1. What are the costs of war, in your opinion? What do you think O'Brien sees as the costs of war? What costs of war do we see daily in the news? Is war, in your opinion, worth the cost?
2. Write a one-paragraph summary of "The Things They Carried." Speaking literally, figuratively, and psychologically, as O'Brien does, what are the things you carry?
3. What do you think about O'Brien's claim: "This book is not about war, but about love, and really, about writing and the power of the story." How does this statement apply to the short story?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think the cost of war is different for each person. For sum it is leaving their families behind and sometimes even losing them. The sad thing is, some Soldiers leave there significant other behind to do there duty and they lose them. What I mean is, they not only lose them to cheating and or just divorce or breakup, but also to change. War changes people and most of the time for the worst. They may not physically lose their life but instead the capacity to be normal. Some people can not handle the time away and just commit suicide verses deal with the loss. For reservist, they financially sometimes are ruined. They leave their civilian jobs salary behind for soldier pay. For those that were successful it sometimes does not make the end meet. It also is hard adjusting back into society. It is to me like being let out of prison. They have to learn what it means to be a civilian again. They can no longer drive a certain way, kill, and react to certain situations in a particular way. For the spouses back in the states they get used to be the head of household and the soldier gets used to not having to deal with the everyday family life. When they are reunited it most of the time takes awhile to adjust back into the roles of a marriage. The news only shows you lose of life. We will never know if the cost of war is worth it because we will never stop having them. You have to not have it to see the consequences of not going!
ReplyDelete