Despite that deaths like this are commonly caused by freak incidents, he feels that if his attention had been focused on the war at the very moment Lavender died instead of the girl whose love he can never obtain, he could have prevented this loss of life. As a result of his remorse, Cross decides to remove all distractions he possibly can and “[burns] Martha’s letters [followed by] the two photographs” (O’Brien 23) of her. It is Lavender’s unexpected death that helps Lieutenant Cross recognize his responsibility to his men who are counting on him to direct them around the perils of Vietnam. When he is contemplating how to alter his tactics of leadership for the better, he reminds “himself that his obligation [is] not to be loved but to lead]” (O’Brien 26). By doing this, Lieutenant Cross demonstrates that he has the ability to learn from his past mistakes and improve his accountability to lead his men to
During the story it also describes their attempts to converse with an A&W employee, but no one will offer them consolation. O’Brien himself realizes that if he didn’t have writing to work through his trauma, he might be in wretched into a place as Bowker. Both stories also talk about the tragedy of the deaths that were occurring. In The Things They Carried Kiowa was an loved member of the alpha company and O’Brien friend. Although O’Brien is unclear about whether or not he actually threw a grenade and killed a man outside My Khe, his memory of the man’s corpse is strong and recurring, symbolizing humanity’s guilt over war’s horrible acts.
“At one point, I remember, we paused over a picture of Ted Lavender, and after a while Jimmy rubbed his eyes and said he’d never forgiven himself for Lavender’s death. It was something that would never go away, he said quietly, and I nodded and told him I felt the same about certain things” (Obrien 27). Another theme is fear of shame as motivation. Tim O’Brien experiences this himself when he is on the boat with Elroy. He decides to go to war because he is ashamed of running from it.
During the time of the Vietnam War thousands of soldiers who felt it was their duty to protect their country lost their life. This, in itself, did not mean that in this story the Lieutenant should have continued on his journey leading to the path of destruction and not have prevented the loss of members of his troop. Neither did the fact that the Lieutenant was of the same age as those in his troop. According to the narrator, O-Brien was a man who took the death of each of his men seriously. It is possible as outlined in this story that he had a change of venue, an epiphany, in that his infatuation and love for a girl back home might be the culprit for his loss of focus in his duty as Lieutenant and that he held himself responsible for loss of lives.
Wade Berrigan 5-26-07 The Moral Ambiguity of War In the novel Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Meyers, shows us many examples of soldiers struggling between making morale choices or staying alive. New soldiers look at other soldiers who have been in the war for a while as if they are sick soulless creatures killing everything in their way. Later we find these same characters that are doing the questioning doing the same thing. For example Perry wonders to himself how someone can die in front of them and no one remember it the following day. This shows his morals are still intact.
Some of these include death of others around them Vietnamese men, women, and children. Also they saw many of the people in their platoon get killed or die. Men tried to close themselves off from what was going on “they carried shameful memories” (482). “Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, not dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor.
The author uses events that really happened in the Civil War to bring home the brutality of war--the building of a wall with dead bodies, young men shot in the stomach being left to die, horses being killed to feed starving men. These events must change the men involved. When Charley leaves for Fort Snelling, he is a smiling, fast-talking boy. Once Charley returns home, he is a different man-a broken man, in constant pain, unable to hold a job, and looking forward to his own death. Narrative
When looking at the wounds he realises what he's done and what great power he had and used against a much weaker opponent. When he keeps repeating the fragility of the dead young man and re-enacting his life, it is an indicator of his regret. His fantasy of the dead young man being in engaged is supported by the mentioning of the golden rings. Tim is aware that someone is going to miss the man he killed. Put the text in relation to the other text from the "War" theme In generation kill you can compare the soldiers mind set and their "get some"-attitude with Azar and his very insensitive tone.
When his soldier Ted Lavender died all he could do was cry and blame himself for his death, “He felt shame. He hated himself.... this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of war.” (O’Brien, The Things They Carried 42) but he didn’t let that very heart-wrenching emotion of feeling responsible for someone’s death cloud his judgment or cause him to take his job lightly. Towards the end of the story he stepped up, over-coming the guilt he felt after the death of Ted Lavender. Learning from his mistakes and changing the way he lead his platoon “He would not tolerate laxity. He would show strength, distancing himself.” (O’Brien, The Things They Carried 100) He showed courage while seeing the bigger picture telling himself “that his obligation was not to be loved but to lead.” (O’Brien, The Things They Carried 101) Masculinity is very apparent in this platoon.
In Charles’ eyes, the real threat was that The United States was being torn apart and the noble cause of many a revolutionary soldier would be lost and their mortal lives given up in vain. Charles respected his family and it was a hard to go against their wishes but in the end it was a verse from the Bible that made the decision clear. Charles found himself mortally wounded from battle. Sheltered behind a rock formation, as his life’s blood ran out on the ground around him, he wrote these words. “I don’t know if anyone will find this journal or care to read the words I have written.