The Art of War (Writing)

War has been a part of life, and therefore literature, since the beginning of man kind. The glory, horror, and effects of war have all been recounted in thousands of different pieces of literature. Sophocles and Muriel Spark are among those brave authors who have attempted to explain and interpret war. Their literary pieces "Antigone" and "The First Year of My Life" both equip characters who are directly affected by war, but in very different ways. One of the most important similarities between their two styles is that they both talk about the important effects of war on families. In "Antigone", the main conflict is an effect of the horrible war between the two brothers Polyneices and Eteocles. While they both fought in the same war, one was honored while the other was doomed to humiliation in death. The injustice of this is pointed out by Antigone, but Creon insists that Eteocles was a traitor deserving such treatment. Even after the war, the family is troubled by the conflict, and experiences three more deaths as a result of the unresolved conflict. Spark also talks about the effect of war on family in her piece. In "The First Year of My Life", Spark describes the women as being dressed in black and mourning for their dead sons and husbands. However, Spark makes more of an effort to focus on everyone, including the family, soldiers, political leaders, and artists instead of just focusing on the family/political leaders. While this takes away some of the emotion that is expressed in Sophocles' writing, it also adds a sense of greater impact that is not necessarily apparent in Sophocles' writing. Another important difference is the glorification of war present in Sophocles' play that is absent in Spark's writing. In "Antigone", the chorus is disapproving of Eteocles' betrayal and starting of the war, but they also celebrate his defeat. The chorus refers to this by saying that "Great-named Victory comes to us answering Thebe's warrior joy" (Sophocles 1.148). This isn't to say that Sophocles likes war (he makes it clear that the Thebians would have preferred no war), but that the victory of war is portrayed as heroic and celebratory. Sparks, on the other hand, is completely unimpressed by the ceaseless killing of people in the war, and thinks that people are foolish to celebrate a "victory" at the end of war. This is evident by the fact that her infant character smiles at the foolishness of Asquith referring to the end of the war as "this great cleansing and purging." While both of these writers acknowledge the effect of war on families, and express a wish for wars not to start, Sparks has a much wider picture of the effects and expresses clear contempt for the end of war being called "victory". Sophocles may be fascinated by the shiny armor on brothers and victory sacrifices, but Sparks is dedicated to the universal effect and distaste of war.