Black Guerrilla Family

Sometimes a mask is easier to put on when the alternative is to be a coward. Tim O'Brien, in his short story "The Things They Carried," pieces together what several soldiers experienced during the Vietnam war. Through the narrator, Tim O'Brien, the reader encounters his hatred of the war. In a passage within "The Things They Carried," O'Brien pursues the theme of masculinity by using simile, anaphora, and personification as figurative language, religious and moral symbolism, colloquial diction,…

Komunyakaa states, “My black face fades, / hiding inside the black granite.” (line 1-2), stating his origin. However, this is more than an expression of race. In these lines, Komunyakaa suggests he is imprisoned in history he helped create. His involvement with the war carries haunting memories…

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien: Emotional Burden of Death In the book “The Things They Carried”, Tim O’Brien uses figurative language and symbolism to evoke certain emotions in readers and denote to the burden of death in the Vietnam War and the effects it had on soldiers. The story, at first, appears to be about the tools and equipment soldiers physically must carry during war and combat, but it’s not that simple. In war, soldiers deal with life changing experiences that they will…

English 1A Prof Edward Gutowsky October 16, 2017 Rumor of War Research Paper “War does not determine who is right, only who is left” (Russell). Philip Caputo was one of the men who was able to return from war. He later wrote a book about the the Vietnam War he had fought in and shared his story with others. Although, many people have not been as lucky as he was. One of those men is Wilfred Owen. He emerged as a poet from World War II and his work was focused on his anger at the cruelty and…

useless to him, Bowker wrote a letter to O 'Brien explaining the reason why living after war was pointless to him. Bowker worked at many jobs but didn 't last more than ten weeks. He also tried to go back to college but it just didn 't work out. His family was very supportive when he came home but he spent his days in bed. Bowker wrote, "there 's no place to go. Not just in this lousy little town. In general,. My life, I mean. It 's almost like I got killed over in Nam…Hard to describe" (150).…

a war long ago that was shut out, that we hadn’t finshed heling, that we just wanted to pretend didn’t exsite and then all of the sudden it was right here before us. It was… unspeakable to read about the casualties that were a part of our Colgate family and quite frankly I was ashmed that we hadn’t done something for them. They curtenly need to be recomized and mamorlized on this campus.” Said Patty Caprio, director, development progams. Broken Brotherhood subtitled Vietnam and The Boys from…

The Outcomes of Some Actions or events that occur in a person’s life can dramatically shape their outlook on life, whether positively or negatively. To illustrate, on the television show , Revenge, the plot surrounds a young woman seeking revenge on those who wronged her father; which caused her to have an extremely troubled childhood. This narrative is not only for Hollywood, it can happen with everyday people. In Tim O’Brien’s, “The Things they Carried,” he has two short stories that detail…

Philip Caputo’s A Rumor of War tells the story of a man’s demoralization during the Vietnam war and how it is associated with a refusal to any direct guilt for his own actions in that war. Throughout the book, you can sense the murderousness that comes from Caputo due to several reasons. Although, at the end of the book, he does not confess this murderousness urge that he experienced during his time in Vietnam. Overall, I believe that Philip Caputo was able to prove that he is not guilty and…

was like. Not a feeling of hate, more so a feeling of regret and his moral confusion that follows afterward. The most interesting part of this story was imagining the star-shaped wound. Repeated several times in the vignette. A star in a military family symbolizes hope and I believe that the author is trying to symbolize it to the readers as well. He tied the star to death and that is eye-opening to me because the hope becomes lost. It is an…

because going “up like smoke” is commonly known as disappearing into thin air, and in this case leaving the earth and dying. Komunyakaa also uses metaphors to make comparisons with things an audience member may see on a daily basis writing, “In the black mirror a woman’s trying to erase names: No, she’s brushing a boy’s hair,” (lines 29-31). By using this metaphor, Komunyakaa compares the memorial to a mirror in which the audience already knows he can see his reflection. He also describes how a…