Writing Assignment Guidelines – Art, Expression, and the Great War
The Assignment:

In the aftermath of the Great War the world changed in extremely dramatic ways. For example, the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote which changed the role of women; the “Great Migration” and Harlem Renaissance changed the lives of African-Americans; the advent of radio and the growth of Hollywood shrank the country; and the birth of the age of the automobile made people more mobile and freer. Your weekly textbook reading will detail these changes and others during the 1920s and examine their effect on society, while this week’s writing assignment will look at the effect of WWI on individuals and society.

While the world changed around them, many individuals and cultures were trying to make sense of the pain, suffering, death and destruction wrought by the years of war. Many soldiers expressed themselves during and after the war through poetry, literature, art, and sculpture, and many societies expressed their grief in small and large memorials and cemeteries. The primary sources are a collection of several poems, excerpts from literature, and images of works of art and memorials. Read the words and view the images, then write a response paper based on the questions below!

The Essay:

Read the documents, look at the works of art and examine the memorials, do some research in academic journals and/or the textbook and the documentaries and analyze what the artist expressions of British, German, French and American soldiers represent about the war to the world and future generations. Discuss the nature, the impact, and the legacy of the Great War on individuals, societies, and humanity following the format laid out below. End your essay by answering the question: If you had to sum up the impact of the Great War in one word, what would that word be and why?

Section I – Introduction: Introduce the reader to the global dynamics leading up to the Great War and briefly examine the causes and early phases of the war. As importantly, introduce the reader to your assertions about the impact and legacy of the war.

Section II – Analyze the impact of the war on individuals. Examine for the reader the everyday lives of the soldiers on the front. Use the primary sources and consider questions such as: What do the written words tell us about the experiences of these soldiers? How do the works of art express what the soldiers experienced during the war and how they are dealing with, or not dealing with, that experience? What differences can you see between the European and American perspectives on the war? How do these men view the war and their role therein?

Section III – Examine the lasting remembrances of the war. Define for the reader how individuals and societies have chosen to commemorate and remember the loss and destruction of WWI and explain to the reader what that remembrance tells us about the impact of the war on those individuals and societies. Explore how remembrance varies from nation to nation and the reasons for that variation.

Section IV – Define the lasting legacy of the war. Explain to the reader the most important and lasting legacies of the war. Examine the war’s impact on 20th century politics and economics, its impact on peoples and societies, and its impact on nations and governments.

Section V – Conclusion: Conclude your essay by summing up for the reader the role of World War I in the ultimate creation of the 20th century world. End your essay by answering the question: If you had to sum up the impact of the Great War in one word, what would that word be and why?