... Brien makes apparent the "heart of darkness" motif in Norman Bowker as he becomes hardened during his sojourn in Vietnam. Norman Bowker, described as "a very gentle person" (13), is inherently very good-natured. However, he "carried a thumb dark brown, rubbery to the touch cut from a VC corpse" (13). This image evokes a picture of a hard-mannered, emotionally devoid soldier, carrying a ... severed finger as a trophy, proud of his kill. The ardent imagery describing Bowker's darkening indicates a psychological and emotional change. The vision of the callow corpse "badly burned, flies in ....

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• Grade Level: High School

... to soldiers who were wounded in combat by an enemy. O"Brien was probably in Vietnam for one year, which was the amount of time required from a drafted soldier to serve before he could go home again. In all probability, he saw a good bit of combat while overseas and saw some of his comrades die in battle also. Just knowing this little bit of ... these burdens were so overwhelming, but they could not be lifted off of their shoulders, unlike the burden of their rucksack, which could be taken off when they needed rest. He desires for us to see what really goes on in the mind of a soldier du...

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... be compared. Cross is faced with the violence of war and looks to Martha as a way to lighten the load that he is carrying. Unfortunately, Cross's fantasy ends up causing more bad than good.             In addition to longing, responsibility is one more emotional burden that weighs upon the minds of the men. Cross serves as the best example of a soldier burdened by responsibility. Cross is responsible ... for all the men since he is their leader. Cross's ... preoccupation with Martha leads to the death of Lavender, and he must suffer the pain of guilt. Due to ... ...

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• Grade Level: High School

... to come home in a body bag and become another statistic. Young American teenagers were being thrown into the jungle only to be slaughtered by the enemy, who was at home in the dense forests. The Vietnam War was a war fought without rules. Innocent Vietnamese civilians were killed whether by accident or not. ... Women and children were forced to use themselves as human bombs to kill American soldiers. If they refused they would be sliced limb from limb by Viet Cong soldiers. No war is a good ... war, but this is as bad as they come. The war got the best of most soldiers. Many never made...

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... ." Jimmy is in love with Martha, a girl back home. He carries her letters and a stone she sent him for good luck and he often daydreams to escape the reality of war. "He carried the pebble in his mouth, turning it with his tongue, tasting the sea salts and moisture." and " but then he would slip away into daydreams, just pretending, walking barefoot along ... of dope. " Ted Lavender carried six or seven ounces of premium dope, which for him was a necessity." He is the soldier who is shot and therefore is the wake up call causing the lieutenant to evaluate himself. The conflict in the sto...

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... hoping they will understand what you are going through. It is always to have someone go through what you are experiencing then to be alone. "The thing about a story is that you dream it as you tell it, hoping that others might then dream along with you, and in this was ... meeting places and dreams he was having about Linda, he describes them as miracles. Stories are a way to cope with the bad and think about the good. "Almost everything is invented. But it's not a game it's a form."(pg179) It's a form of getting through life. Also, by writing ... alive, a girl who has passed away when ...

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... hand grenades and shoot at different distances with rocket launchers and grenade launchers. This A.I.T training was an additional eight weeks of training. Altogether, the U.S spent a little over 16 weeks preparing the American soldier for a different kind of warfare. One moment of relaxation was allowed; the soldiers were allowed to see their family and loved ones before going off to Vietnam. After saying their " ... ;good-byes" and "I love yous" it was time for them to start a journey into unknown territory in South East Asia. At four ... p.m. my grandfather left Ohio for the base ...

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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... brutality. The journey into the jungle takes the viewer into the heart of the darkness, providing the viewer with the indications that we are getting deeper into the evil as we progress down the river. The themes of horror are evident in this movie just as sharply as they are in The Things They Carried. The main theme in Apocalypse Now is the concept that in order to survive and function as a "good" soldier one ... must disconnect themselves from their rational views and all of their morals must be disregarded. Colonel Kurtz, the rogue military cult leader who Willard is hunting, eventu...

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... decides what to bring based on his individual needs. One character, Henry Dobbins fills his pack with extra rations, which gives the reader clues into the fact that he encompasses a large physical appearance. Because he carries his girlfriend's pantyhose to bring good fortune, the reader is clued into his superstitious nature. Dave Jensen, a man obsessed with hygiene, fills his pack with toothbrushes and floss ... . A third character the reader is clued into is Tim Lavendar. Because he posses such a nervous character, he fills his pack with marijuana and other sedatives. This ... , and t...

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... far back as World War II, some may say as far back as the time of Julius Caesar (Goldwater). Tim O"Brien describes the pounds and ounces of the items that every soldier carried in combat as well as the personal weight of the items each man carried. Likewise, the gay soldier also carried the weight of the "P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches, dog tags, mosquito repellent, chewing ... ,sewing kits, Military Payment Certificates, two or three cans of water" and much more. First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross was able to carry the 10 ounce love letters from his "friend" Martha....

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• Grade Level: High School

... Vet It isn't hard to explain why Odysseus is such a good character. He is a very realistic one. Vietnam was a war that lasted close to fifteen years and many men lost their lives there. Some of those men who survived have never been the same since they have come home. Homer knew what it felt ... like to go through war because his description of Odysseus is very good. According to Edwin Burgess article Odysseus in Vietnam "Odysseus shows many post war stress symptoms, just as a real soldier would." After the Trojan War and his long journeys, when Odysseus returns home he is not able to ....

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... face. Caputo really drew you into his words. It made me think about the way men and women must feel in these combat situations. The emotions they must experience killing someone, and trying to find justice in doing so; reminding themselves it is for the good of their country. In the beginning of the book I could not quite understand his thirst for war and fighting. Then ... they reassigned him to combat. I do not know how the armed forces work, but I guess they must give some consideration to what an upper level soldier wants to do. Of course later in the book, the murder was thought pr...

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... We Are Looking For by le thi diem th y represent characters who use their imaginations to escape the hardships of reality and into a place of comfort and stability. American soldier Paul Berlin often imagines his life prior to Vietnam, allowing himself to break away from the cruel reality of war, same with Mine Okubo who is placed in a Japanese-American internment camp after ... faced with many harsh conditions and situations. They were forced to fight in thick, dark jungles against an enemy that was unidentifiable. The soldiers used their imaginations to disorient themselves from the w...

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... States send all these troops over to fight? Just for the fun of it? No, they are doing it for the good of our country, those troops were over there fighting and dying for us. That is why I feel this is a weak argument. I feel that every effort and every battle fought, and every soldier that died, and risked his life for his country, was ... very brave and courageous, and will never be forgotten. This war was fought to protect us, the United ... States citizens, how can we sit there and argue, and contradict the United States government, and there decisions about such a major issue....

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... , she meekly returns to Thomas Fowler. Vietnamese men are all seen as potential enemy, which turns out to be true in Good Morning Vietnam. This is fairly historically accurate, as the Viet Cong had supporters everywhere and, as in the book The Ugly American, were simply better at international relations. Does it show that violence and military action were necessary or unjustified? Neither ... have happened? Certainly. But in this movie, Vietnam is the backdrop, the focus is on the relationship between the characters. The accuracy as it relates to Vietnam seems realistic--there were certai...

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... Carried, Tim O Brien goes as far as to say, "War is hell, but that's not the half of it, because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love." (O" Brien 80) In war, a soldier's proximity to death makes him at times more alive than ever before, and in life ... a striking realization that war is real. War is not like Looney Tunes and other cartoons where the good guys cheerfully chase after the bad guys and destroy them, only to meet them again the next episode. The death and destruction that occurred in Vie...

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... many vets used drugs and drank alcohol regularly. They also had trouble getting employed ("Dolan 35"). The media was a major part of Vietnam history. The media got a lot of good coverage during the time of the war. Newscasts had good stories to cover and with so much happening, stayed busy. The public was well informed of what was happening in Vietnam. "Scared, tired, dirty, and hungry" is ... how John Stein (Vietnam Vet) describes his experience in Vietnam. The heat, humidity, and large rain drops is ... not a difficult task. Soldiers didn't know how to cope with problems, so some use...

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... "It was an intellectual and physical standoff, and I did not have the energy to see it to a end. I did not want to be a soldier, not even an observer of war. But neither did I want to upset a peculiar balance between the order I knew, the people I knew, and my own private world"(O"Brien 89). He did ... have chose flight or incarceration over Vietnam" (Brykorski, Dedria 24). O" Brien would have done anything to get out of that war. He truly hated the fact of war at that point. For him anything would have been better then going into war. Since O"Brien discarded his conviction, " He neverthe...

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... they killed but I guess this one just seemed more intense because at the end they were wrong about whom they thought the boy was. The fact that they were laughing about it made it seem even more wrong. I realized that in being a soldier you cannot get around the fact that maybe a few innocent people might die. I understood why he did it, and I understood why he ... had the charges raised against him. I was also glad that the charges were dropped, even though they did kill innocent people. The Vietnam War was different from any other war in our ... face. Caputo really drew you into his ...

• Word Count: 984
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School