Реферат: The Struggles Of Life Essay Research Paper
struggle with everyday life in the large city of Toronto. Minna witnesses horrific sights on
Queen Street:
… with all its resident rubbies and gentle crazies,
dressed in all weathers in their summer coats ….
….. and their eyes as crafty and innocent all
at once as the eyes of bears…. (Stones 11)
Minna Joyce experiences the harsh reality of individuals who have nothing, and are forced to
live on the streets of downtown Toronto. Minna was brought up in an area of the city inhabited
by many homeless people, or?artists?as she calls them, a little less horrifying. The thought of
having to watch the people suffer is horrifying to her. The war of life is apparent in the
challenges that both Minna and Robert are faced with in their lives. One of the most notable
events which Robert faces is trench warfare during the First World War. After being sent away
with a small battalion to begin the digging of another trench, Robert comes back to the front to
find the trench destroyed and his comrades dead.
When they made their way back through the trench
there was nothing left alive. They had all been
gassed or had frozen to death. Those who lay in
water were profiled in ice. Everything was green:
their faces ? and their fingers ? and their buttons and
the snow. (The Wars 146)
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In this situation, Robert witnesses many of the horrific ways in which soldiers were killed during
the First World War. Snow and the bitterly cold weather attributed to many Canadian soldiers?
deaths during World War One, and nearly one thousand men died from frost bite alone. The
sight of his friends frozen dead in the water is terrifying, and to look down and see another
soldier in the ice with his entire body green is a gruesome image. One of the most popular and
deadly tactics used by the Germans during World War One was chlorine gas, which Robert was
lucky to survive. He is subjected to the poison when it was sent up into the atmosphere which
produced huge masses of chlorine gas clouds. These clouds made their way across ?no man?s