Three Soldiers by John Dos Passos
"Three Soldiers" by John Dos Passos is a novel that explores the harsh realities of World War I through the experiences of three distinct characters: Andrews, Chrisfield, and Fuselli. Written by a veteran who served in the war, the narrative critiques the romanticized notions of military service, highlighting the psychological and moral complexities faced by soldiers. Fuselli, a Californian eager for combat yet fearful of the war, represents those who ignore the darker aspects of military life, while Chrisfield, a farm-raised young man, becomes consumed by a desire for vengeance, illustrating how war distorts moral judgments about killing. Andrews, a Harvard graduate, serves as a more intellectual perspective, questioning the Army's motives and ultimately deserting after a wounding. The novel is notable for its antiwar sentiment, emerging shortly after the war, and presents a multi-faceted view that gives voice to various soldier experiences. Through these characters, Dos Passos offers a critical examination of the glorified narrative surrounding military conflict, influencing future antiwar literature. "Three Soldiers" is thus recognized as an important work that challenges contemporary attitudes towards war and sets a precedent for later writers tackling similar themes.
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Three Soldiers by John Dos Passos
Identification: Novel about the experiences of three U.S. soldiers in World War I
Author: John Dos Passos
Date: 1921
One of many literary works of the 1920s to focus on World War I, Three Soldiers critiques attitudes surrounding the war, particularly the romanticized view of military service. In calling attention to the ugliness of war, novelist and veteran John Dos Passos paved the way for a generation of antiwar novelists.
John Dos Passos served in World War I initially as an ambulance driver and then as a member of the U.S. Army Medical Corps. His wartime experiences helped inform his second novel, Three Soldiers. True to its title, the novel tells of three very different soldiers serving in France during World War I: Andrews, Chrisfield, and Fuselli.
Fuselli, a Californian and the son of Italian immigrants, is a member of the Medical Corps. He is eager to see combat but also frightened of the war. Fuselli is determined to become a corporal and ignores the complaints of his comrades, some of whom are budding socialists and believe that enlistment is tantamount to slavery. Like many of the Americans Dos Passos critiques, Fuselli largely ignores the dark side of the war and only focuses on the aspects that are positive for him.
Chrisfield, a young man raised on a farm in Indiana, becomes obsessed with taking vengeance against an officer named Anderson, who belittles him. When he eventually encounters a wounded Anderson after an engagement, he kills him with a grenade. Chrisfield’s story calls attention to the way in which war causes people to classify some killing as permissible and justified, while other killing remains wrong.
Andrews, a Harvard graduate from Virginia, is the foremost of the novel’s three main characters, the closest to representing the voice of Dos Passos himself. He is more intellectually detached than either of the other main characters, questioning the Army’s motives and accomplishments. After being wounded, he eventually deserts the Army and attempts to live in France. He meets a young woman named Geneviève, works on composing a musical piece titled “The Soul and Body of John Brown,” after the martyred abolitionist, and in the end is captured.
Impact
Published only a few years after the end of World War I, Three Soldiers was one of the first novels to challenge the prevailing attitudes of the war years. By confronting those who romanticized the war and presenting the war through multiple perspectives, Dos Passos developed a thematic and narrative template for many chroniclers of World War I and later wars.
Bibliography
Cooperman, Stanley. “John Dos Passos’ Three Soldiers: Aesthetics and the Doom of Individualism.” In The First World War in Fiction: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Holger Klein. London: Macmillan, 1976.
Stolz, Claudia Matherly. “Dos Passos’s Three Soldiers: a Case Study.” West Virginia University Philological Papers 51, no. 3 (Fall, 2004): 77–84.
Wagner-Martin, Linda. Dos Passos: Artist as American. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1979.