the adults involved. Some may consider such “loyalty” to be misguided, but the journalists’ refusal to make a bad situation worse was the very essence of the second type of courage.
The film also exhibits the first type of courage. It would have been easy for Sarah Polley to keep quiet about the situation and simply live her life, but instead, she came forward and shared her story in spite of the difficulty. This courage is something we would do well to copy.
Finally, “The Things They Carry” offers some very important lessons in how to deal with death. Many people are in denial about death, and this is very unhealthy. It is much better to develop an attitude that helps deal with death, so it is not so overwhelming when the time comes. This …show more content…
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. These stories demonstrate that such feelings are natural and do not need to dominate the person’s thinking.
“Lives of the Dead” has a considerable application beyond the confines of the storyteller and those people close to him. O’Brien talks about the value of storytelling and imagination as a way to deal with past pain and regret, and such advice might well be useful to other people who have similar feelings. This story essentially is the climax of all the others in terms of the lessons it conveys. Imagination is the ultimate way for O’Brien to deal with death, and it encourages us to think of ways to deal with death that may seem odd to other people, but that work for us. And there is courage in that
The film also exhibits the first type of courage. It would have been easy for Sarah Polley to keep quiet about the situation and simply live her life, but instead, she came forward and shared her story in spite of the difficulty. This courage is something we would do well to copy.
Finally, “The Things They Carry” offers some very important lessons in how to deal with death. Many people are in denial about death, and this is very unhealthy. It is much better to develop an attitude that helps deal with death, so it is not so overwhelming when the time comes. This …show more content…
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. These stories demonstrate that such feelings are natural and do not need to dominate the person’s thinking.
“Lives of the Dead” has a considerable application beyond the confines of the storyteller and those people close to him. O’Brien talks about the value of storytelling and imagination as a way to deal with past pain and regret, and such advice might well be useful to other people who have similar feelings. This story essentially is the climax of all the others in terms of the lessons it conveys. Imagination is the ultimate way for O’Brien to deal with death, and it encourages us to think of ways to deal with death that may seem odd to other people, but that work for us. And there is courage in that