On November 24th, 2007 I interviewed my uncle officially in an attempt to get a first hand account from the point of view of someone who experienced the war and belongs to this subculture. His accounts of both combat during war and the experience upon his return home opened my eyes to what it is really like to be a Vietnam veteran. My uncle
Nick Adams American Sniper I originally chose to do Unbroken, but I switched to reading American Sniper an autobiography by Chris Kyle. I chose this book because I was very interested in how and what the autobiography would be in relation to the American Sniper movie. The autobiography starts off with Chris not really knowing what he wants to do with his life, until he gets involved with the Navy Seals. The rest of the book then goes more in depth into his experiences in combat and how it has, and still does affect him and his family. This book has definitely lived up to my expectations in the fact that it takes a lot from the movie and delves deeper into certain situations.
The Things They Carried The book The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is about a Vietnam War veteran who explains the life changing events that the members of Alpha Company as well as himself had experienced and witnessed before, during and after the Vietnam War and how these gruesome memories had impacted the lives of these soldiers. Things they will never forget and can’t seem to let go of. Although this is a fictional book it gives the reader a sense of imagery while reading, making you apart of these war events that go on in these soldiers minds. O’Brien seems to capture these dramatic moments through his writing of stories and structure in which he wrote them in, capturing the ‘truth’ of war. O’Brien begins his book by describing the things the men at war would carry with them which was a ton.
Weir also relied on Stephen: “You’ve been a marvellous friend to me Stephen. I’ll never forget when we lay in the shell hole and you talked to me”. This shows how they both needed each other to survive the war and they were aware that their friendship gave them strength to carry on. Similarly, in ‘Regeneration’ we see a close bond between Graves and Sassoon. Candice Axtell has suggested that “Graves is placed in Regeneration for the reader to grasp the theme of love between men” .
Chapter 4 Main events Introduction of the word Conrad: One of the biggest events of this chapter is the introduction of the word Conrad. The narrator talks about the snipers and what will happen to them when they are discovered. He continues on to say “ He will utter that magical word, Conrad; then we will strike him down”. The word Conrad means friend, the Germans are in the exact same situation as them; so the word Conrad shows that they are equal and when used in battle they surrender. However, we learn that the word has no meaning to the soldiers as they would kill the sniper and any German soldier.
They are treated awfully under their authorities, threatened and all. Not to mention one of the trials that Yossarian experienced was the bombing of his squadron by his own mess hall officer. “This time Milo had gone too far. Bombing his own men and planes was more than even the most phlegmatic observer could stomach,” (269,Heller.) Thanks to the fact that their words mean nothing, the soldiers learn to speak and interact with authority as little as possible, learning the acceptable ways of the bureaucracy.
This very blatant observation demonstrates Remarque’s point that war is simply gruesome. However, even though Remarque often points out the brutal blood bath that a battle can bring he also describes how cruel the army can be when they aren’t fighting anyone. When Paul and his friends are discussing how vicious superior officers such as Himmelstoss can be Kat explains how that came to be, “man is essentially a beast…the army is based on that; one man must always have power over the other. A non-com, can torment a private, a lieutenant a non-com, a captain a lieutenant, until he goes mad,” (Remarque 44). Kat describes the never ending cycle of abusive punishment that comes from a commanding officer making a man vengeful and in turn brutal to those he is superior to.
Kano's "pity for the ignorance and brutality" of his "own countrymen" and his complete "understanding of the suffering of the prisoners" enabled him to show utmost compassion towards the POWs (Hillenbrand 245-46). Kano defied his elders not because he felt the need to be rebellious, but because he realized the immorality of all the actions occurring, and realized he could be the better person and do his part to help those in need. The actions of Kano consisted of him finding sick men "easy jobs to keep them officially 'at work'" and "[talking] guards into looking the other way" while POWs violated the prison law (245). Kano also "hung blankets" and "scrounged up charcoal" so to heat the rooms and "snuck sick men" from the Japanese doctor and to the POW who was a physician (245). Kano did more than just prove to the POWs that he was a compassionate guard, he possibly saved prisoners from losing their lives due to malnutrition, freezing, and misdiagnosis.
Just making the reality of hope for survival even less likely, and crushing their spirits. Heroism is not only you signing up for war; it is about you doing something significantly great to help another in need, because you believe that it’s the right thing to do. This book shows us that ordinary people, like Paul can become heroes themselves from the actions they take whilst in the war and that the leaders such as Himmelstos turn into cowards, by cowering in the corner, when the war started to get intense. This book shows many heroic moments that these soldiers did in order to help themselves, and each other out. Paul, in one heroic moment, carried an injured friend, Albert all the way to a camp, only to finally find out that he had died along the way.
They come out all bruised, broken bones, and even cut off body parts. Veterans have a huge heart if they went out and risked their lives just for this country and mainly our freedom. They must love this country to risk themselves. This is why I appreciate American