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Slavery In The Things They Carried Essay

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I believe that Slavery is the act of being trapped without any fundamental freedom, or that is what I would have said a few months ago. Subsequently, after engaging numerous discussions and cultivating a sizable collection of poems and excerpts, I have vastly broadened my definition of slavery. With my new understanding, I have found slavery to be the general occurrence of sadness through control of oneself by another entity, including themselves, in a manner that causes a negative effect on the individual that is being controlled.Thus, slavery is the condition of displeasure through domination.
In the beginning of my reading, my original explanation of slavery stood unchallenged as the first two excerpts I read had not been unknown to me. However, “The Things They Carried” really opened my eyes to the extent that slavery could reach. Young men were shoved into a war they were not prepared for:”Ted …show more content…

The men who operated the ball turret were trapped inside and their life was basically controlled by the man operating the plane:”Six miles from earth, loosed from the dream of life”(Jarrell). Not only was the ball turret gunners trapped, with only thin glass surrounding them, they could not escape from enemy fire and essentially the ball turret became a coffin for them. Another poem that had a similar message was “The Jobholder”, this poem discussed the life of a man who has enslaved himself by having to work every day and live a life that is so dull and boring that he looks forward to death without sorrow:”and wait for my turn to die.”(Ignatow). This poem broadened my understanding of slavery in a much deeper way than the other poems because of the simplicity of the situation, he is not risking his life like many of the other characters, yet he is still experiencing his own form of

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