The Song, Like Toy Soldiers, By Eminem

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Recommended: The psychological effects of war

Garrett Spray Spray 1

English 2

Ms. Hill

May 13, 2014

The Things They Carried Comparison

The song, Like Toy Soldiers, by Eminem, illustrates a similar theme of the internal

struggle people have about their reputation as expressed by O'Brien during Ambush. Previously

during O'Brien's time in the Vietnam War, Kiowa and O'Brien were taking turns on look-out in

the jungle as a two-man team where O'Brien unconsciously threw a grenade at a Vietnamese

native passing by and killing him. O'Brien gives off the feeling that he in unsure on how to

handle himself emotionally and tells the reader, "Even now I haven't finished sorting it out.

Sometimes I forgive myself, other times I don't. In the ordinary hours of life I try not to dwell on

it..." (O'Brien 128). In addition to dealing with mental conflict, this chapter also gives a small

taste of what O'Brien has felt about himself and his reputation after his incident in Vietnam. The

theme of internal conflict along with reputation relates to O'Brien's experience in the way that he

shows that it has been affecting him for a fairly long period of time. "In the ordinary hours of life

I try not to dwell on it..." (O'Brien 128). His statement implies that it has affected him in a way

where he can't comprehend whether or not he finds himself a reputable person. This is proven by

the fact that he mentions "Sometimes I forgive myself, other times I don't." (O'Brien 128). when

dealing his with mental stress. Also, this authenticates that he has being playing with himself

emotionally, not knowing whether he can actually move past his bad experience on Vietnam or
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not while keeping his reputation inta...

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...entions
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was good." (Eminem). This implicates that he is proving that he feels he has a role as an artist.

In relation to Ambush, the tones compare well to each because both have a person with a

reputation on the line due to their individual mistakes. Both display a serious tone by the way

they word it. Eminem says "That was never for my object for someone to get killed...",

(Eminem). which is a serious statement because before that, one of his friends were killed and he

felt like he was the one who caused it. And that correlates with solemness. With O'Brien, he says

"I was a soldier and this is a war, that I should shape up and stop staring and ask myself what the

dead man would've done..." (O'Brien 127). This too is a serious statement and it's supposed to be

taken seriously because O'Brien had just killed someone.

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