The Children’s Campaign Summary

          An abundance of absurd humor and ironic truths can be found in “The Children’s Campaign”.  Satiric elements such as these are used to criticize people’s unawareness of the young age of soldiers. The author discussed small children killing in war to arouse a feeling of pity for the children. “The Children’s Campaign” subliminally compares six year-old children with the eight-teen year-olds fighting in wars today. Par Lagerkvist wanted people to realize that sending eight-teen year-old soldiers was not much different than sending eight year-old children to war. The questions, “Why is it not acceptable for ten year-olds to die in war and it is acceptable for eight-teen year-olds to die?” and “Why is the life of a child more important than the life of someone only 5 years older?” are essentially begged throughout the short story. The appalling thought of children killing is supposed to make people realize what is happening today is eerily similar with our young troops. Par Lagerkvist believes that teenager’s minds are not ready for the mental stress of war; like the mind of a child.