Don Tate’s autobiography, The War Within, was written during and after his residency in a psychiatric ward. Written as means of aiding Tate in recovering from his horrific experiences as an infantryman in the Vietnam War, the text allowed him to come to terms with his identity. Published in 2008 under Murdoch Books Australia, the text provides insight as to how belonging changes over one’s lifetime and how this influences one’s relationship to themselves, others and their environment. Raised in the fifties and sixties, Don was born to a troubled Australian family. Clouded by false assumptions of belonging, he attempted to prove his manly worth by volunteering for duty in Australia’s most unpopular war. After suffering years of hospitalization, his society branded him as a “baby killer”, shunning and refusing him a sense of belonging by wiping his military service from formal records. Experiencing self-rejection until reconstructing his identity, The War Within acknowledges how an unrealistic concept of belonging influences one’s past, and how one’s past weighs down upon their future. The text links to the Area of Study: Belonging rubric, as it explores how Tate’s sense of belonging was shaped by personal context, in particular, his upbringing. Violently instilling in him from a young age that all men must be “fighters”, Tate’s patriarchal father limited his potential to make enriching connections towards individuals, groups, communities and the larger world; thus limiting his future ability to develop a healthy identity and healthy personal relationships. This may be seen in Tate’s adolescent notions of acceptance and understanding whilst fighting in Vietnam; his service being voluntary yet influenced by a sense of masculine o... ... middle of paper ... ...al human-like conscience. Contrastingly, Pip’s experiences of life in the upper class present adversity, the superficiality of the wealthy compromising his simple nature. It may be observed that man has ‘domesticated himself’ through centuries of civilization, removing instinct and ancestral knowledge. Thus, unlike Buck, it is difficult for Pip to connect to what is simple and common due to differing degrees of domestication. Fundamentally, Pip has lost his potential to adapt his sense-of-self, further increasing his hardship. The Call of The Wild demonstrates the changing motivations to belonging and the adaptive nature of identity, contrasting the perspectives of cultural and primitive conscience. By offering an insightful a perspective of belonging with the removal of human society’s superficiality, the text may be considered an ideal piece of related material.
Tim O’Brien begins his journey as a young “politically naive” man and has recently graduated out of Macalester College in the United States of America. O’Brien’s plan for the future is steady, but this quickly changes as a call to an adventure ruins his expected path in life. In June of 1968, he receives a draft notice, sharing details about his eventual service in the Vietnam War. He is not against war, but this certain war seemed immoral and insignificant to Tim O’Brien. The “very facts were shrouded in uncertainty”, which indicates that the basis of the war isn’t well known and perceived
His months in Vietnam were filled with bloodshed and human atrocity, and from this, no man could feasibly return the same person. Yet beneath what John endured throughout the war, he suffered many unkindness’ and tragedies that shaped him into adulthood. It was not only the war that made John Wade, but it was John Wade’s existence; his whole life that made him who he was. John Wade craved love, admiration and affection. All his life, all he wanted was to be loved, and his father’s constant taunting hurt him immensely.
“The Vietnam War was arguably the most traumatic experience for the United States in the twentieth century. That is indeed a grim distinction in a span that included two world wars, the assassinations of two presidents and the resignation of another, the Great Depression, the Cold War, racial unrest, and the drug and crime waves.” (Goldstein 1). The Vietnam War is widely regarded as one of the most traumatic experiences in all of American History. Innocent boys trudged through the mud, the heat and the fear that came along with fighting in Vietnam. Tim O’Brien paints a picture of how difficult and traumatic Vietnam was for the soldiers who experienced it in his book, The Things They Carried. Throughout the course of the book the elements of fiction: plot, character and setting all act to serve the purpose in conveying O’Brien’s theme of his work which is revealed to be at the conclusion: a message of universal immortality. In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried setting is the most crucial element in understanding theme, followed by character then lastly plot.
Robert Graves wrote Goodbye to All That, an autobiographical war memoir, staring with a brief introduction to his life, continuing to World War One, and finishing shortly thereafter. Graves voices numerous opinions on various subject matter continually throughout the memoir, however, for certain subjects he tends to contradict himself, between his musings, thoughts and actions. This essay will explore how Graves view on class and social status varied throughout his memoir, and how this pertained to his life.
Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is an excellent piece of metafiction. While highlighting the revulsions of the war, O’Brien often times narrates his personal experiences in Vietnam. Line between fiction and actual account of the war is typically blurred. Book is not only quite descriptive but it also perfectly conveys the horrors and realities of combat. For this research paper I will analyze Tim O’Brien’s ‘The Things They Carried’ and examine the transformations faced by young men, lack of support for returning Vietnam veterans and the bias portrayed in the media.
War has a definite effect on the mentality of a soldier, so much so that many result in insanity during or after the leave of combat. Timothy Findley’s The Wars, portrays the “stupidity, futility and the horror of the terrible losses of the First World War, describing war as an image of the worst that can be within a man” (Anne Nothof Interview). Findley portrays mental aspects as well as physical, that lead to Robert Ross’ demises, specifically, the conditions of war, overall aspect of war taking someone’s life and the feeling of loneliness and silence.
War can be as damaging to the human body as it is to the mind. In Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front, this idea that war causes psychological disorders is represented throughout the book through the main character, Paul Baumer. This book follows the lives of young soldiers in World War I. Together, these men create powerful bonds. They go through terrifying experiences that continue to strengthen their bonds, but also destroy their mental state. Through Paul’s eyes, Remarque shows the devastation that war has on the mind.
The author, Tim O'Brien, is writing about an experience of a tour in the Vietnam conflict. This short story deals with inner conflicts of some individual soldiers and how they chose to deal with the realities of the Vietnam conflict, each in their own individual way as men, as soldiers.
Paul and his generation feel separated from the rest society. Paul feels as though “[he has] been crushed without knowing it” and “[does] not belong anymore, it is a foreign world” (168). Other men “talk to much for [him]. They have worries, aims, desires, that [he] cannot comprehend” (168). His generation of men who fought in the war is “pushed aside” (249) as unpleasant reminders of a war the civilian population would like to forget. After surviving such unspeakable experiences the soldiers feel separated from everyone. Paul says, “men will not understand us” (294). “The generation that has grown up after us will be strange to us and push us aside” (294). After the war most soldiers “will be bewildered” (294) and “in the end [they] will fall into ruin” (294). The soldiers do not have concrete identities as the older generations do. “All the older men are linked up with their previous life” (19). Paul’s generation cannot even imagine any definite post-war plans. Their experiences are so shattering that they regard the prospect of functioning in a peacetime environment with vague anxiety. They have no experiences as adults that do not involve a day-to-day fight for survival and sanity. Paul has a “feeling if foreignness” and “cannot find [his] way back” (172).
In the novel The Wars, Robert Ross is a sensitive nineteen year old boy who experiences first-hand the horrors of battle as a Canadian Soldier in the First World War in hopes of trying to find who he is. Being named a Lieutenant shortly after arriving in Europe, Robert is thrust into combat. War has been a constant part of human history. It has greatly affected the lives of people around the world. These effects, however, are extremely detrimental. Soldiers must shoulder extreme stress on the battlefield. Those that cannot mentally overcome these challenges may develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Timothy Findley shows the effects wars have on individuals in his novel The Wars. Findley suggests that war can change a persons behaviour in many different ways, however it is seen to be negatively more often then not. Robert Ross, the main character of The Wars, shows symptoms of what is known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in today’s society.
Within this poem Bruce Dawe dramatizes the homecoming of Australian veterans' bodies from Vietnam. This is clearly an anti-war poem, reproducing the sentiments of those who opposed the time when this war occurred.
The 1960’s was a decade full of changes and advancements. Events from the 1950’s greatly influenced those of the sixties. The existentialism movement in the fifties led to the evolution of the hippie culture. Not only was this decade full of positive changes and advancements, but the nation dealt with many heated movements as well. Debates as well as intense wars caused times of turbulence. The Vietnam War was fought between America and Vietnam. Many American men were drafted for the war with no choice. One such draftee was a man named Tim O’Brien who, because of the war, became a writer. Tim O’Brien, an author and a Vietnam War veteran, pinpoints the major aspects of the decade in his writing. Tim O’Brien’s short story, “The Things They Carried”, published in 1990, uses symbolism and recurring motifs and themes that fully embody the great turbulence of the decade, and act to connect his work with the Vietnam War.
As a bildungsroman, Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations presents the growth and development of Philip Pirrip, better known as Pip. Pip is both the main character in the story and the narrator, telling his tale many years after the events take place. Pip goes from being a young boy living in poverty in the marsh country of Kent, to being a gentleman of high status in London. Pip’s growth and maturation in Great Expectations lead him to realize that social status is in no way related to one’s real character.
The main character, Pip, is a gentle character. His traits include humbleness, kindness, and lovingness. These traits are most likely the cause of his childhood poverty. In the beginning of the story, Pip is a mild mannered little boy who goes on with his own humble life. That, though, will change as he meets Magwich, a thief and future benefactor. Pip’s kindness goes out to help the convict, Magwich when he gives food and clothing to him. Magwich tells Pip that he’ll never forget his kindness and will remember Pip always and forever. This is the beginning of Pip’s dynamic change. Throughout the novel, Great Expectations, the character, Pip gradually changes from a kind and humble character to a character that is bitter, then snobbish and finally evolves into the kind and loving character which he was at the beginning of the story.
War is a machine that extracts young men and women from reality. It twists their morals until they do not know what is right or wrong. This level of dehumanization and objectification is clearly argued in Ron Kovic’s Born on the Fourth of July: “He had never been anything but a thing to them, a thing to put a uniform on and train to kill, a young thing to run through the meat-grinder, a cheap small nothing thing to make mincemeat out of” (165). War is the “meat-grinder.” Soldiers only matter because they can kill. War tears apart the people fighting it. Coming out of the war Kovic does not know what to do. He is lost. This aimless feeling is similar to the experiences of Jake and the Gang in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. The protagonist, Jake Barnes, and his entourage wander the streets of Paris and Madrid with no purpose. After war, the real w...