"Bowling For Columbine" and "The Things They Carried"

In “The Things They Carried” and “Bowling for Columbine,” both works deal with the involvement of guns. In the movie, the point was to show how easy it was for people to get their hands on guns and that is why there was a need to have a stricter policy for people to obtained guns. Although the setting of the movie took place in a different state from the incident of the shooting in the school, the movie shows that people can get guns anywhere so that incident might just happen again in a different place. The movie was non-fictional and the things that they talked about were about a serious matter.

In “The Things They Carried,” there was no mentioning whatsoever about restricting guns to people, but it has a similarity to the movie. The story talks about the things that soldiers carry when they go off to war, in this case the Vietnam War. The story have detailed and descriptive writings about the different weapons and things that the soldiers carry. The physical weight of these things reflects onto the emotional weight that these soldiers have to live with. They are suffering because of this pressure that they feel of not knowing whether they will ever be able to come home. With the things that they carry, they can use them to motivate themselves to prosper long enough until the war is over and they can be discharged.

Guns were designed to hurt, and even to the extent of taking lives. Violence should not be the solution to anything. If violence were to be dragged into any complex problems, it would only make the matter more complex and even worse. Guns are not toys and should be taken very seriously.

Oh...The Irony

While reading "The Things They Carried," I came across a passage where I found something quite
intriguing and ironic. It was when Tim O'Brien said that he was a coward for going to war, which on the contrary means that it is courageous to stay at home and away from all the dangers of war. Initially, this made no sense whatsoever, but after some thought and a little bit of weird reasoning, this paradox has its logic in it. Someone would be considered coward because they gave into pressure. For example, if you were pressured into going to war and you went, then you are a coward for not taking a stand and resisting.

The Pondering Mind

As I read "The Things They Carried," I thought to myself as to what would I bring with me if I were to be drafted to go to a was far away from home. If I were to be away from my home for a long amount of time, I would definitely miss alot of things. I wouldn't want to be seperated from all the things I have and all the people I know, but if I had to choose only thing to take with me, I would bring a picture of all my family and friends. I would bring this because it will give me hope and a reason to keep on fighting because of everything I left behind to come to this war. I must perservere and return to my home.

Letter to the Author

Dear Mr. O'Brien,

After I began to read "The Things They Carried," I was fascinated by your descriptive writing of a story of a soldier in a war. The sensory details and visual effects give readers the feeling of actually being at the story's setting. Your illustration of the war makes your readers wanting more after every page and what makes this an interesting story to me is that you don't censor out words that stresses strong feelings and you don't omit personal information even if it is a little too personal.

AWOL

One of the passage that I found interesting from "The Things They Carried" was on page 35. In this passge, it talks about a guy going AWOL and be treated by a nurse. This passge shows an instance of a peace story. It states, "A guy goes AWOL. Shacks up in Danang with a Red Cross nurse. It's a great time ---the nurse loves him to death---the guy gets whatever he wants whenever he wants it." The story talks about a guy who is unable to tolerate that enormous amount of peace so he went back into combat. I think that the soldier feels the need to go back to combat because he felt unease from all the calmness and joy. I can sort of understand why the soldier wanted to go back to war. It was probably because he was bored. This passage caught my eye because of the paradox that it had: "All that peace, man, it felt so good it hurt. I want to hurt it back."

Letter From a Soldier

Dear General Smash,

Life behind enemy lines is not very comforting. I have to be highly cautious 24/7, since enemy soldiers are all over the forest. If I let my guard down, enemies will take that advantage against me and either take me prisoner or kill me. I can't find any peace and time to lay down and rest. It has been a long couple of years since I have joined the service, and I miss my home everyday. I miss the home-cooked meals, my warm comfortable bed, and the way I can sleep through the night without worry about dying in my sleep. I hope this war will be over soon so that I can go home to my family.

Sincerely,
Richard Fang

DotA

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