The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien
7.29.07
It's a war story, but it is not told in the traditional manner of having a big, burly man mowing down rows of Commie bastards with uber-Capitalist fervor. It is in fact rather uneventful, as it concentrates on listing what the American soldiers carry according to "necessity" in lieu of of illustrating how bullet holes come into being. The list, however, goes beyond the burden of materials, e.g. guns, grenades, cats, etc. It goes on to list the burden of responsibility, being, and love, among others.
I can reasonably say that many of us can sympathize with First Lt. Cross, since a good number of us know just how psychologically heavy immaterial burdens can be. The way that we deal with such burdens, however, differs from how Cross handles them, since Cross cannot escape such burdens. We, on the other hand, aren't exactly in a war, and putting off such burdens does not have much bearing on whether one lives or not.
Take for example love. Cross' continued harboring of such insidious emotions for a "wimman" directly results in the demise of Ted Lavender. The average person, however, only harms himself should he do the same. It nonetheless sucks, however, for harming one's self is not exactly very enjoyable. Love isn't always about romance.
Anyway.
War is depicted as it is; there is no romanticism. War sucks, but some modern soldiers have found time to both fight for their lives and be entertained, seeing as how some of them have posted combat videos on YouTube. XD
7.29.07
It's a war story, but it is not told in the traditional manner of having a big, burly man mowing down rows of Commie bastards with uber-Capitalist fervor. It is in fact rather uneventful, as it concentrates on listing what the American soldiers carry according to "necessity" in lieu of of illustrating how bullet holes come into being. The list, however, goes beyond the burden of materials, e.g. guns, grenades, cats, etc. It goes on to list the burden of responsibility, being, and love, among others.
I can reasonably say that many of us can sympathize with First Lt. Cross, since a good number of us know just how psychologically heavy immaterial burdens can be. The way that we deal with such burdens, however, differs from how Cross handles them, since Cross cannot escape such burdens. We, on the other hand, aren't exactly in a war, and putting off such burdens does not have much bearing on whether one lives or not.
Take for example love. Cross' continued harboring of such insidious emotions for a "wimman" directly results in the demise of Ted Lavender. The average person, however, only harms himself should he do the same. It nonetheless sucks, however, for harming one's self is not exactly very enjoyable. Love isn't always about romance.
Anyway.
War is depicted as it is; there is no romanticism. War sucks, but some modern soldiers have found time to both fight for their lives and be entertained, seeing as how some of them have posted combat videos on YouTube. XD
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