...It’s finally starting to get warm here in Vietnam. Yesterday the sun was shining so peacefully it reminded me of home. I miss you dad and Tom but were doing okay out here. I’m scared out of my goddamn mind though. I finally did my first patrol and I just got here the other day… I was so scared to go out there and see what I really have to face. All the gunfire, traps, and killing I can’t deal with it. You know me, I’m suppose to go to school I was going to study law make us rich; I’m not fit for war. But I still haven’t killed anyone yet, they call me a kill virgin. I can’t take anyone’s life were all kids with guns following orders. We’re practically monkeys with guns. Though just because I didn’t kill anyone doesn’t mean I haven’t seen some gruesome things. As we walked into the dense jungle you look up and see tall thick trees. When under the trees its much darker because the sun cant get though the leafs. This is where the VC was the strongest. They hid behind and in trees, they could always see us before we see them, its like they know every inch of this jungle....
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...There were many other people there but they had holes. Big holes that were dug deep into the ground with enough room for two people. Although we were far from it, we could hear all of the commotion from the streets. The bad men were taking more people. All you could hear is people screaming, glass shattering, and gun shooting. i looked at Dalton with tears in my eyes as he tells me that everything will be ok and that he won’t let anybody get to me. By sunrise, the people that were in the holes had awaken and so did we. They got out of their holes and they had yellow stars! Just like us! Or, at least we used...
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...remember it had been me and my mother, alone, but together. She never spoke of my father, though when anxious I often caught her twisting the tarnished wedding band that graced her bent fingers. She worked many hours of many types of jobs. As the war has continued, however, the types of work she was able to secure offered only a pittance. The presence of soldiers in our small village worried no one. The stars sewn onto our arms made my mother uneasy. We planned to emigrate as quickly as possible, my mother worked more hours than usual, and with me by her side. What began as a snowflake landing...
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...keep ourselves occupied we would talk about our beloved families that we were forced to leave in Indonesia. The government conscripted many teenagers, including the both of us. They made it very clear to all men who were conscripted that if we did not cooperate, the government would cut off all food and water supplies for each of our family’s; leaving them to die. We were repulsive of war, we wanted nothing to do with it, but leaving our family for death was certainly not an option. We were trained for three months before the jets left for Australia. War became reality. It was hard to think that not four months ago Putu and I were sitting in a class room studying, and when the day was dark we would go home. I would see my mother, my father and my sister....
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...your car your skin got so sticky like maple syrup. It was about to be lunch time when we got there. No one wanted to stop for lunch because it was to early but by the time we got there everyone was hungry. My friends and I started a fire after we set up camp. It seemed like it took us hours to get the fire to start and keep going. We had some soggy hot dogs from the cooler that had melted. All of the ice got into our food and made it look like crap. I was...
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...In 1998, a civil war broke out around the district of Mai Chau in Vietnam and Luang Prabang in Laos. Both sides’ respective leaders had a conflict regarding the goal of uniting these two countries under a communist rule ruled by the Army of Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). Instead of discussing the current issue together, both sides decided to become juvenile and resort to violence instead. Almost all districts of Hanoi were severely disrupted. Historical buildings and residential compounds collapsed and destroyed by the tanks and military armies. The town suffered a rash of arson attacks. Dead corpses lying on the ground, children crying and screaming everywhere, terrifying sounds of gun shots and bombs. It was an utter mess. Before the war was getting much more chaotic than it already is, my family and I decided to flee from Vietnam. We packed all the necessary things and sneaked out of Hanoi using an overnight train that lead us to the city of Bac Ninh. Upon our arrival, we rushed to the International Airport of Bac Ninh. Luckily, with the help of our cousin, Vrinh who worked as an officer there, we were able to bypass the strict airport checkups and landed ourselves in Minnesota, USA....
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...Today was the worst day so far in this horrible war that I personally did not want to even fight in. This whole war is stupid, this draft is stupid, everything is stupid. I don't want to even be in this crappy place anymore. Today was the last straw, yes, I said in the past letters that the last few months have been interesting and I met Patrick here. Patrick was who I was closest with even through all this. Me and him were born in the same town and knew some of the same people, it was me and him who were gonna survive through this. He even had a wife and a child on the way. He had something to look forward to when returning home. I wish it was me instead of him today. The Sergeant sent Patrick, John, Matthew, me, and a whole bunch of other...
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...years ago, I faced a small crisis when it came to leading. I had to let my patrol fail, and I did not want to do that. The decision, was whether to give the patrol the extra advice they would need to win, or to not give them that extra advantage, and allow them to learn from their failures. It was my first year as a Troop Guide at Buckskin, which is a Boy Scout Youth Leadership Camp, where I was on staff. The Troop Guide’s role is to mentor and teach the patrol of nine guys how to become better leaders, and enable them to bring these skills to use in their own Boy Scout Troops. The thing about Buckskin however, is the intense competition. Everything is evaluated, and everything is a competition with the other patrols. This includes...
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...Vietnam was a questionable War. People either agreed with it or did not agree at all. As people fought over it back in America soldiers got an experience they will never forget. An experienced filled with terror and suffering but also filled with friendship and love. American literature has shown the struggles of the soldiers in the Vietnam War. Often times the literature tries to pull the readers in with stories to help them understand what life was like. Tim O’Brien is one of the most popular when it comes to this. In his novel, The Things They Carried, questioning morality, O’Brien gives first hand narrations of stories which show the impact of the Vietnam War on society. Tim O’Brien’s life is filled with many wonders and success. O’Brien...
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...The book The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is a marvel of storytelling, composed of multiple stories of soldiers during the Vietnam War. These stories give an insight into the physical and emotional burden experienced by the soldiers in the war, however in the concluding chapter “The Lives of the Dead,” it takes a different direction. Instead of focusing on the realities of combat, this chapter focuses on the childhood memory of the narrator and author O’Brien, showing us his first love, Linda, and how she had a tragic death. This departure from the war narrative is not a distraction but a deliberate choice that serves to connect the pain of losing his first love, Linda, with a broader theme of trauma. Through this chapter, the narrator proves that trauma is a persistent force, deeply embedded in memory and integral to human experience. In "The Lives of the Dead” O’Brien reflects on the impact that Linda had on his life. This personal loss marked his first encounter with death, a theme that resonates throughout the whole...
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...plans regarding Vietnam?” The essay will compare and contrast how the United States reacts to Vietnam before and after the Tet Offensive, while also evaluating any other factors that might also had a role. Since the Tet Offensive is a series of events, the essay will analyze all effects since the start of the offensive through the end. Source 1: “Tet” section of “Vietnam: A history” by Stanley Karnow Stanley Karnow worked for Time, Life, the Washington Post, and NBC to cover Asia from 1959-1974. He started to write this secondary source book when he arrived in Vietnam on July 1959. The book serves to...
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...Anyone know about the symbolism in ‘A Quiet American’ by Graham Greene? | Pyle represents the idealistic New Age America, thirsty for heroism. Phuong represents pre-war Vietnam, passive, innocent. What exactly does Fowler represent? Is it the wisdom and world-weariness of Old Europe or Britain’s involvement in the war simply for personal gain? | The symbolism of the individual characters has to be placed within the context of colonialism, since that was the relationship between the nations they each represented. Pyle's motives are far from heroic. An idealism that is motivated by interventionism in a Third World country's affairs can be dangerous and destructive, not only in the way Graham Greene saw it in the early fifties, but as history proved it by the events that unfolded years later, leading to the US war in Viet Nam. Or for what is happening now in Iraq, if you will. Fowler had the "old colonialist" wisdom that questioned Pyle's justification for violence. He had already learned that "democracy" is something many countries neither understand nor want, and any foreign attempt to impose it is doomed to failure. I don't know that this helps, but I can't see the novel any other way. | | Outline of characters | Thomas Fowler is a British journalist in his fifties who has been covering the French war in Viet Nam for over two years. He meets a young American idealist named Alden Pyle, who is a student of York Harding. Harding's theory is that neither Communism nor...
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...CURRENT AFFAIRS AND HISTORICAL CONNECTIONS My view of studying history is that it is important for future generations to know where their ancestors have been and what they have accomplished in order to make future changes and developments in a society. I feel that without studying American history most industries would not be able to grow to meet the demands of modern day needs. Take for instance the computer industry and it’s progression in the last 40 years. My laptop that I’m writing this paper with has as much power, if not more than the computers used to put a man on the moon. That would not be possible if manufacturers did not look at ways to improve what they already have developed, which means they have to look back at what they have created in the past. Among other important reasons for studying American History would be subjects such as labor laws and social security. We as a society want to live better lives and improve the quality of our lives and so by looking at the past we can make changes in the future to benefit our future generations. In my view without studying history there would be no progressive future. I think many people have a negative view on studying history because they can’t seem to find a connection to how history relates or affects their lives. I believe that anyone can find something interesting to study in history. It’s just a matter of finding a way for them to connect with a subject on a personal or professional level. Maybe someone does not...
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...that each soldier had to bear during the Vietnam War while fighting for their country. Witnessing horrific scenes of war and the emotional and physical burdens that each of them carried, O’Brien unfolds how these men had no choice but to fulfill their patriotic duty. As the leader of the platoon, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross goes through an inner conflict between love and duty, carrying his orders in his mind and Martha in his heart. But how far can war or following orders, impair the human side of compassion and love? Although, soldiers become men at war, O’Brien focuses in a story where war makes men emotionally handicap, leaving mental scars that may never heal. The story is told by a third person’s point of view, however, O’Brien includes a touch of his personal experiences during the war where he spent a year in Vietnam (Hicks). As Josiah Bunting said, “The things he carried into war are very different from what he carried away from it” (Bunting) expressing O’Brien’s experience at war and how his experience as a soldier would convince readers to believe that the different traumatic moments really happened. Although his personal experiences are counted as relevant, some critics consider his storytelling to be “nothing new about trying to tell war stories- that the “truths” they contain “are contradictory”, elusive and this indeterminate”. Kaplan goes on saying that “representation includes staging what might have happened in Vietnam while simultaneously questioning the accuracy...
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...Mr. Macomber English 3 AP Syllabus 1.5 English 3 AP Course Overview Students in this introductory college-level course read and carefully analyze a broad and challenging range of nonfiction prose selections, deepening their awareness of rhetoric and how language works. Through close reading and frequent writing, students develop their ability to work with language and texts in order to establish greater awareness of purpose and strategy, while strengthening their own composing abilities. C16 Students examine rhetoric in essays, images, movies, novels, and speeches. They frequently confer about their writing by conferencing in class. C 14 Feedback is given both before and after students revise their work to help them develop logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques to increase coherence. Rhetorical structures, graphic organizers, and work on repetition, transitions, and emphasis are addressed. I comment on individual drafts, and I write memos to the class in a blog about whole-class concerns such as specificity of quotations, parallelism, and transitions. C13 Simultaneously, students review the simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentence classifications. We examine word order, length, and surprising constructions. Loose and periodic sentences are introduced. We examine sample sentences and discuss how change affects tone, purpose, and credibility of the author/speaker. In addition, feedback on producing sentence structure variety...
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