The Home Front

When a country is in total war and its people feel obligated to assist the war effort, the wide view of nationalism forces the individual to make sacrifices. Evelyn Blucher clearly illustrates how the military is drawing on "luxuries" of everyday life so that their resources can be pooled for the war. The church bell, an object that obviously carried a lot of meaning for the people of the town, was taken away, subjected the townspeople to grief so that the government was able to more effectively use their funds. In this way, the war becomes not just a distant threat but something that people of all aware of because of the things that they are forced to give up. In addition, Evelyn Blucher's vivid descriptions of the dearth of food and lack of lighting convey the pains of a nation at war. With these rations, the government is essentially limiting distribution so that the army has a better chance. This looks great when you look at the nation as a whole, when people are pushed to support the singular, nationalistic goal of the country, but when you take a closer look at this detrimental effects to each individual, nationalism seems like it does more harm than it helps. People are drawn away from their normal lives so that they can do everything in their power to support the nation. They have to put up with a worse standard of living. In the context of the Great War, the patriotism of different countries towards the war effort could not exist without a huge amount of sacrifice from the people who were living within those countries.