Poet Bruce Dawe wrote the Poem Homecoming, in 1968, depicting the returning of deceased soldiers from the Vietnam War to their homes. The poem was written to convey the common theme of the horror and destruction of war, it’s main message being the last line, “They’re bringing them home, now, too late, too early.” Meaning that they are returning too late, too early in their lives, as these soldiers were most likely in their early twenties or late teens. This poem has a subtle suggestion, or connotation of disgust with those in power and who caused and initiated the war.…
Homecoming By Bruce Dawe Conflict, bloodshed, death and pain are some of the words that people associate to war. These words are commonly used by war poets, such as Bruce Dawe to express their passionate opinions about the war. In the poem Homecoming, Bruce Dawe is referring specifically to the Vietnam war and the young men and women who lost their lives. Dawe feels pity for these young soldiers as he believes that they were unappreciated for their bravery while facing the horrors of war. Dawe expresses the poem in a negative tone and tries to convey the message that war is pointless and a waste of human life throughout the poem.…
Can you imagine writing your personal experiences to teach readers a theme or the main idea behind the story? In the book “War Dances” written by Sherman Alexie, which published in 2009, is a collection of short stories and personal poems that describe tragedies that can occur in someone’s life and how the challenges can affect their daily purpose. Many of the personal topics that Alexie mentions in his book are the Native American stereotypes, his family’s medical history, and loss of Native American culture. More specifically, the theme of isolation and the concept of unity and togetherness of a group, which is present throughout the book.…
Sherman Alexie’s book War Dances is a series of short stories and poems. A collection of soulful, witty, and funny stories and poems. They capture a modern relationship and exceptional change in the pages. They remind us of new beginnings, mistakes, successes, and regrets that fill our life’s on a regular basis. He reminds us deep down what it means to be a human.…
"Ceremony" is a novel about a young man - Tayo's - healing journey, from PTSD and cultural and family conflicts to building a life of wellness, connection, and identity. The novel was written by Leslie Marmon Silko, and she shows the life of a Tayo and his journey after World War II, where he comes back suffering from PTSD and other personal situations like PTSD. Silko does well in showing how natives have young men go on journeys to find peace or something of the nature. She also shows the mental issues that many veterans come back with and how some of them cope with the issues. Some can develop an addiction like alcohol in which they “drink” their sorrows away.…
As an African American in the still very racist 60’s era, Harlem writer James Baldwin finds it imperative to write a letter to his nephew James, in which he forewarns and advice’s his still highly naïve nephew of the oppressive and ignorant America that he is destined to grow up in. While he cautions young James of the harsh and crude realities of the era, Baldwin prompts his nephew to not succumb to the stereotypes and expectancies of the white American man. Through the use of various rhetorical combinations Baldwin not only appeals to the emotional, logistical and credible senses of his audience, but by infusing Sturken’s concepts of memory and cultural products, he makes this historical piece of prose relevant to the 21st century by retelling…
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can become a harrowing mental illness that serves as an obstacle to the future, causing its victims to relive their trauma time and time again. In Tim O’Brien’s “Speaking of Courage,” the cyclical nature of PTSD is embodied in symbolism that is used throughout the text to portray Norman’s constant struggle to reconnect with society after serving in the Vietnam War. Norman’s story of isolation demonstrates a universal struggle of war veterans in their quest to reintegrate with the society they fought so hard to protect; this is an especially important message for author and veteran O’Brien to express, as the text was published when PTSD was first professionally recognised as a mental illness. As such, the…
In their wartime experience, dying became a central preoccupation; for the soldier it “assumed clear preeminence over killing” in his “emotional and moral universe. ”6 The soldier needed to be both ready and willing to die; turning to culture, codes of masculinity, patriotism, and religion to fortify himself for that possibility of death.7 War challenged rites and practices that were not to be quickly undertaken, and as many soldiers were killed suddenly in the intense action of battle, their comrades made pains to write condolence letters to the deceased’s loved ones. Seeking to make absent loved ones “virtual witnesses to the dying moments they had been denied,” these soldiers attempted to “mend the fissures war had introduced into the fabric of the Good Death” for the families of the slain.8 Condolence letters usually addressed the deceased’s professions of religion; sudden death robbed many soldiers the opportunity to have “life-defining” deathbed experiences, in which they would otherwise reveal the status of their souls in their last earthly utterances.9 To reassure theses families on the home front that their loved ones would indeed live on in spirit, comrades…
This connects to the theme showing how grief can spread, it doesn't have to be a person it can be a place, and to them, that place is Vietnam. The grief of many, still linhes in the leaves of the…
Annotated Bibliography: The Things They Carried By Tim O’Brien Thesis: In “The Things They Carried”, the author, Tim O’Brien argues that the emotional burdens of fear, grief, terror, love and cruelty reality about war hardens the soldiers, and the psychological effects that these soldiers will have to carry for the rest of their life. "Looking Back at the Vietnam War with Author, Veteran Tim O’Brien." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web.…
The title and the epigraph show the role of an individual within a community and the value of human life, especially in a time of war. The funeral bell of the title and epigraph relay the idea of mortality, a reminder we are all destined to die. The loss of any one person affects everyone. The fear of death is significant as the characters are involved in an operation that is up against considerable odds.…
By the time we arrived, the Cova was dimly-lit and sustained a regular-sized crowd. Over our many trips to the Cova, we had grown accustomed to the occasional glares from our surrounding patrons. A steady downpour was beginning to form outside, and the sunlight all but peeked out from behind the cover of the colossal clouds. We followed the major to our usual spot near the fireplace which was somewhat isolated from the rest of the tables. The boy with the black silk bandage helped me into my chair, positioning my leg so that it extended straight under the table.…
“Go out!” I yelled “Go out!” I sat there just cursing my luck, with tears in my heart. I chose to read the letter from home as I thought it would take me out of my depression state after hearing from my family. A tsunami of melancholy hit me right after reading the first sentence ‘Our parents died after the aerial bombardment on our hometown.’…
My friends and I stand, overlooking the thousands of closely aligned white grave sites and memorials. Looking around, I see the solemn faces of my classmates as we travel to the top of the hill. At this moment, in the cold December air, a feeling of warmth overcomes me, remembering war stories told by my grandfather, a World War II veteran. His four-year service in the United States Army creates feelings of pride and honor to have a loved one who has impacted our country. A thank you is whispered quietly under my breath to my grandfather as well as all individuals who sacrifice their lives daily for our country.…
Meenakshi Mukherjee in the essay “Maps and Mirrors: Co-ordinates of Meaning in The Shadow Lines” makes this observation: The grandmother’s expectation of the border between India and East Pakistan grew indirectly out of her experience of the territorial division she had witnessed in childhood. When the ancestral home was divided, the brothers insisted on their rights with a lawyer-like precision so that the dividing line went through doorways and the brothers even partitioned their father’s old nameplate. That the borders should be explicit, that the lines should be clearly marked on the land by ‘trenches or something’ was the least she could expect after so much violence and bloodshed during the partition of India in 1947. (Mukherjee, 265)…