“Mr. President, I am writing you a letter

which maybe you’ll read if you have the time.

I have just received my army recruitment papers

to report for duty in the war*by Wednesday evening.

Mr. President, I do not want to do that;

I was not put on this earth to kill wretched people living far away.

I must tell you—it’s not to make you mad—

but I’ve made my decision: I am going to desert....

I will hit the road and beg for my life

all over France—and I will call out to the people:

‘Refuse to obey! Refuse to do it!

Don’t go to fight in the war! Just say no!’

If someone’s blood must be shed,

Then shed yours, Mr. President! Lead by example!

And if you decide to hunt me down, warn your police

that I will be unarmed, and that they can go ahead and shoot.”

*a reference to the war in French Vietnam

~Boris Vian, French poet, “The Deserter,” 1954

Which of the following aspects of the political context of the 1950s best explains the author’s view of colonial wars expressed in the poem?



a
The intensification of anticommunist sentiment in the context of the Cold War
b
The beginning of European economic and political integration
c
The influence of United States mass media
d
The memory of the destructive total wars of the early twentieth century