Tones of War

The authors Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, and Ambrose Bierce all wrote about war. Each author had a distinct impression about the experience of war, and attempted to portray that impression to the readers of their works. While all of the authors relinquish a sense of great irony, and compel the readers to feel compassionate for the victims of war, their methods vary slightly. Whitman mostly used the viewpoint of an unwilling participant, Twain usually used religious atmospheres, and Crane used the viewpoint of a dying soldier.
Whitman writes about a man attending wounded soldiers in "The Wound-Dresser". The overall tone of the work is "sweet and sad" (Whitman 97). In the beginning, the reader is led to feel compassion toward the man because he is resigned "...to sit by the wounded and soothe them, or silently watch the dead..." (Whitman 97). It is then easy for the reader to become excited when reading that the man views himself as a hero, "In the nick of time I come, plung...