The Things They Carried Reflective Essay

In this course, American Literature, the four novels we read taught me about American history. In The Things They Carried I learned a lot about the Vietnam War. I learned the hardships of the war by reading personal fictional stories about soldiers and their experience in Vietnam. For example, we learned how much weight the soldiers really carried, mentally and physically. In The Catcher in the Rye we learn a lot about the 1950s and the expectations of how a teenager should act in the 1950s. We learn how phony people are every single day. For example, Holden is taught in school dating expectations, like holding doors for women, but when he goes out on his own he doesn’t see the same actions portrayed by men. In The Great Gatsby we learn a …show more content…
In The Things They Carried I realized that our government could have taken better care of our soldiers after the war. They could have given them more support and help because many of the soldier suffered with mental disorders, like PTSD. Our government also only drafted men, in today’s society I don’t think that would be fair. Men and women should be treated equally. In The Catcher in the Rye I realized that our government was phony. Everyone is phony and so is our government. For example, the government lies to us about certain things to keep the riots down, and to keep peace in our country. If we knew all the truths this country would be in its own war. In The Great Gatsby I learned that our money is very unevenly distributed. For example, if there were 100 people in this country, 1 person would have over forty percent of America’s money. I learned that the government makes it impossible for middle and lower class to try and live the American Dream. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn I learned that our government doesn’t treat everyone fairly. In the days of Huck Finn black people were slaves, which is not treating everyone equally. Still today, not everyone is equal, there is still racism in this