“An exciting adventure.” That was the mentality of boys and men all over the North and South, leading up to the Civil war. Seeing an alternative to the monotonous farm life, many men were eager and filled with anticipation at the thought of being in a war. In The Boys War by Jim Murphy, these men and boys learn the truth about war. Many preconceptions are shattered, and fantasies are broken wide open by reality. One common misconception was that the fighting would be constant, but this was not the case. When soldiers were not marching, being drilled, or in the midst of a skirmish, there was often leisure time. During these periods, men and boys were free to pursue activities and games. Gambling, pulling pranks, and occasional fraternization were three pastimes of men and boys alike during the war.…
Tim had kept eight cattle for his mother and him to eat and to sell. Sam had been warning Tim to butcher their cows and hide the meat before some of the soldiers stole them, but his warning came too late. Late one night two soldiers stole six cattle and Sam went out to catch them before they butchered them all and ate them. When Sam caught them, they knew that General Putnam would hang them to make an example to all the other soldiers. So, they beat Sam and took him to the training camp and told the guards that he stole cattle and they arrested him, never mind that it was his own family’s cows. Sam was tried in front of court-martial and found guilty. He was shot on February 16th,…
Losing Tim clearly portrayed the importance of advocacy on behalf of the client and his/her family. Paul and his family were fully invested in Tim’s success and access to proper treatment. Since the family was involved, the providers should have had an easy time providing for Tim. Instead, they failed to commit to verbal and written agreements nor did they adequately serve the family. The shortcomings in the policies and laws can cause families to feel helpless and discouraged. It seemed as though the policies were not designed to support families, rather the providers found methods of avoiding proper treatment and blamed Tim for many of his challenges and his future. “Many years ago, we put people with mental illness in chains in institutions…
The novel “the Wednesday Wars” by Gary D. Schmidt has some exciting but often odd parts. The moral of the story is to hold on to what you have because on any day it could all be gone. Some examples of this is when Holling’s sister Heather ran of to California to find herself, or when Holling’s girlfriend Meryl Lee seems to betray him. The point is you should always look after everyone and everything you love. Holling was lucky because his sister came back and he got back together with Meryl Lee but the moral still applies. There is a saying “You don’t know what you got until it’s gone” and in the books case it’s very true.…
Tim showed signs of maturity after the trip to Verplanck’s point and he realized he was no longer a child. For example, in the book, My Brother Sam is Dead, it states, “I wasn’t acting my usual self, I was acting more like a grownup. You couldn’t say that I was really an adult, but I wasn’t a child anymore, that was certain.”(C. Collier and J. Collier 133). This quote refers to his thoughts, how he was now in charge of getting things done and his family, or rather his mother, was depending on his contributions for survival. At this point he must now step up to the challenge and become independent and mature as the man of the house, so he did. Tim grew mature not only in his actions, but in his mindset. According to the book, My Brother Sam is Dead, it states, “Not that I cared which side we sold the to, but the Loyalists were the ones who had money—they had the whole English exchequer behind them.”(C. Collier and J. Collier 170). This quote refers to the money situation, Tim explains how the war has really taken a toll on food, so in order to provide for themselves, they sold anything they can get their hands on, to anyone. Tim didn’t care what side he sold things to, even though Sam was at war with the Loyalists, and in any moment Sam could be slaughtered, Tim basically put his feelings aside. Tim gained all these new characteristics throughout the book, but he improved upon his…
Tim O’Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried, provides an incredible realization of what life was like for an American soldier who fought in Vietnam from perspectives before, during, and after the war. The story’s power draws you in. It makes the events in the story seem real and provides the reader with a sense of what it feels like to be one of the soldiers. O’Brien’s talent as a writer made a fictional story more than believable to the reader. When reading this book, the reader struggles with depicting what is factual and what is fictional. O’Brien provides this effect by blurring the line between reality and fantasy. The book recollects many stories from O’Brien’s own experiences as a soldier and includes fictional aspects to enhance the story and to help O’Brien get his point across. O’Brien teaches us in all of these stories that there is no difference between what is factual and what is fictional in war. By doing this, the reader experiences the feelings that O’Brien and his comrades felt. The Things They Carried describes what those men carried to battle and back home, both tangible and intangible. The novel questions what war is and what the individual soldiers received out of it. This novel is an eye opener. Any person’s perspectives on the war and its soldiers are most certainly to change after reading this book. The Things They Carried brings the Vietnam War to life like no civilian could have ever imagined.…
Plutarch stated, “The poor go to war, to fight and die for the delights, riches, and superfluities of others.” The Continental Army at Valley Forge were for sure not treated with enough respect, support, and enthusiasm as it takes to win the war. Around half of the soldiers at Valley Forge, as I recall, were reported sick in the first few months. Also, the whole Army was not presented warm clothes and warm shelters. We only had one pair of socks, shoes, and everything, which got torn apart not far into the stay. British treatment and clothes were better than our army had. Supplies for the Continental Army only lasted for about a month. Congress was of little help, as well as Americans back at home. I have decided to not re-enlist for three reasons which are the conditions of living, the little help from the people, and too many sicknesses and deaths.…
In “War Made Easy” , narrator Sean Penn steers us to look at American military conflicts from the perspective of the hard sell. Media/political critic Norman Solomon accuses the Bush administration of using misleading language, news manipulation, half-truths and complete lies to win public support for military actions of questionable necessity.…
Tim is very strong in his belief that the war is not right. He discusses this with many people searching for answers while deciding whether or not he would dodge the draft and flee to Canada. Knowing the consequences he would face and bring upon his family, he makes the decision to go to basic training. While is basic training, he puts together a thorough plan and budget to desert the US Army by fleeing from Canada to Norway. Unable to build the courage to desert the Army, he goes in search of guidance through the Army and makes appointments to meet with the Army Chaplain and Battalion Commander. He gets none, they believe he is just a young soldier afraid of dying and do not understand or agree with his beliefs at all. This is when Tim becomes aware of the fact that the US military does not provide moral counsel for its soldiers on the frontlines, the Army only intends to produce infantrymen that do not ask why or who they kill, nor demand to understand the effects it may have on their physical or mental health. There’s an example of this when O’Brien becomes involved in the war and begins to struggle with rage against the Vietnamese as he witnesses one after another of his fellow soldiers die. Though being outraged with his enemy, he realizes that reacting in vengeance upon villagers is morally wrong.…
Tim O’brian was a soldier in the **** he was young and didn’t want to go to war, but he had to. During his term he killed a young vietnemese soldier, even though that’s what he was sent there to do, his kind heart couldn’t forgive himself for doing something so terrible. His gut mistrict to throw the grenade gave him strength, because throwing something at someone with the intent to kill someone is something that majority of people will not be able to follow through with. This burst of courage gave him the strength to save his life. But after he killed him and the adrenalin thinned out in his veins he became weak. This is displayed by the dialogue, which on his part was entirely absent. Kiowa spent six hours telling him he did the right thing and they needed to move out, but Tim sat there staring at the body unresponsive. It shows that the sight of a dead body alone was too much for him to handle. To his platoon he appeared inadequit.…
Death is an ever present thing in a war. People are killed in wars. Tim once killed a man and he still dwells upon his death and the blame and guilt. He comes to terms with his death by saying, “Here is the story-truth…I killed him. What stories can do, I guess, is make things present. I can look at things I never looked at. I can attach faces to grief and love and pity and God. I can be brave. I can make myself feel again.”(172). Tim has finally accepted his role in the man’s death. It was courageous of him to reconcile with himself. Courage is facing opposition and overcoming it. It takes courage to accept the hard truth that someone you know has died or that you were the cause of someone else’s…
Tim O’Brien uses the tone of the story to enhance the view of the hardships the soldiers faced. Throughout the story a soldier named Ted Lavender is mentioned. He was killed by an enemy and his death is talked about often. The author uses a cold, unemotional tone to make Ted Lavender's death a common topic . O'Brien writes on page 347, “ But Ted Lavender, who was scared, carried thirty-four rounds when he was shot in the head outside Than Ke, and he went down under an exceptional burden... He was dead weight. There was no twitching or flopping.” The flatness expressed by the author is used to show the hardships on the soldiers mental state. Another mentioning of Lavenders death says, “...before Lavender died,..”(O'Brien 348), and another says, “After the chopper that took Lavender away, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross led his men into the village of Than Ke. They burned everything.”(O'Brien 353) In reaction to the Vietnamese soldiers shooting Ted, the soldiers get what they call revenge. They killed everyone in the village and burned it to the ground. This gruesome writing helps portray the tone the author used, cold and dark. The death of Ted Lavender was…
Tim O’Brien recoils when he receives his draft notice in the mail. He is shocked and believes that he is too smart and young to go to war. Before the war he would spend many nights driving around, thinking: “about the war and the pig factory and how my life seemed to be collapsing toward slaughter. I felt paralyzed. All around me the options seemed to be narrowing, as if I were hurtling down a huge black funnel, the whole world squeezing in tight” (O 'Brien 41). This is a very difficult time in Tim’s life and he begins questioning everything. He almost flees to Canada and leaves his family, friends, and home to escape the draft. This shows how someone is willing to change his life so that he…
The Wars by Timothy Findley is at first initially thought, a book about World War I but the pluralized title suggests that it is much more than that. With a closer look it becomes easier to recognize how structurally complex this novel is as it concerns itself around a number of ‘wars’. First, there is the raging war World War I, as well as domestic disputes within the Ross and d’Orsey families while the war rages, although there is still the internal struggle in which most characters face, most notably Robert. One of the most critical themes in this novel is the climatic change both Robert Ross and the society in which he lives undergo, as World War I overturns the past and destroys the fundamental and moral…
The words that Tim O’Brien used to describe the war were mind boggling. It made me realize anything can happen at any minute and anything can change at any moment. It’s hard to imagine what the soldiers must have felt so young in such a terrifying and unforgiving war. To constantly live in fear of death is unimaginable. The descriptive language of this passage helped clarify how the soldiers felt and perceived the war; by expanding my mind on how feelings and emotions can change as rapidly as clock ticks. This is an extremely powerful passage as it presents war in a way that may not be typical or expected.…
