Into the Valley of Death Andrew Schultz

     I am amazed by both Homer's The Iliad and Junger's Into the Valley of Death as descriptions of war in both modern and ancient times.  There are plenty of similarities that can be found in both depictions.  The amount of detail used is one of them.  The imagery that both of these include is nothing short of astounding.  While reading both of them I could easily paint a picture in my mind about what is happening.  Both Homer and Junger use an excellent array of sensory diction to show how gruesome war is through descriptions of fighting and death.  In both works the authors show how soldiers take care of each other and the wounded.  Soldiers take a huge interest in protecting their men and the bodies of the dead.  Junger and Homer also were great at displaying the fear of the soldiers in both situations.  The Americans were afraid of being attacked daily in one of the most dangerous places on Earth.  Homer shows how both the Greeks and Trojans were fearful that they would be slain by the other side.  Both authors truly depict an extremely frightening scene in both works.
     I feel that these articles are also very different in how they are written.  Although both illustrate a disgusting and scary war, it is hard to tell if one is more frightening than the other.  Homer is able to portray the deaths of others with extreme detail in how soldiers were mutilated with arrows, spears, and swords.  Junger shows the huge numbers of soldiers that get mowed down with machine guns in his article.  It is frightening in both cases but it is interesting how each author makes the point.  This is a very morbid point I am about to make in my opinion but it is the only way I can think of to say it.  Homer shows death through quality while Junger shows the huge quantity of deaths that machine guns cause.  Both are extremely hair raising in how they show the deaths of soldiers but in my opinion Junger does a better job establishing the fear of the soldiers.  I feel afraid just reading the article.  This might have to do with the fact that I am an American but either way Junger did a great job enforcing the idea that war is a truly terrible scene.