Comparison and Contrast Essay The stories “Cranes” and “The Sniper” show us the effects of war. The themes of “Cranes” and “The Sniper” are similar due to the war tearing people apart, however, they are different because in “Cranes” the compassion prevails, while in “The Sniper” survival wins over compassion. Both stories themes show us how war reduces human life to nothing and how it tears apart families and friends but that family and friends come first. We see this in “Cranes” when Songsam lets Tokchae escape into the woods.…
If I Die in a Combat Zone, author Tim O’Brien, argued that the Vietnam War was unjust yet there was still a sense of humanity left, through his depictions of himself, O’Brien and his fellow soldiers in their daily life in combat, how he was brought into the war, and through his self reflection about his actions as a combat soldier before he returned home. If I Die in Combat Zone, talks about O’Brien and the other soldiers time in combat. Things in their daily lives made O 'Brien believe that the war was unjust because there were many mistakes made by the U.S. Army throughout the war. One of those mistakes was when one of the U.S soldiers accidently shoots a vietnamese woman.…
But this difference does not mean that one way is right and the other one is wrong. Quite to the contrary, both O’Brien and Bowker can learn from each other and deal with Kiowa’s death in an even better way. “The Man I Killed” and “Ambush” both concern O’Brien’s feelings of guilt over killing an enemy combatant. Guilt is often associated with death. When a friend or loved one dies, the people left behind often feel that they could have rendered more assistance during the person’s life.…
Storytelling continually blurs the difference between invention and reality which allows O’Brien express war through his perspective. “The Man I Killed” describes the physical appearance of a body and gives an imaginary biography, followed by “Ambush” which “gives voice to the authors retrospective guilt” (Calloway 95). These short stories work together to expose the reader to the reality of the Vietnam…
In this essay, I will argue that it is permissible to kill a villainous aggressor, an innocent aggressor, and an innocent threat, but not an innocent bystander. According to Judith Jarvis Thompson, it is morally permissible for person A to kill person B in self-defense if and only if (1) B will kill A unless A kills B, and (2) if B kills A, the B will violate A ’s right that B not kill A (Handout #16). The villainous aggressor is someone who is intentionally trying to kill you and who is morally responsible for trying (Handout #16).…
The book that I have read is The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw. This book is not like other books in the aspect that there is not a chronological chain of events that ultimately lead up to a conclusion. Rather it is a book that contains several short stories that bring about a thorough summery of what World War Two was in America. Through the eyes of ordinary people that had to withstand changes such as the rise of America in the early 1900’s. As well as the downfall in the form of the great depression.…
War stories are gruesome. They capture the reality of war--death, grief, and pain. “The Sniper” and “Where Have You Gone, Charming Billy?” (by Liam O’Flaherty and Tim O’Brien respectively) are both shining examples of this; unpacking the glorification of victory to reveal how humans are dehumanized and trained to kill other people. Their differences outline a common theme: how war dehumanizes people from killing and guilt, and how that all builds into a catastrophe later on in life.…
Conflicts of Stress “A Brief Encounter with The Enemy,” by Saïd Sayrafiezadeh is a short story about a young man named Luke and his experience in the United States Army. The story begins with Luke describing how he felt getting to “the hill,” through a path that terrified him. While traveling through the path, Luke starts to think about his crush Becky, who takes an interest in him right before deploying. She gives him her email to keep her up to date on his adventures during deployment. Although, adventure is the total opposite of what Luke would experience during deployment.…
In “The Man I Killed”, “How to Tell a True War Story”, “Notes”, “Field Trip”, and others. The reader sees him struggle between the truth and fiction in his writing. His personal feelings take the place of others as he uses his writing as an outlet of the war. His detailed almost unrealistic descriptions of Vietnam is the only way he can cope with it. The story of the man he killed is a flashback that he couldn’t stop thinking about.…
Human Rather Than a Character The first thing that comes to mind while thinking about a soldier is a man wearing clean uniform with glittering gold badges. This man is courageous, fearless; he can run through mud while it’s raining, go into dark tunnels without having any fear. From this hypothetical soldier’s face, it can be understood that he is proud of serving his country and protecting the weak. This man who would do anything to save his compatriots, fights dauntlessly in the war zone, when all he can think about is his beloved wife and kids.…
The Overlook On the news, we hear about someone being murdered daily in which detectives are on the case to find out who committed the crime. Murder cases are always a grueling process with many clues to try and find the one who committed the crime. “The Overlook” by Michael Connelly is an example of that, in which he gives detectives a murder case that leads him and the reader in many different directions, trying to figure out who killed Dr. Kent. Connelly starts off with a detective named Harry Bosch, who receives a call at midnight about a murder case.…
He spent his nights alone, wrote romantic poems in his journal, took pleasure in grace and beauty of differential equations” (P#122). He started to imagine the life of the boy without this incident. Kiowa, a fellow soldier, tried to convince O’Brien that this was necessary and that if he let him go, the other soldiers would have done the same. Tim O’Brien is haunted by guilt throughout the book, because he is convinced that if he let the boy go, he would’ve lived a better life. This shows how “guilt” affected the soldiers.…
The story of Kiowa’s death has been repeated three times. Each of the stories is from a different perspective. Each story goes in depth of what the person was thinking when they saw Kiowa’s dead body. For some it was shame and for others it was a realization of the cruelty of war. Two particular chapters explain why O’Brien felt the way he did and why he wrote the book.…
War is considered by many to be one of humanity’s central traits as an advancing species and as such it holds a heavy influence on our past, present and future. From warring tribes in Africa during the dawn of man to the great Empires of Greece and Persia warfare has always been present, whether this war is for defense of a homeland and families, to conquest for more power and wealth or freedom from persecution and oppression. These forces drive mankind and have pushed us technologically and socially. While war may be a central aspect of mankind it is something that causes deep felt feelings and views that bring forward strong emotions in many people. It is from these deep feeling and emotions that we see famous poems created and revealed that…
The outlaw written by michael morpurgo summary by william chapters 6-8 characters:Robin Hood, Outlaws, Sir guy of gisborne, Robin Hoods father, sheriff, Marion, Martin,Sheriff’s men setting:Nottingham,Cave,forest Outlaw by Michael Morpurgo is about a Boy named Robin Hood who loses his mother and has to live with a bunch of outlaws. I think that the author's message is don’t believe people because marion let too many people come into their club and take over because there so many of them and sooner or later they would be part of sir guy of gisborne's plan. The plan is to kill Robin Hood. Also because when sir guy of guisborne is supposed to believe marion when she tells him that she is not apart of Robin Hood’s plan when he sees Marion…