Analysis of The Article "Faces of War" by Caroline Alexander

During the reading, the primary purpose of the article “Faces of War,” by Caroline Alexander focuses on the devastating events that the Great War had caused. We see when the world entered into the 20th century we also came into a new type of age of war. As technology was drastically increasing many countries had evolved into new forms of weapons and tactics for fighting. These technological advances allowed many of the already developed countries to be more inefficient in battle. Such battles led to lots of chaos and destruction in the world. But what stood out after the war was how the soldiers were traumatized by their experience and overall outlook on themselves.

The question that the author is addressing is how out of all the dreadful after war life experiences that the soldiers had to endure Alexander focuses on the how the soldiers had to live life with special maks to cover the flat wounds on their faces because of the war. And while I read this article, I came to feel very sorry for the soldiers that had to go to the war and come back alive only to suffer more because of the injuries that they came back with. But as technology improved guns it also enhanced medicine which allowed surgeons to provide the service of plastic surgery and give the soldiers who had severe injuries in their faces a new face that meant to match their original face identically. And of these surgeons that stood out to me was Sir Harold Gillies because of how he stood out to me in the way that he helped in the of developing such a process like plastic surgery for the men who came with wounded faces out of the war. Gillies was very interested in his work in that he wanted the men to look at their usual self again. Gillies went on to state “men without noses are very beautiful, like antique marbles” (Alexander). And what I noticed was that Gillies felt that such soldiers affected by such a tragedy were seen as unique in a way because of they resembled antique marbles. I feel like this made a good impact on the soldiers as they were already suffering from being traumatized by the war.

The most critical information in this article is how the technique of making masks for the soldiers was improving as more soldiers would need the use of a mask. And this is where I feel like Francis Derwent Wood; a sculptor played a major in contributing his ideas and establishing his views upon the conflict of the situation. As a sculptor and the skills he possessed, he helped in sculpting and giving ideas to the surgeons that would also help in the process. He also established a mask making unit which was recognized by an article called The Lancet. But we see the central assumptions underlying the author’s thinking were how such an expansion to the process of helping the wounded soldiers look like themselves again was growing. And it was important that these men would look like themselves again. And the main reason why Alexander mentions this is because the people that received such treatment were in a way berated themselves that they felt hideous to others around them. Alexander goes to say “The psychological effect on a man who must go through life, an object of horror to himself as well as to others, is beyond description,” wrote Dr. Albee. ”...It is a fairly common experience for the maladjusted person to feel like a stranger to his world. It must be unmitigated hell to feel like a stranger to yourself” (Alexander). The men that that were lucky to come back alive felt that they were unwanted by society. They were unhappy with themselves and wanted to be seen the same as regular people. And what I noticed was that it was mostly themselves who believed they weren’t wanted. This conflict was also another problem were after they came back from the war they were very traumatized which also didn’t help in the situation. In a way, these people were fighting a war in their mind which was affecting them in the real world.

The fundamental idea we need to understand in this article was how surgeons and sculptors were trying to improve their ways was to serve the soldiers need in the best possible way. We see it’s obvious to say that it was difficult to serve such needs for the men that were receiving the operation because of how getting their correct skin color was complicated. But with such an increase in the effort to bring this process up, it helped both sides in the process of everything. Alexander then began to mention how the method of the operation was more successful at how many studios were already producing a high number of masks. If we are to take this line of reasoning seriously, the implications are how these masks gave these survivors some sense back to them in the way that it helped them gain some self-esteem that some even wore the same mask for a long time yet though some mask were getting worn out. This example showed how much these people depended on their masks and also how much they depended on the makers to improve on them as time went on. These masks were pretty much all the soldiers had left in helping them look like themselves again. And going back to the names that I mentioned from the article as well as the science that enabled we see that all these things together made it possible for the results like the masks at that time be doable.

Going back to the lessons of Armesto we see that most of the readings consisted of industrialization growing across the world. And this advancement in technology has helped in such a growth of the world. I also come to realize once again how sometimes people’s ideas end up benefitting the world. And regardless if it has done well for countries that hate each other or don’t get along people we see it has been a blessing to all. Many things have not been such a gentle process in how they have worked out, but in overall it has done well for many. And from my experience, such a topic like this is something that’s not talked about in specific subjects, but in this case, I feel like it’s appropriate because of how different people from different nations have willing came up with the idea that has profited us all in the process. In this circumstance, the poor soldiers that likely had to live their entire lives injured in some way would have such a benefit at that time that wasn't around centuries ago. As we go more into the present, I believe we will only continue to keep improving in conventional technology and do more things that couldn’t have been done in the past.