Kara's Protests

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A girl named Kara from “A Letter Home” is similar, but also different to the character Dan in the passage, “Waiting for Dan”. First off, both protesters wanted to reach peace in a non violent way. For example, “A Letter Home” describes the life of Kara who has been having issues at her college. People attending the school were upset that the U.S. soldiers invaded Cambodia. As a result, the students began burning and breaking down buildings. The school then made the Ohio National Guard go to the school to keep peace on campus. However, Kara disagrees with this approach. She believes that violence is not the answer to their problems. Kara states, “we should not be in Vietnam, but burning buildings and throwing rocks at the police will not help. …show more content…

The outcomes of the protests were slightly different. “A Letter Home”, ended with the National Guard shooting the students who were throwing rocks at them. As a result, “Four Kent State students died, and nine students were wounded” (6). These children's’ families will never get to see them again. Whereas, Dan got put into jail for his protest. There is a chance he will get out and be reunited with his family. “Every so often, a rainbow streaks across my heart, but for now, I do the only thing I can. One day at a time, I am waiting for Dan” (10). From this quote, it is obvious that Dan’s family will forever be waiting for him because there is hope for him to return home. Sadly, there is not waiting for the 4 students from Kent State University because they will never come back home. Another big difference between the protests is that Kara and Dan were not supporting/protesting the same cause. Kara wanted to protest the soldiers from violating their privacy at their university and for attacking Cambodia. She felt that it was unfair for the soldiers to have immediately turned to creating a “war” with Cambodia. Unlike Kara’s protest, Dan was against discrimination, which isn’t related to countries or college. He wanted everyone to be equal and have the same rights. He had a difficult time wrapping his head around the fact that people were being mean to other because of something they have no control over, the color of their skin. Thus, Kara and Dan both protested against something, but not for the same

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