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Depicting War

The deafening noise rang across the garden. The memorial had a grand aura around it, making it seem untouchable. Looking at it with the carefully thought out shapes and colors, the hidden meaning within every inch of it's being re-assured the mourners while reminding others of the horrors of war. The names of the people lost to war along with the images of battlefields made the hearts of countless people heavier.
Memorials have a way of helping people connect with circumstances that they wouldn't be able to understand had they not been there themselves. Memorials help 'close one of the most important gaps separating the experience of soldiers and civilians'(Allyson Booth). 

The designers for memorials make sure to include aspects from the war, mimicking the geography of the region, using phrases that were common on the front lines, using symbols to celebrate the soldiers and locations that help serve as a reminder for the future generations, but also taking into account the need for some quiet peace.  The elaborate arches help in the acknowledgement of the dead, while the simple pillars help show the unyielding faith of some of the soldiers, the pure white structures showing purity after death, while the powerful black showed the power of the fallen armies.

So to recap, memorials are important not only because of what they represent, but also because of what they aim at achieving. Memorials help wounded family achieve the closure of unfound loved ones, they help veterans achieve a sense of peace, and finally they help a country heal.



Comments

  1. Sneha Dinda8 September 2019 at 20:01

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    1. Sneha Dinda8 September 2019 at 20:02

      Hey Saumyaa! I love how you created a situation of visiting a memorial for your introduction to your blog post. Your use of imagery and other sensory details made it such a great hook into the rest of your post. I love how you didn't talk about any specific memorial because it allowed you to discuss overarching symbols found in many memorials. I absolutely agree that memorials play a key role on giving family members closure over unfound loved ones. I know from experience that it's hard to not leave a memorial with a heavy heart when you remember who and what event the memorial is built for.

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