Things They Carried

After Henry’s father has an almost fatal stroke, he says, “Deui mh jyui,” which means “I am unable to face.” His father’s response was “Saang jan.” It means “stranger,” as in “You are a stranger to me.” Henry’s father still refuses to talk to him and continues to be very weak for the next two years. In that time, Henry goes to visit Keiko one last time because she moves to a different camp farther away. When Henry comes home, he finds his father dying and as he takes his last breath he says “Wo wei ni zuo,” I did it for

Luis Valdez in the play “The Buck Private”, the death of young men and their innocence in the Vietnam War. Valdez supports his claims by illustrating Johnny the protagonist, he joined the army because he wanted the respect and honor it gives. Valdez wants to inform young people the dangers and horrors of the Vietnam war in order to save young people's lives. Valdez writes in an informal tone for young people so they can make the right choice for their lives other than joining the army. Johnny’s a tragic hero because he strives to be a good person and to help others in need; Johnny enlisted in the Vietnam war to “better” his life.

In the novel Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers, the main character is Richard Perry. In the beginning of this book, Richard was a generous and eager to start as a soldier in the Vietnam War. He soon becomes responsible and understanding of what it is like to be a black soldier in the war and how hard it can be to the other soldiers. Near the end, Richard becomes powerful and alerted near the end of the book. This character clearly relates to the theme of the book, which is age and race can impact somebody’s life a lot.

The author, Joseph Heller, creates the character of Yossarian as a way to express his true beliefs of what heroism is. The book Catch-22 has impacted many people with how it refers to war and the way the soldiers fought and survived it. Joseph Heller created a new way of how to view the war and how most of the soldiers felt through it at that time. The approach that Heller took towards the meaning of war and what truly happens in it was formed when he himself served. Today, some soldiers still have that feeling, but not quite as strong as back then.

The Changes of the Western Front War, irrefutably, changes the mentality and ableness of a person beyond recognition. Through the hardships recruits and veterans face on the front lines, many come back as different people. Through their experiences, they take back gruesome images, and traumatic experiences. Many do not even return from the battlefield. German casualties in World War I were around “1.7 to 2 million”, and about “65% of all mobilized men were casualties” (Rabideau 1), many of whom were young recruits enlisted straight out of school.

For example, he uses vivid imagery to create a polar distinction between the two killers with the intent of juxtaposing the men to learn their true natures. The language Capote uses also plays an important role in his transmittance of his feelings towards the situation, expressing simultaneous moods of forlornness and understanding. Additionally, Capote cleverly crafts his sentences and phrases in such ways to accurately communicate how he feels about both Perry Smith and the execution of the convicts for their crime, and applies this structuring to the entire work to convey the same feelings. Although he primarily writes the work as non-fiction, Truman Capote embeds his tone of somber compassion towards the events of In Cold Blood through his use of tonal elements. Through his vivid descriptions and figurative language, Capote aims to provide some depth to the personalities of both Dick Hickock and Perry Smith to introduce his mood about the two.

Joby will be forever remembered because he was the beat of the army and the drummer boy of one of the bloodiest wars in history. If he would beat slow then the army would be slow and if he would beat fast then the army would be fast. The general was another important part of the Battle of Shiloh. The general made soldiers and Joby feel good about themselves and the war. The Battle of Shiloh was the most important part of history at the time.

Compare and Contrast- Soldier’s Heart and Red Badge of Courage Charlie and Henry are the main characters in the book Soldier’s Heart and Red Badge of Courage. Both Charlie and Henry, were very young war men, and struggled a lot during the war, both fought with the struggle of wanting to back out of the war, and having the fear of being killed. Many actions and words in Soldier’s Heart and Red Badge of Courage show that there are many differences. Soldier’s Heart and Red Badge of Courage have many differences. At the beginning of Soldier’s Heart, Charley was really excited to go off to war, He was excited for all the “fame” and attention he would be receiving from everyone around him.

First, The time period being during the civil war helps that setting because a war is taking place. The historical context can be believable and accurate since the author has experienced war first hand. Also, the emotional state of the main character, is important, because there wouldn’t be much of a story without that allusion and surprise ending. The text is important because reality and illusion operate side by side in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” and until the end of the story, the reader isn’t aware of any division between them. Farquhar’s illusion is, for us as readers, reality.

Nick Carraway, the protagonist in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, often functions as the guardian of the inconspicuous curtain between fantasy and reality, leaving his readers to test the validity and accuracy of his character in several situations. Delving into Nick’s complex character, it can be easily deduced that Nick withholds certain aspects of the story to shroud the reality in a cloak of mystery; however, he is also hasty in jumping to conclusions, thus emphasizing his unreliability. To begin, Nick embodies a unique role in The Great Gatsby because he is both a narrator and participant which inclines him to tell incomplete stories. For example, “Nick’s first meeting with Gatsby mixes reality with fantasy-- for Nick as well as

Erich Maria Remarque was a man who had lived through the terrors of war, serving since he was eighteen. His first-hand experience shines through the text in his famous war novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, which tells the life of young Paul Bäumer as he serves during World War 1. The book was, and still is, praised to be universal. The blatant show of brutality, and the characters’ questioning of politics and their own self often reaches into the hearts of the readers, regardless of who or where they are. Brutality and images of war are abundant in this book, giving the story a feeling of reality.

All quite in the western front was a very good war book. For people like me who have never experienced the horrors of being in battle during war, this book painted a good picture of what it was like being in battle. The emotional trauma that these men had to endure, words cannot express what they must have been through. The book All quite in the western front had many traits that it expressed in it such as loss, despair, and alienation. Many would agree that this book expressed the trait of loss in this book many times; however, this book portrayed loss not only in death, but also innocents, and how the characters have changed.

Towards the end of the book, O 'Brien talks about the mental change the war creates in your mind that never lets you completely bounce back to civilization. On page 208 and 226, the author explains two strategies the soldiers use to keep themselves sane in Vietnam. They use language tricks, turning miles of marching in the pitch dark was called the “night life”, a burnt body became a “crunchie munchie” or a “crispy critter”; “If it isn’t human, it doesn’t matter much if it’s dead.” On page 215, Tim is new to the war and he hasn’t developed the humor the rest of the guys have, like shaking hands with dead bodies to make the deaths seem less real. The author’s friend, Kiowa, says, “Well, you’re new here. You’ll get used to it.” Eventually, O’Brien does get used to it.

During those years, he only thought about Martha, not about his men or the war. It all changed when Ted Lavender died in front of him when he was daydreaming about her. Since then, he decided to forget about her for the sake of his duty and for his self-conscience. “… But I reminded himself that my obligation was not to be loved but to lead… and because I realized she did not loved me and never would.” That day he burned everything, all the letters and photographs, but still that feeling never went away. Today he carries another photo of her, a recent one, in his