Discuss how Ernest Hemmingway and Louis De Bernieres present the effects of war on the individual in 'A Farewell to Arms' and 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin.'
             Although some critics disapprove of De Bernieres' portrayal of life in Greece during world war two(1), in particular his depiction of the Germans, there is no doubt that he succeeds in bringing to life the hideous and brutal world that he sets out to create,
             'They fell to their knees, their hands flailing....their mouths filling with the dry and dusty tang of blood.'
             This vivid and horrific description of Italians being lined up and shot by the Germans causes the picture, as one critic said 'to rush into reality, colours and touch and taste.'(2) Compare this to an almost identical scene in 'A Farewell to Arms' and we can automatically see that these writers have set out to depict war and the people involved in the war in very different ways,
             'We stood in the rain and were taken out one at a time to be questioned and shot.'
             Hemmingway's simplistic style has the effect of creating a very poignant and isolated scene, De Bernieres however achieves this poignancy with intense description and realism. This contrasting description seems to be the major differing aspect of the two books. Hemmingway chooses an uncomplicated, clearly stated approach, De Bernieres a more concentrated and extreme one. There is no doubt that the reader is pulled into the picture that De Bernieres paints, and in particular into the lives of his characters. The reader sees Pelagia and her father attempting to continue their normal lives in their native environment,
             'the fact is, I am sorry to say, and with great regret, that...we shall be obliged to billet an officer on these premises.'
             De Bernieres shows how the war invades their private, home life, something that we do not see in 'A Farewell to Arms&ap...