Harp of Burma Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Harp of Burma - Essay Example This position regarding the message of the book is accentuated by the author’s opinion that the war was unjustified and that the Japanese soldiers ought to have absconded the war. This position infers that the tone of the literature discouraged the active involvement of the Japanese soldiers in the war. Published in 1948, the book was later translated from Japanese language to English by Howard Hibbert. The title of the book was not just a convoluted idea, it stems from the fact that the Japanese soldiers engaged in the war were encouraged to sing as a way of boosting their confidence e and morale to emerge victors in the fight. Amidst this was a soldier who use to play Harp for other solders in the same spirit of building confidence and the zeal to vigorously fight. This book is also directed as a film. The central theme discussed and that can be inferred after reading the book is the need to avoid war confrontation and instead opt for peace. The literature in the book recounts how the Japanese soldiers were killed in thousand and the bodies decomposing in the jungle. It shows how Japan’s involvement in the war made any other agenda for the country lag behind in the interest of pursuing war. Japan, Italy, and Germany were skewed on one side forming one axis against the British and her allies on the other side. Japan and the allies in the war were trounced and in this book, the Japanese soldiers captured by the British were told to inform the rest that the war has ended and one of the soldiers who happen to be playing the Harp volunteer to dutifully undertake to the responsibility (Takeyama, 46). He left the rest of the solders to pursue other in the effort to deliver them the message. In the jungle, he is surprised to find most of his colleagues killed in millions that he co uld not even make arrangements to bury them as he initially wished. The soldier is taken aback by