AP Language: Final Response to The Things They Carried

AP Language: Final Response to The Things They Carried: Even though The Things They Carried  is set during the Vietnam War, in what ways is it relevant today, with regard to war and politics as we...

This book is relevant to today in more ways than one. First off in politics we tend to ignore the actual glaring problem and just deal with the easy stuff and what would benefit a select few people rather than the whole. You can see this in all the health care plans and what not. In the book you see it in the whole point of going to Vietnam. Even the soldiers fighting over there don't know why they or fighting or for what. In addition they were largely ignored when they were able to return home. Just as our society today tends to ignore the needs of the poverty. We believe that they need to deal with it themselves and that they will be "all right." The soldiers in Vietnam were changed and had to face many fears. Just as many children change and face their fears today. However they don't have to do it through a war, but the underlying meaning of change is still there. You become a different person through going to college, changing home environments, or a war.

Final Response to The Things They Carried

Even though The Things They Carried is set during the Vietnam War, in what ways is it relevant today, with regard to war and politics as well as our personal struggles?
Share your response and respond to one other response by midnight Monday, May 27th.

AP Language: SH5 versus The Things They Carried

AP Language: SH5 versus The Things They Carried: In your first sections of reading from The Things They Carried , what have you noticed in the novel that is similar to SH5 ?  Briefly summa...

They way that Tim O'Brien writes is very similar to Vonneguts in that it is a very short and choppy type of writing. They both go from one story or situation freely and without warning really. They both are trying to  make us feel the feelings they had during the war. Even though we know that their stories aren't wholly true, we believe them because of the feeling they give us which is exactly what both authors are trying to do. Make us actually feel what they felt. In addition they both put themselves in their stories. Talking about the process they went through to get to the point where they actually wrote the stories. Also they put themselves in the actual story parts about war too but only in a minor way. Another similarity is that they both didn't want to actually write the book but felt they had to, in order to keep living.

SH5 versus The Things They Carried

In your first sections of reading from The Things They Carried, what have you noticed in the novel that is similar to SH5?  Briefly summarize the moments in the plot/novel, then explain how it is similar to SH5.