Critique of Three Soldiers by John Dos Passos

Throughout his novel, Three Soldiers, John Dos Passos chronicled the war experiences of three American soldiers: Dan Fuselli, Chirsfield, and John Andrews. During WWI, Dos Passos served as an ambulance driver. Although his novel is a work of fiction, the events and stories throughout were apparently modeled after his actual experiences. The validity of Three Soldiers as a portrait of the American war experience, however, is minimal because of its narrow scope that largely focused on one man’s disdain for the army and the war. Although, I found some aspects of the novel to be realities, the plot overall incorporated three recurring themes that compromised its legitimacy with overly dramatic and political attempts to make a point and draw sympathies from the readers. Unfortunately, Dos Passos failed, as I was unable to feel a connection with any of the three men. In fact, Dos Passos’ portrayal of these men reflected negative political propaganda that ultimately led me to doubt and criticize the entirety of his work, despite some probable truths in each of the men’s experiences.

The first theme Dos Passos integrated in Three Soldiers was the boredom the men faced during their service, which was filled with much time spent drinking and looking for women. It seemed as though the three men spent more time out on the towns drinking and chasing women, than they did fighting a war. In fact, Dos Passos spent surprising little time describing the action the men witnessed. WWI was the most horrific and destructive war in history, yet Dos Passos spent the majority of his book describing the American war experience as mindless, dirty tasks and constant drilling, followed by drunken nights. At one time, Chrisfied complained with, “‘but all we do is drill and have grenade practice an’ drill again and then have bayonet practice an’ drill again’” (116). Even though it took time for the men to get to the front, they eventually saw action and undoubtedly saw some of the...