofreader, a well-educated youth full of romantic thoughts, became a brutal soldier without any love. Kurata, a captain, a former teacher in elementary school, always thinking about his students became an insensitive killer. Their alienation also passively had been changed with the war environment, full of unjust. Their inner world is full of distorted pain and absurd cruelty.The portraits of the alienation in Red sorghum and Soldiers Alive are caused by the war environment, moral standards and personal temperament. The very different portraits of alienation in both novels are worth reflecting, and people need to cherish peace and against war of aggression.