How would you feel if someone you knew was drafting into the army?
How would you feel if you were accidently responsible for another's death?
Sunday, December 12, 2010
The Things They Carried- Tim O'Brien
They Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, is a novel that tells about the horrors of war. It is written in a series of memories over time. A the beginning of novel the protagonist, Tim, is remembering an experience in Vietnam. This memory was about the guilt their captain felt over the loss over one of his subordinates. Ted, a lowly soldier was shot in the head while going to the bathroom. The captain ends up using marijuana and tranquilizers to help control his guilt. Time then explains the events that lead up to him being stationed in Vietnam. He was drafted unwillingly into the army from his happy life in Minnesota. Another memory involved when Curt Lemon dies by playing catch with the medic with a fragmentation grenade. The medic, while accidentalness causing this death still feels extraordinarily guilty. Another two men Jensen and Stump made a pact if either were severely injured the other would make sure he would die quickly. When stump loses his leg to land mine he begs for Jensen to spare him. Jensen is torn between keeping his promise and leaving his friend in pain. Shortly, Stump dies in transit to a medical location, and Jensen feels guily for feeling relieved that his freind is out of pain.
5 comments:
1. i would tell my friend to back out of his decision. drafting is a very stupid thing i feel. especially for my friends who are intelligent individuals. this country isnt worth giving up your life. i will never sign up and i hope i am never drafted.
2. if the death was by accident then i would have mixed feelings. i for one would feel completely guilty for it because if that person had a family, that family has to live life without the individual i accidentally killed. i would also feel obligated to help that family because even though i did not kill the individual on purpose i would feel the need to help in any way that i could.
The draft has been a large worry by men all over this country who do not feel the urge to serve their country. Many who wanted to escape the draft durring World War II and the Vietnam incident came up with hypochondriacal excuses such as "flatfootedness" and other issues that had that don't constitute as acutally diseases.
Personally, I would do anything I could to not be drafted. I don't consider myself to be a military person. I feel that our great country can find a way to keep a strong volunteer military rather than take men who would not normally enter into that kind of position. I will not answer question number two because I feel that I have evaluated this topic enough and I'm positive there is a clear cut answer for that question (sorry pizza). My answer being the generic, "I would feel terrible."
1. Being drafted into the army isn't a choice Jimmy? But whatever. If they were unwillingly being drafted, I would be sad for them, especially if they had a family. Since I think that the draft is stupid, I would help them escape the country, hide, or something.
2.Obviously "I would feel terrible." I would have the guilt of being responsible for someone else's death for the rest of my life. I really don't know how I would move on or deal with this.
1. I would feel horrible if someone I knew was drafted into the army. That kind of experience is something that is life altering and also extremely dangerous. Often times people who sign up to go to war come back with a very different outlook on life, let alone someone forced into going to war.
2. If I was responsible for someone's death in any way possible I would probably never get over it. Something as devastating as that is something that will forever live on in your head and really stop you from ever getting completely over it.
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