The Things They Carried #2

Apart from the literal things that the soldiers carry they also carry emotions and the weight of the people that depend on them. They carry the expectations of people. They are supposed to be brave, they are supposed to willingly throw themselves into the line of fire. The things that they carry are the will to go home, and to survive so that they get there, and to fulfill the expectations of the US citizens that are supporting them at home.
So far O'Brien has talked a lot about Lt. Jimmy Cross. He is the leader of the platoon. Unfortunately until Lavender dies he is not a very good leader. He was totally into his fantasies about Martha and how much he wanted her to love him. He was very concerned about whether or not she is a virgin. After Lavender gets shot he decides that he needs to leave his fantasies behind and enter reality. He is at war, he is not home. I think that he might save someone later in the novel.
All the things that we have been talking about in class and watching movies about have been connected to the Vietnam war.We would not be able to relate or fully understand the novel if we had not talked about the history of the war first. It is also nice to know what was happening at home in contrast to what was happening over seas. Technically we were having a ton of problems in both places. Whatever happened here directly affected what happened to the soldiers in Vietnam. But also back home we were not given totally accurate accounts of what was happening to our soldiers. The government was lying to us. Everything is connected to the next thing, the history is connected to the movie and then the novel gives us the flip side of what happened in the war as apposed to what we were being told was happening.

Things They Carried Response #1

I think that war should be a last resort. I'm not for it and I'm not against it. I always know what is happening in war and how we got there, I just never have an opinion. I don't think that the U.S should be involved in war unless it is completely necessary. It is a huge cost both socially and financially. We don't need that right now or ever. We are always paying off our past wars, so why enter the ones we don't really need to. I know that the Vietnam War was not intended for us to enter, but we did anyways. Also, we didn't really do anything to help out.