Things They Carried Essays (Examples)

The audience has the feeling that O'Brian is presenting them with significant and personal stories from his life. This slowly but surely makes readers feel that they too are connected to the war and to the narrator.
It sometimes seems that O'Brian also addresses present day issues in the book, not just happenings from the war. The bond between him and the audience is strengthened through this technique because people become aware that there is not much difference between themselves and the author, given that they too are against immoral wars. People are drawn into O'Brian's game and start to identify with the writer, since the fact that they believe to think similarly to him makes them easier to influence as the book's action progresses. At some point in the book, most readers are liable to abandon any previous convictions they had in regard to the Vietnam ar in order…

" (O'rien, Chapter 15, pg. 143)
Norman owker is a disillusioned person because he feels that his service in the war has been meaningless. The quote speaks a lot about what he feels about the people of his town. He has just returned from his tour of duty in Vietnam where he witnessed a lot of bloodshed and violence, which has left deep wounds in his soul. owker has gone through a lot of hardship in the battlefront where he has lost his best friend Kiowa to a mortar attack. The townspeople cannot do anything for him because they don't have the memories of the war he has. They have not experienced what he has seen out there. He feels tortured inside because he is unable to share the trauma of his war experience with anyone. At the same time it's impossible for him to erase the horrifying memories on…

I can make myself feel again (O'rien, p. 180).
And, through story truth, what the story is able to do for O'rien, it becomes able also to do for the reader.

In "The Lives of the Dead," O'rien further elaborates on his need for stories universally. Through make-believe -- imagination, stories, fiction -- O'rien finds that he can not only resurrect the dead but also lay a barrier between himself and death. His response to the death of Linda is a retreat into imagination, just as the response of the soldiers of Alpha Company to the corpse of the old man by the pig pen is to engage in an elaborate game of make-believe: "It was more than mockery" (O'rien, p.227). O'rien's distress as the bizarre ritual unfolds is related to his inability to participate in the imaginative fiction occurring, through which the other soldiers cope. "It was my fourth…

Hence, we need to learn from the experience of our veterans. Perhaps the greatest lesson is already evident in our clear distinction that is made as a society that we can disagree with the ideology behind the war, but support the man or woman in uniform. Additionally, if the emotional toll and the economic costs of PTSD after Vietnam teaches us anything, it is that perhaps that the military's means of training and supporting our soldiers for the brutality and inhumanity of war is not sufficient. We ask our soldiers to do the unthinkable; thus, every effort must be made to not only heal their physical wounds upon their return, but to heal the emotional wounds that linger as well so that in the future, papers written about the Iraq and Afghanistan veteran will reflect that we learned from Vietnam and such lessons benefitted today's brave young men and women.…

Things They Carried and in the Field
The novel The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, is an episodic account of Alpha Company, a platoon of American soldiers and their experiences during the Vietnam conflict. e will focus on two chapters of the book, "The Things They Carried," and "In the Field." These are the only chapters in the book that are told from an omniscient point-of-view. Both of these chapters evoke the horrendous fear, sadness, stress, chaos, loneliness, and uncertainty of one's future brought on by active combat.

In the first chapter, "The Things They Carried," O'Brien works to bring order and comprehension into a chaotic and incomprehensible situation by spotlighting the burdens, both physical such as photographs, rations, weapons and their weights and so forth as well as the less tangible such as their memories, hopes, guilt, and stories. This device works well to give the reader an…

W.B. Yeats' poem An Irish Airman Foresees His Death illustrates the close proximity life shares with death much like The Things They Carried. Yeats' poem is brief and in the first person describes an Irish military man explaining his decision to fight in a war in which he foresees his inevitable death. This relates to O'Brien's short story in that both protagonists understand their life is near an end due to war and both recognize the relationship death and life have. The two pieces of literature do have some contrasting aspects though. For one, though it is labeled as fiction, The Things They Carried is largely based on real events from O'Brien's war years. Yeats' poem on the other hand, was inspired by Major Gregory, an Irish pilot who served in WWI. Ironically, O'Brien's almost autobiographical work is written in third person and Yeats' inspired poem is in first person.…

1). The character in the novel/author 'Tim' never believed in the cause of the Vietnam ar, and nearly fled to Canada to avoid serving. That decision to servie affected him in an unalterable fashion, and O'Brien's recounts the story of Vietnam to himself, in both truthful and fanciful ways, to make sense of his experience. Yet every re-telling removes him farther and farther away from the realities of the experience, and father and farther away from the truth he is seeking to convey to the reader.
orks Cited

Fox, ade. "The Things They Carried." hole Earth Review. Fall 1995. FindArticles.com.

December 6, 2010.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1510/is_n86/ai_17461953/

O'Brien, Tim. Going after Cacciato. New York: Broadway, 1999.

O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. New York: Mariner, 2009.

Peschel, Joseph. "Tim O'Brien's the Things They Carried, released in 20th anniversary edition, renews war's ambiguity." The ashington Post. March 2010. December 6, 2010.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/political-bookworm/2010/03/tim_obriens_the_things_they_ca.html

Timmerman, John…

Things They Carried is known as the novel and also as a book containing stories which are interrelated to each other. Written by Tim O'Brien, the book is considered to be a book representing complex ideas and perspectives hence presenting a complex variety of literary cultures. The writer puts forward in front of his readers a very interesting memoir in front of his readers and at the same time also presents writers biography wrapped in one. He makes the reading experience interesting by creating a fictional hero who adopts the writers name and narrates the story. To completely understand and appreciate this literary masterpiece it is important to understand that even though the events in the book might be true but it still stands as an aspiration hence it is a pure work of fiction rather than a non-fictional, historic account of events.
The hero or the story narrator in…

It is very difficult to reach a conclusion regarding "The Things They Carried" and the purpose for which O'Brien wrote it. hile a first look on the collection of books is probable to provide someone with the feeling that it is easy to read and does not involve a lot of strong feelings, the truth is that this is what the writer intended it to look like. Not only is this more than a collection of stories, as it is actually very similar to a novel containing deep psychological ideas meant to have a strong effect on virtually anyone reading it.

All things considered, most readers coming across the collection of stories are probable to agree with O'Brien in thinking that war is not only damaging because of the physical damage it causes, as it is also destructive from a psychological point-of-view. Moreover, the number of victims is even greater…

Tim O'Brien's the Things They Carried
The most shocking aspects of the novel, The Things They Carried, are the graphic descriptions and the striking honesty with which Tim O'Brien employs to describe the devastating effects of war. Several stories are written with an honesty that reveals the horrors of war as well as the frailty of the human spirit. The most moving of these stories are "The Man I Killed" and "The Sweetheart of Song Tra Bong."

Perhaps one of the most shocking stories is "The Man I Killed." This story is written in first person narrative and the most compelling aspect of the story is the fact that the narrator never speaks. This effect emphasizes the shock of killing someone, even if it is an act of self-defense. The narrator cannot takes his eyes off of the enemy soldier. For instance, the beginning of the story describes "His jaw…

Mary Anne becomes obsessed with the war in a strange way. It is as if she sees another kind of life that is so radically different than her own that it consumes her. She seems to be so sweet and innocent at the beginning of the story and at the end she is like an animal that She adopt the Green Beret way of life and becomes one of them in just a few days. She states, "I'm full of electricity and I'm glowing in the dark -- I'm on fire almost -- I'm burning away into nothing -- but it doesn't matter because I know exactly who I am" (121). Mary Anne's change was one that made me think of the war in a way that I never had before because I had never thought of the rituals of war becoming something that someone could become obsessed with and…

O'Brien illustrates the wide array of emotions experienced during war with "Ambush" and "The Man I Killed." Emotions and perspectives of war and death change with exposure to war and death. In "Ambush," war and death seem casual as the speaker tells us how the sees the young man walking and pills the pin on the grenade because he was afraid. He writes, "I did not hate the young man: I did not see him as the enemy" (132). The image before him on the trail is something vague, like a part of the morning fog but the soldier's instincts kick in before he has time to think. He kills the man without even thinking about it because he was "afraid of something" (131). In "The Man I Killed," the death of the enemy is suffocating because it is so shocking. To have killed a man is more than the…

psychological consequences of war, of fighting in a war, of eating and sleeping in a "war zone," are not merely limited to the implications of witnessing and partaking in death; war deeply influences the mental attitudes of those involved because of the organizational framework of power and authority that soldiers are subject to. The common assumption is that soldiers' troubles coping with war are somehow linked to the extraordinary violence that conflict entails. However, significant trauma often stems from the apparently irrational framework soldiers are asked to operate under. The novel The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien reflects the fact that the lens through which soldiers view war -- as they are in it and afterwards -- is necessarily attuned to the way in which the military is structured; its seeming randomness and often nonsensical consequences are not overlooked by the individual soldier, and contribute to his fundamental troubles…

Kiowa's death also evokes the notion that for the U.S. Vietnam was a quagmire; his drowning functions almost emblematically to suggest America's deepening entanglement in Southeast Asia. 'This field,' O'Brien writes, 'had embodied all the waste that was Vietnam'" (Neilson 193).
The entire book is an antiwar message, and it continues in the chapters and memories where O'Brien follows the men home after the war.

The Chapter "Notes" follows Norman Bowker, one of O'Brien's fellow soldiers who felt especially responsible for Kiowa's death. After he returns to the United Sates after he was discharged, he continues to write to O'Brien, telling him of his life back home. It is a life that he feels he no longer fits. O'Brien writes, "I received a long, disjointed letter in which Bowker described the problem of finding a meaningful use for his life after the war" (O'Brien 155). This was a problem with…

Tim O'Brien's the Things They Carried
In his book, The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien is allowing the reader to see the negative effects war has on people, especially on soldiers. Through a variety of short stories focused primarily on the Vietnam war, O'Brien illustrates the horror of war through exquisite detail of the violent nature that each soldier seemed to have adopted as time went on in Vietnam. By focusing not only on the physical things the men carried, but also on the intangible things, the reader can easily relate to the emotional cost of an ambiguous war. O'Brien paints a compelling picture of the gruesome side of war and how it cripples the human psyche, as well as delivering a convincing antiwar statement as a result of such an experience.

The violence that seems to become embedded in the soldiers is a major topic in O'Brien's novel. Through…

Things They Carried
In his thought-provoking novel about the Vietnam War, The Things They Carried, Tim O'rien redefines the traditional concept of war as an honorable pursuit. In doing so, he explodes the myth about war being even remotely romantic and undermines the long-standing belief about war's other redeeming features such as "glory," "honor" or "sacrifice."

Although a fictional collection of stories about the Vietnam War, the novel has a feel of authenticity about it since the author of the book participated in the war as a soldier and relives his experiences through his stories narrated by "Tim" or by several of his "comrades." In fact, O'rien reminds us in the novel that a "fictional" war story is closer to the truth than a "true" war story. And he narrates the "truth" about wars by revealing its obscene face through the stories of his fictional / real fellow comrades.

In…

Later, however, Jimmy cannot forgive himself for Lavender's death, and his own day-dreamy negligence that he knows had caused it. By now Cross has ordered his men to burn the area where Lavender died, and they have moved elsewhere. But none of that erases the images in Jimmy Cross's mind of Ted Lavender's corpse.
As O'Brien depicts the aftermath, during that same evening, of Ted Lavender's preventable death from Jimmy Cross's now-pathetic perspective:

while Kiowa explained how Lavender had died, Lieutenant Cross found himself trembling.

He tried not to cry.

He felt shame. He hated himself. He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead and this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war. ("The

Things They Carried," p. 279)

Later on, with Cross's men now having burned down the area…

It is a hotly contested idea that just one war-themed book can adequately discuss the topic of Vietnam, and this idea is properly portrayed in this book. Fellow authors like Renny Christopher have condemned Tim O'Brien's story for paying more attention to the misery of the American soldiers and less interest in the Vietnamese. However, the core of "The Things They Carried," O'Brien's work is distinct. Another author, Heberle, who wrote "A Trauma Artist," based his work on how aggression has impacted on American politics, society and culture. Similarly, O'Brien's work also focuses on the distressing experiences endured by the American soldiers. "The Things They Carried" is popularly seen as one of the best written books on American life after the sufferings of the war (M. Heberle). However, what exactly makes the Vietnam War distinct compared to other wars which America fought in? What brought about an American victory in…

Destructiveness of War in "The Things They Carried" and "Slaughterhouse Five"
Summary
“The Things They Carried” is a series of stories in which the narrator Tim O’Brien describes the experience of soldiers in the war. The term denotes the things that the soldiers came with to war. Some of the things are intangible such as fear and guilt while others are physical things such as M-16 rifles, morphine, and matches among others. When Lavender is shot during the war, Lieutenant Cross feels guilty for causing his death (O’Brien 56). However, he destructs himself from guilt by thinking about his old crush Martha. The story “On the Rainy River,” recounts the events that led the narrator to the Vietnam War. The story of “The Dentist” gives the story of Lemon a soldier who fainted during the regular military dental check-up and insisted that a proper tooth had to be removed to…

Critical Analysis The Things They Carried is a fictional work published by Tim O’Brien in 1990 that depicts the experiences of several American soldiers dealing with boredom and trauma during the Vietnam War. It comprises twenty-two interrelated short stories on the experience and traumatic aftermath of the Vietnam War with the first piece focusing on the things these soldiers carried to the battlefield. Martha is one of the female characters in this fictional work who is mentioned repeatedly in the first piece. The author depicts Martha as Lieutenant Jimmy Cross friend who is interested in a romantic relationship with her. Even though Martha views the lieutenant as a friend, he keeps fantasizing about her. As Lieutenant Cross’ friend, Martha’s role in the book is not very clear despite being mentioned severally in the first piece. Martha symbolizes love, social support, and danger through the letters, photos and distraction she gave…

Tim O’Brien is the author of the collection of short stories, The Things They Carried. A renowned American writer, William Timothy O’Brien became famous for writing Vietnam War centered novels. Aside from The Things They Carried, many recognize O’Brien for Going after Cacciato. (Herzog 10) Born in Austin, Minnesota on October 1, 1946, O’Brien spent most of his childhood in Worthington. Being there provided him with a chance at developing both his imagination and artistic sensibility. (Herzog 10) Furthermore, the location became a model for some of the stories in The Things They Carried. One of the main reasons he wrote this collection of short stories was due to the ignorance he considered existed among the general public about the Vietnam War. With most of the characters being semi-autobiographical, O’Brien provides some basis for understanding of what the Vietnam War was really like and thus demonstrating the sense of uncertainty…

Krajek points out that what she took from O'Brien's lecture was the fact that a fiction author can help the reader connect with the story in reality, even if the story is not true. "His lecture's overarching message illustrated his belief that fiction, while a product of a novelist's imagination and not true in the literal sense, gets closer to the meaning of emotional and spiritual truth" (Krajek, 2009).
The Things They Carried is a fictional story, but it is written by a man who experienced a war and though the men O'Brien talks about in the story are purely fictional, O'Brien is clearly basing these stories and the characters on men he served with. At some point in his 2004 lecture, O'Brien explains that imagination plays a role in how well a soldier sometimes accepts the truth of what has happened. It may become difficult to separate what happened…

eight of ar in "The Things They Carried"
Point-of-view, imagery and characterization become useful tools that enhance the reader's experience in Tim O'Brien's novel, The Things They Carried. O'Brien captures nuances of specific scenes during his time in Viet Nam in such a way as to deliver gripping commentary about war. From watching a fellow soldier die to seeing a sweet girl transform right be fore his very eyes, O'Brien shows us the unbearable side of war. Through point-of-view, imagery and characterization leaves no question in our minds about what war does to the individual.

The narrative focus in The Things They Carried is compelling and it helps O'Brien voice his opinion about the war in general. Through his stories, a pattern of the emotional toll of the war emerges. Many war stories elaborate on the physical ruin war brings but O'Brien's focus is more on the mental ruin that…

Truth and Memory in the Things They Carried
Tim O'Brien's novel, The Things They Carried, is more than a novel because it allows the reader to experience the Vietnam ar in a personal way and it allows O'Brien the opportunity to bring closure to the entire war experience. Throughout the novel, O'Brien reminds readers he is telling a story and that the story may or may not be fiction. The point of telling stories is not simply to make stories up but to create a passage to peace. O'Brien accomplishes this task with the novel because he allows stories to shape his life and his hope rather than break his spirit. O'Brien proves a good story is a combination of writing well and remembering better.

The Things They Carried is a war novel authenticated through O'Brien's experiences. O'Brien does not simply want to tell Vietnam ar Stories, he wants to…

hile he pretended, she was "elusive on the matter of love" (1). hile she might have signed her letters with love, Jimmy "knew better" (2) but the idea made him feel better so he allowed himself the luxury of living in the fantasy. Jimmy's guilt for Ted's death was "like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war" (16). Jimmy must work through this emotion, which is like "both love and hate" (17) and something he cannot escape. The "heavy-duty hurt" (17) he felt helped the others see how he cared for them.
Viet Nam is one of the worst nightmares in American history. Never has the country been so divided over issues no one clearly understood. ithout a clear enough reason for war, the government had to deal with growing concerns of faulty leadership. The war was long and painful with answers no arriving soon enough.…

These sentences run counter to what most people say about war. ar is often glamorized and most often glamorized by those who do not have to fight in war. Politicians often build up rhetoric for war to make men feel as though they are doing the country a great favor sacrifices their lives and their minds when they fight for their country. There is no doubt fighting for one's country is an honorable thing to do, perhaps one of the most honorable things to do; however, it is not fair to build up the glamour of war and ignore the gore. It is not fair and this is why Tim feels as though he was a coward when he decided to go to the war.
The irony in the titles of the chapter "Friends" and Enemies" is the fact that in "Enemies," we see Lee's true nature when he admits…

In a discussion about life and death, other soldiers talk about the lieutenant's sensibility and wonder whether there was something wrong with them for not feeling as bad as Cross felt.
The young lieutenant blames himself for Lavender's death as he realizes that his love for Martha had prevented him from properly guiding and protecting his men. When the dark falls upon the Alpha Company, Cross digs a foxhole and stands at its bottom weeping. "In part he was grieving for Ted Lavender, but mostly it was for Martha, and for himself, because she belonged to another world [...] and because he realized she did not love him and never would." (O'rien)

The morning following Ted's death, Lieutenant Cross throws Martha's photographs and letters in the foxhole and sets them on fire. This moment represents the character's change in feelings and behavior. Now that he realizes the seriousness of war…

EU Profile
In 2012, the European Union (EU) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its work in "the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe" for more than half a century (The Nobel Peace Prize for 2012). Lauded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for its commitment to reconciling Germany and France in the post-war period, the EU joined such notable persons as Barack Obama, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009. Ironically, however, Obama has gone on to be criticized as one of the worst violators of human rights in 21st century and as a worse war criminal than G.W. Bush. The same critics aim similar remarks at the EU. The documentary film EUphoria takes a critical look at the EU and its "peace" efforts and shows how as in the case of the American President, one swallow does not a summer make.…

Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien and the poem "Dulce et Decorum Est" by ilfred Owen are two wonderful pieces of literature that depict the horrors of war in a way that is both visceral and astute. The images, the relationships, the deaths, the birth of the unknown void, and the perils of being in a life or death situation are brilliantly told within the context of a battlefield. But what are the true horrors of war? Are they simply the awful experiences and the loss of life? Is the horror of it all the act of tolerating it and then becoming another person after? Regardless of what people experience during a war, it changes everyone involved. The loss of innocence, the loss of hope, the loss of sanity, the loss of the known, of stability, those are the true horrors of war. Although both works deal with the effects…

69).
For O'rien there is no moral or rectitude in a war story because even what is good and beautiful in it comes from an obscene and evil motive. It is impossible, in a true war story, for a soldier to die declaring that he is glad to have died for his country, as does happen in We Were Soldiers. In a true war story no one is glad to die, neither for their country nor for their comrades; in a true war story people die because they are afraid of being called cowards. We Were Soldiers screams that war is hell, but Kiley, much more eloquently declares, that war is the retaliatory death by torture of a baby water buffalo.

We Were Soldiers could not be obscene or rooted in evil because no sensible American audience would have accepted it then. Sensible Americans like things that feel good and…

Leadership -- Power and Responsibilities / Integrity
hen it comes to the concept of "leadership" there are numerous definitions that can be applied. Every leader uses his or her own approach to leading, and while there are similar aspects to the behaviors of most leaders, how leaders approach their strengths is played out differently. In literature (like the blind man in Cathedral) and in real life (like the way Abraham Lincoln conducted himself in a political situation) leaders provide robust examples of how to get things done and how to influence the actions of others.

This paper uses the leadership styles and behaviors of several individuals to demonstrate their qualities (or, in the case of Jimmy Cross, lack of leadership qualities) as they lead -- and the paper points to the integrity the individuals showed in the process of their leadership.

Leadership and Integrity

Abraham Lincoln -- the subject today…

He lay in the center of a red clay trail near the village of My Khe. His jaw was in his throat. His one eye was shut, the other eye had a star shaped hole. I killed him." (O'Brien 180). Very similar observations can be made about Turner's poetry. Turner uses highly descriptive language when he expresses his view of "bone and gristle and flesh," the clavicle-snapped wish" and, "the aorta's opened valves" in Here, Bullet. These images are immensely disturbing yet at the same time, surprisingly lyrical. The ability to combine these two opposing sentiments into a seamless flow of expression is a rare talent; one that both O'Brien and Turner possess in abundance.
Conclusion

hile O'Brien chooses to express his experiences through prose, and Turner chooses poetry as his medium, the sentiments being relayed are remarkably similar. Each of the literary works discussed here demonstrates that it does…

"The upper lip and gum and teeth were gone. The man's head was cocked at a wrong angle..." (O'rien 126).
At the same time, the author juxtaposes the image of war and horror with symbols and images of beauty.

The young man's head was wrenched sideways, not quite facing the flowers" (O'rien 128) the author also couples " sunlight " with " ammunition belt" (O'rien 128).

These contrasts reflect on the gentle life that the dead soldier once led and his reluctance to be a part of the war. However, he was obliged to become involved because of the pressure for his family and society. This again refers to themes in the other works discussed, where the social views of 'glory' and patriotism are sharply and ironically contrasted with the gruesome realities of war.

In this story, the writer uses descriptive images to achieve his critique of war. This is…

ar at Home in Ellison, ar Abroad in O'Brien
The inhumanity of war is a common theme in literature, as brilliantly illustrated in Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried," a tale that functions as a short story but is actually an excerpt from his great novel about the Vietnam ar Going after Cacciato. In O'Brien's story, several soldiers fighting in Vietnam are defined by the objects they carry in their pockets, such as photographs of loved ones, as well as their military gear and outfits. Yet the battles of individuals oppressed by society, such as African-Americans, may be equally, if not more, soul destroying, when conducted on the home front of America, on daily basis. This fact is evidenced by the evisceration of the spirit of the young African-American men in an excerpt from Ralph Ellison's seminal novel Invisible Man, entitled, "Battle Royal."

In "Battle Royal," the best and brightest…

He is more interested in "things," than what those things will bring. "Nick went over to the pack and found, with his fingers, a long nail in a paper sack of nails, in the bottom of the pack. He drove it into the pine tree, holding it close and hitting it gently with the flat of the axe. He hung the pack up on the nail. All his supplies were in the pack. They were off the ground and sheltered now" (as quoted in Vernon)
However, with time Nick is able to find some semblance of his early self. He overcomes challenges and moves forward the best he can. Despite the fact that he is walking uphill through burned land with a backpack that is too heavy, he is now in a familiar place and happy to be here:

Nick slipped off his pack and lay down in the shade.…

Tim O' rien, Wilfred Owen & "Saving Private Ryan"
The theme of disillusionment in war as reflected in the works of Tim O'rien, Wilfred Owen, and the film "Saving Private Ryan"

More than being a mirror of everyday life, literature has also been a venue for expressing messages that are political in nature. This was evident in literary works that address humanity's experiences in different world wars soon after the 20th century had emerged. With the declaration of the first, then eventually the second, world wars, human, particularly American, society had also been involved in the Cold War. This long history of wars fought by the Americans may have shown the patriotism and courage of its people, but praise and glorification of the war was given in the midst of numerous criticisms from the civil society. Criticisms against war efforts were expressed by the civil society because they were the…

So, in some case, leadership does not necessarily link with responsibility for the men, but rather with the relationship with the persons who are led. Napoleon was able to concentrate the energies of his men in a way that served his best interests.
This links with Raymond Carver's story, in the sense that good leadership is also about good communication, about the ability of passing the appropriate message. The main theme of his story is that of communication (or lack of), namely of finding the right words to pass on to the others. The right words are fundamental, because they help connect individuals and fostering this relationship is perhaps the most important part of good leadership.

The most important point in "Cathedral," from a leadership perspective, is when the husband finds himself at a loss of words when trying to describe the cathedral to Robert. He is, throughout the story…

standard joke about America in the 1960s claims that, if you can remember the decade, you did not live through it. Although perhaps intended as a joke about drug usage, the joke also points in a serious way to social change in the decade, which was so rapid and far-reaching that it did seem like the world changed almost daily. This is the paradox of Todd Gitlin's "years of hope" and "days of rage" -- that with so much social and cultural upheaval, the overall mood at any given moment in the 1960s must surely have seemed contradictory. How then can we assess the three most important themes in this broad social change? I would like to make the case that the three longest-lasting social changes came with America's forced adjustment to new realities on the international scene, with Vietnam; on the domestic scene, with the Civil ights movement; and…

Sixties in America
60s in America

Debating the easons for the U.S. Entry into the Vietnam War

From 1960s to late 1970s, American army experienced the Vietnam War, which was not well understood irrespective of lasting for many years. There were no clear consensus to its purpose, and it divided the country at a time when it most needed to be unified. The war left scars to many Americans that will take long to heal. There are no clear information regarding the reasons behind the war but historical records indicate that the war started with the sending of American advisors to train the South Vietnam army. The intentions were to assist the South Vietnamese army resist aggression from the north. The roles later changed, and it turned out to be an American led and financed war. From the late 1960s, the American government realized the war would be endless and…

Things Fall Apart
Chinua Achebe is one of the most influential and powerful writers of today, and he is also one of the most widely published writers today. Chinua Achebe has in fact written more than twenty-one novels, and short stories, and books of poetry as well, and his very first landmark work was "Things Fall apart," which was published in the year 1958, when the author was just twenty-eight years old. This work has proved to be popular not only in Nigeria, but also in the whole of Africa, as well as in the rest of the world. Chinua Achebe was born in the year 1930 in Nigeria, as the son of a Christian Churchman and his wife. He attended the Government College in Umuahia, and then went on to University College in Ibadan, after which he went on to the London University, where he received his BA. Chinua…

Things Fall Apart and the Issue of Culture
From a cultural analysis perspective, the two main cultures represented in Achebe's Things Fall Apart, stem from opposing religious/social positions and both react to and against one another in different ways, as illustrated by the actions of the main character Okonkwo, a native Igbo and leader of his community (violently committed to defending his tribe's ways and culture against other tribes and against the incoming foreign invasion of the Christian missionaries and British soldiers), and by Nwoye, Okonkwo's son who rejects the culture and beliefs of the Ibo tribe and converts to Christianity. The split between father and son represents the split at the heart of the novel between two cultures and two worldviews; neither is without its flaws and both speak to different matters of the heart and head. However, the irreconcilable differences that arise between the meeting of the two…

This foolishness becomes emblematic of the entire Vietnam experience -- situations are created to display violence and bravery that have tremendous significance to the soldiers, but serve no real purpose. Just as Rat mythologizes Kurt's willingness to face death, and uses the body of an animal to vent his fury as a kind of sacrifice, Kurt himself tried to live up to a foolish ideal of what it meant to be a solider.
The lies, or the myths and symbols these individuals created about themselves almost have a stronger force than the truth. Rat believes really angry with Kurt's sister, not the war. Tim suggests that Rat is angry with Kurt's sister because she refused to believe Rat's version of her brother's character, not about how he died. At the end of the novel, Rat attempts to recapitulate Kurt's violence against himself with his tooth by blowing off his own…

The message stays with us because the music and lyrics are memorable. Precious provides images that we can carry in our minds. Unlike text, where we must use our imagination to create pictures of characters and scenes, film does that for us. Anyone who has seen Precious surely finds it difficult to forget the images of violence and despair. The Things They Carried is part memoir. Author O'Brien has written other books about Vietnam, but this one is much more personal. It is the work with which most of us can most identify because there are a variety of character types and one is bound to resonate with the reader, reminding him of himself, perhaps, or someone he knows. O'Brien wrote the book in part as self-therapy. He carries the weight of what happened to him and his fellow soldiers in Vietnam.
The Burdens Teachers Carry

As teachers, we carry…

At the same time, the style is expected to give the reader an idea of what is happening, and that too in a more refined version. In his language there are poetic references for the brutality and masculinity of war as feminine features. He has talked about the "star shaped hole" and this reminds most about the American flag as also the expectation of the country to kill and destroy for the country.
At the same time, the language is graphic enough to indicate the bloodshed that is going on all around. All combined these bring out the emotion draining nature of war. These probably reflect that O'Brien probably could not come to terms with war, which was expected of him, but was not possible due to the voice of his conscience. The sum total is that he was able to match the image of being a part of the…

Evidence of this can be seen by looking no further than research that was compiled by Occupational Medicine. Where, they found that various factors can help trigger those who are suffering from PTSD including: a lack of support and traumatic disassociation with the events. (isson 399 -- 403) in the Death of all Turret Gunner, the author is experiencing a lack of support and is having their traumatic disassociation, replayed consistently in the person's mind.
This can help to increase understanding of the issue; by showing how once those vets who are exposed to PTSD, must have counseling. Then, this must be followed up by a cognitive approach of sympathetically listening to their issues. As a result, this underscores how some kind of proactive approach needs to be utilized, to reduce suffering.

When you compare the Death of all Turret Gunner to the Only Things They Carried and Dulce et…

The wall, serving as a painful and vivid reminder of the war, pulls the speaker back to the war. e can almost see the reflection of this man fading into the granite as his memories flood his mind. The wall and the memory of war are so powerful that the speaker must turn his head away and resist the urge to break down in tears. The wall as a symbol of the war is gripping and dramatic and helps the speaker get his point across.
The symbolism of the wall as war reinforces the poet's somber tone of the poem. The speaker resists crying and he wants to be like the wall itself -- stone cold. Instead, he sees objects reflected in the wall that only take him back and confuse his mind. He is anxious and everyone around him is, too. Here we see the angst of a past…

Short story -- A brief story where the plot drives the narrative, substantially shorter than a novel. Example: "Hills like White Elephants," by Ernest Hemingway.

Allusion -- A casual reference in one literary work to a person, place, event, or another piece of literature, often without explicit identification. It is used to establish a tone, create an indirect association, create contrast, make an unusual juxtaposition, or bring the reader into a world of references outside the limitations of the story itself. Example: "The Wasteland" by T.S. Eliot alludes to "Paradise Lost" by John Milton.

epetition -- The repeating of a word or phrase or rhythm within a piece of literature to add emphasis. Example: The story of Agamemnon in The Odyssey by Homer.

Blank verse -- Unrhymed lines of ten syllables each with the even-numbered syllables bearing the accents, most closing resembling the natural rhythms of English speech. Example: "The…

eciprocal Teaching
In recent times, researchers and practitioners are focusing more and more in understanding the role of meta-cognition in reading. This is evidenced by the opinions proposed by researchers like Brown and Palinscar and Gracia and Pearson. As there exists dissimilarity between teachings of distinct expertise and making learners conscious of the inner processes that are carried on in the mind through meta-cognition, this field of research is significant on the whole. Individual readers, more frequently, encounter trouble in gathering together the right tactics to acquire holistic comprehension of text even though they may be able to carry out distinct abilities such as skimming and scanning, tolerating ambiguity, finding meanings from context and drawing inferences. eciprocal Teaching is one technique that has established to counteract this trouble and internalize the process of comprehension. (amaiyah, 1992)

What is eciprocal teaching?

For training students to develop into active readers, reciprocal teaching…

Karl Marlantes' Matterhorn
Karl Marlantes' novel of the Vietnam War, Matterhorn, seems to want to offer the reader an immersive approach towards the experience of Vietnam. If we can say of earlier Vietnam narratives -- whether in film, such as Oliver Stone's Platoon or Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, or in fiction, such as Tim O'Brien's novels Going After Cacciato and The Things They Carried or Gustav Hasford's The Short-Timers (a cult classic of Vietnam fiction and the basis for Kubrick's film) -- that they have a sort of expressionistic technique, seeking to capture the experience of the war in a series of vignettes, we can see the originality of Marlantes' approach in greater relief to what has come before: his approach is not so much expressionistic as it is encyclopedic, an attempt to catalogue (in fiction) every single aspect of the one small event, the movement of a Marine…

This never happens. It is important to note, however, that regardless if the girls heard him or not, Sammy was the hero because he followed through. He knew his life would change and he knew things would not be as he had imagined but he was willing to accept that. Like the narrator in "On the Rainy River," he does not realize the impact his choice will have on his life.
Both characters reflect momentarily on their families as they make their decision. The narrator in "On the Rainy River" thinks of the slaughterhouse he worked in all summer and compared the direction of his life to that factory noting, "my life seemed to be collapsing toward slaughter" (O'Brien 43). He recognizes his lot in life stating that he was simply "an ordinary kid with all the ordinary dreams and ambitions, and all I wanted was to live the life…

living things are characterized by the following seven characteristics namely mobility, respiration, excretion, sensitivity or response to external stimulus, growth, feeding, and reproduction. Though there may be variations between animal and plant kingdom (ex, plants take in carbon dioxide and prepare their own food), these characteristics are commonly observed among all living things.
iology is a very broad field that encompasses the study of characteristics of living things. It includes botany, zoology and all other sub-disciplines that range from microbiology to evolution and ecology.

Evolution is the branch of biology that deals with the study of natural development of living organisms and the changes in them over…

articles seem to be saying same thing or do they contradict each other? Is the tone similar in each article, meaning can you tell what the researchers feel about the subject? Do they support the same idea, did they hypothesize similar ideas?
The following are two research essays on the burden of caregivers. The similarities of both essays are that both demonstrate the huge responsibility and unmitigated onus that caregivers carry that consequent in causing them stress and hardship. Differences include the fact that one was carried out on a population in Italy, whilst the other was carried out on a sample in America.

It is striking, too, to note, that although both concluded that caregivers needed more support, the American study recommended ways that individuals could create this for themselves, whilst the Italians-based study placed the responsibility on the community and social work profession. The tone of the articles,…

World War II was carried out on the home front, how it was presented to the American people and conducted in America. World War II never really touched American shored, but it certainly made a difference in American lives.
On December 8, 1941, President Franklin D. oosevelt addressed congress and asked them to declare war on Japan after their unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7. He called December 7 "a date which will live in infamy," and it brought Americans directly into the war, and their lives changed. As soon as oosevelt declared war, thousands of patriotic and emotional Americans hurried to enlist and help fight the war. These young people were angry about the Japanese attacks, and they wanted to defend their country. Young men enlisted in the Armed Forces, and young women signed up as nurses, and even pilots, helping to ferry airplanes from one…

God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy shows a surprisingly profound understanding of human nature for such a new author. Her complex novel intertwines the past and present with the subtleties of Indian class and culture to create a rich tapestry of betrayal and spirituality. It is perhaps in her portrayal of the many facets of human betrayal that Roy is at her most proficient and convincing in the novel. Betrayal is a common theme throughout Roy's novel, The God of Small Things, and is seen as adults betray children, society betrays individuals, classes betray castes, and children betray parents, and history and tradition are betrayed.
The impact of betrayal is seen throughout the differing settings of the book; both when the twins are seven years of age in 1969 and when the twins have reached 31 years of age in 1993. Betrayal involves most of the characters in the novel:…

Project Management
Like things information technology management, business intelligence typically implemented form a "project" --, a special kind organizational arrangement set specific things a specific period time, opposed a regular ongoing part organizational structure.

Project management: My experience

"To be successful in the field of BI, a project team needs members with an understanding of and appreciation for the information needs of the user community as well as the technologies" (Wu 2005: 1). It is not enough for a project manager to know how the technology works 'for himself.' He or she must know why, how, and if the technology will be useful to others and will have applications in the field. The project manager must truly be someone who can wear two hats: he or she must be fully abreast of developments in the field and thoroughly understand the technology of the project. Yet the manager must also be…

I can have all of those things but I must be willing to go out and get them on my own, and not expect people to give them to me for nothing. While I realize that some people do get things handed to them, I believe in working for what I want and making my own way.
Now I will be the first person on either side of my family to attend college, and in the land of opportunity that is the United States I know that college will be an amazing and very rewarding experience. One of the things that I think is most important, though, is not the college or even the country, but the spirit that my parents have instilled in me. My parents have influenced me so strongly that I know that I can realize my full potential and make them very proud. They have not…

solar flares and how they go on to cause global warming. Global warming has been an ongoing phenomenon and there are many reasons it has occurred. Apart from the green house effect, global warming could have been due to the solar flares that have occurred. Different researches and theories regarding this matter are discussed in the paper.
Solar Flare

Global warming is a phenomenon that has amazed and frightened everyone ever since it came into being. The consequences and end results of global warming is what goes on to alarm and frighten everyone on earth. If looked at it literally, global warming is basically in increase in the temperature of the Earth's atmosphere. This change and elevation has been occurring ever since the 19th century and is known to increase even more. The change in the global temperature is dangerous because it goes onto increase the sea levels and alterations…

arketing
Tobacco arketing: Get Them Young or Not at All

The tobacco industry has been in a battle to capture the youth market for decades mainly because of the degree of brand loyalty that is characteristic of cigarette smokers. Cigarette companies have a lot at stake in making sure that their brand is one of the first tried by the young smoker. In its bid to obtain young smokers, R.J. Reynolds created the Joe Camel campaign with a cool character that youths found highly appealing and the company created fierce advertising, promotional, and sales campaigns to take their message to market. The Joe Camel campaign proved to be one of the most successful bids to capture young smokers in tobacco history. Ultimately, its tremendous success was in part the reason for the campaign's eventual downfall, as public outcry demanded that cigarette companies stop marketing to adolescents and as courts gained…

The beliefs have changed, the people are no longer unified.
They attempt to unite us in a certain way -- they attempt to get us to recognize that we see one another differently and are frightened by that. They attempt to show us how judging others comes from prejudice. But I think prejudice is part of human nature. Unless we are on the same page about what we believe, how can we know whom to trust, or what to expect of others who are obviously of a different culture? Jesus teaches us to act with charity -- to rise above our human nature -- but not everyone believes in Jesus. Should I act that way nonetheless?

I do not often see charity on the streets of L.A. But sometimes I do. Skin color and culture do not always act as barriers. I see people of different ethnicities talking to one…

Running is just like music, capable of infinite varieties of rhythm and mood. And, like music, running is an art that requires endurance, skill and determination. Often, music and running are not viewed in the same light. Some look upon music as an intellectual activity that has little in common with the physical sport of running. However, this couldn't be further from the truth.
Every runner has their own rhythm similar to the vast array of musical categories. Some prefer the hard driving beat of rock and roll or rap music. This is particularly true of short distance and sprint runners that require a fast pace to meet their goals of completing the run in as little time as possible. Other runners adapt the slower rhythm of classical music and jazz. For example, marathon and long-distance runners adopt a steady, slower rhythm that facilitates endurance over longer periods of time.…