Given the many historical events of our time, there is no pretense that humanity has abandoned its dependence on war. The controversy, however, lies in whether this dependence can be called glorious. Those who wish to label it that need only look to "the world's greatest war novel," Homer's The Iliad, in which war creates heroes from men on both sides of the field. of battle. It is fought nobly and courageously and immortalizes, through songs and stories, as Homer himself did, the champions of one or another army. Proponents of the opposing view would instead cite Ishmael Beah's autobiography, A Long Way Gone, in which the war is seen through the eyes of a twelve-year-old child who bears witness to the horrific destruction of his family. Eventually conscripted as a child soldier and forced to live by the mentally scarring doctrine of “kill or be killed,” the theme is one not to be missed. Through each author's use of diction and content, both stories present compelling grounds for either claim. In The Iliad, the glory of war is established through artistic words, inspiring speeches and...