"The Things They Carried" Response #2

The soldiers in Vietnam carried many things with them. Some of these things were heavier than others. the heaviest of these were fear and loneliness. One reason this burden is so heavy for them is because they have no one to talk about it with. They fear what other men will think of them even more than death. Jimmy cross burns his photos of Martha because he doesn't want to feel the weight of his loneliness. He wanted to block his thoughts of her out because it was too hard for him to just imagine being with her.

Jimmy Cross has as much fear as the other men. It is especially important to him that he not show this however because he is in command of the other men in his squad. He wants to set a good example for the other men. Cross blames himself for Ted Lavender's death. He doesn't feel that he was strict enough with the men and if he had been maybe Ted would still be with them. I believe Jimmy will die in the end because his love for Martha will distract him from his current situation. These men are not in a place for love they are in a place for fear.

The projects we have been working on over the last couple of weeks have all revolved around the Vietnam war. The writing and movie we have studied in class has shown the problems soldiers faced in this war and the corrupt politicians unbelievable insincerity.

"The Things They Carried" Response #1

War should be out last resort in times when our national security is actually at stake. The United States has fought in some wars that were worth fighting however many were not. George Bush used 9-11 to encourage Americans to support the war in Iraq. He called the war a "war on terror". What is a "war on terror" though? How could we actually win this war? The Bush Administration lied to America that there was weapons of mass destruction in the middle east and he in part wanted to go to war in order to avenge his father. Osama Bin Laden the man who organized the 9-11 attacks tried to kill Bush's father our former president when he was in office. We should not go to war for revenge. Revenge for bush, 9-11, or anything else. It's more important to protect ourselves than it is to search for invisible members of terrorist groups. I believe WWl and WWll were justified because Hitler needed to be stopped and the Allies needed our assistance to do so however we did not benefit much in the end from WWl. Vietnam is just like our war right now. We can't win and our government is involved for bad reasons. In Vietnam Americans were told we entered the war to stop the spread of communism ("containment"). The Pentagon Papers gave us new information however that revealed the dishonesty of our presidents during this time. One main reason that the Vietnam war is the longest we have ever fought is that our presidents didn't want to be the first to loose a war. Vietnam is the first and only war that we have officially lost. We should be spending more time and money on issues at home rather than abroad.