English >The Theme of Death in Modern Novels: Comparing deaths in War, Eveline, Wine on the Desert and There Will Come Soft Rains

Death is the end of life. Life is given to us when we are born and is taken away naturally or by force. Our actions, behaviors, accomplishments, battles, morals and social graces all define our individual lives. The moment we die, death brings us to nothingness and only people who knew us can remember us and we can live in their memories. Life can be taken away from us in many ways; in our stories “War, Eveline, Wine on the Desert and There Will Come Soft Rainds” our characters die in sacrificing their lives for their country, in illness, in thirst and in atomic explosion.

In “War” one of the father talks about his lost son and how the act of offering his life for his country is the most satisfying and glorifying way to die. In “Eveline” on the other hand, Eveline pities her mother’s death and life of commonplace sacrifices. In “War” the fat traveler talks about his son’s death as a heroic act and as a fulfillment of his desires to save his country, which he loves so much. “And our sons go, when they are twenty, and they don’t want tears, because if they die, they die inflamed and happy” (Pirandello) He tells all the other travelers on the train that they should think of their son’s possible death as he is. “Now, if one dies young and happy without having the ugly sides of life, the boredom of it, the pettiness, the bitterness of disillusion … what more can we ask for him?” (Pirandello) The fat traveler also tells the other parents to stop pitying themselves because their son’s death and they should be happy and satisfied because their son will be happy to sacrifice his life for their country. The fat man defined his son as a hero whose act was an example to follow and makes all the other parents feel ashamed, because they pitied themselves. “But now the words of the traveler amazed and almost stunned her. She suddenly realized that it wasn’t the others who were wrong and who could not understand her but herself who could not rise up to the same height of those fathers and mothers willing to resign themselves, without crying, not only to the departure of their sons but even to their death” (Pirandello). The high-spirited speech of the fat man uplifted everyone when he talked about his son’s death.

In “Eveline” it is very different how the mother dies and how Eveline thinks of his mother’s life and death than the fat traveler’s son’s death. In the story the mother dies in illness and Eveline sadly recalls her memory of that night. The loss of the mother brought sadness and pain into the family and unfortunately made their hard life even more difficult. Eveline’s family was one of many working class families in Ireland. They were very poor and they lived a very plain life. Eveline was dreaming of a better life than her mother had. “People would treat her with respect then. She would not be treated as her mother had been” (Joyce). In difference with the fat man who glorified his son’s death, Eveline pitied her mother’s life and she got scared when she realized that if she stays in Ireland her life will be the same as her mother’s was. Her mother was a simple woman who wasn’t treated with respect and she died in insanity when she was talking in Gaelic. She thought of her mother’s life as a cliché, something too simple for her. “As she mused the pitiful vision of her mother’s life laid its spell on the very quick of her being-that life of commonplace sacrifices closing in final craziness” (Joyce). She experiences terror at what she perceives as her fate if she remains in Ireland. Unlike in “War” Eveline’s mother’s death was not glorified. Although she made sacrifice for her family it was a commonplace sacrifice and she wasn’t a hero to her family, but somebody to feel sorry for and never follow her example.

There are many similarities in death between the stories of “Wine on the Desert” and “There Will Come Soft Rains.” In “Wine on the Desert” the writer describes how Tony’s father dies of thirst in the desert, how Durante kills the vineyard and how Durante dies from the wine. Similarly in “There Will Come Soft Rains” the author describes how their dog and house died.

In “Wine on the Desert” Tony’s father died of thirst in the desert not far away from the oasis. Tony told Durante that people die only one way in the desert when they are looking for water. He described that they get undressed to be cooler and then the sun burns their skin and when they start digging with their fingers for water they get sand in their nose and they die with a screaming face. The writer doesn’t go into details how Durante dies; he just refers to it and we can imagine that he will die the same way as Tony’s father did. Similarly in “There Will Come Soft Rains” when we read the death of the dog who suffers from radioactivity we can imagine how his owners suffered when they got burned. “The dog padded in wearily, thinned to the bone, covered with sores” (Bradbury).

There is a similarity between how the vineyard in “Wine on the Desert” died and how the house in “There Will Come Soft Rains” died. The vineyard was very special to Tony. “….every vine was to Tony like a human life” (Brand). When Durante shot the tanks and all the water leaked out he knew that he will kill the vineyard. The vines were about to dry out and die. The house in “There Will Come Soft Rains” was just like the oasis in the middle of the desert. This modern house was the only one that was still standing after the bomb explosion. The house was pretty much alive, just like the oasis. It was running on its own until a tree broke the kitchen window and caused fire and all the water and the energy run out and the house died. We can imagine that the oasis without water will eventually die too.

Once again there is also a similarity between the dog’s death and how Durante died at the end of the story. I already described the similarities between the dog’s death and Tony’s father’s death and Durante’s death is also similar with a little difference. The dog after he dies is cleaned up by robotic mice. “Delicately sensing decay, the regiments of mice hummed out of the walls, soft as blown leaves, their electric eyes glowing” (Bradbury). Durante’s dead body was also a target. “Even through that thundering confusion the big birds with naked heads and red, raw necks found their way down to one place in the Apache Desert” (Brand).

Death becomes the last chapter of our lives. The stories we read show how people’s life can be taken away. The most glorified way to die is when you sacrifice your life for something or somebody, like the fat traveler’s son sacrificed his life for his country. In opposite of glorified death you can die of illness, like Eveline’s mother and have your life and death viewed pathetic. Your death can be cruel just like Tony’s father’s, Durante’s, the family’s and the dog’s. If I could choose how I want my life to be taken away from me, I would choose the glorifying way. In my final chapter I would rise above all and die for my country and for my loved ones. I would become a heroine and my name would be mentioned among people, it would be written in books to inspire others and my memory would live forever.