He made up stories about the guy he killed, but that only made him feel more guilt. “ …the man I killed would have listened to stories about the heroic Trung sisters and Tran Hung Dao’s famous rout of the Mongols… He would have been taught that to defend the land…” (53). Throughout the story Kiowa and Azar tried getting Tim to talk about the situation they were in, but all he did was imagine stories about the dead man to himself. Constantly making up stories, Tim thinks to himself, “…despite his family’s poverty, the man I killed would have been determined to continue his education in mathematics” (55).
History has a tendency to be biased. Always told from the apparent side of the ‘good’. From the British being the bad guys in the Revolutionary War, to the idea, that terrorism raised because of the War in Iraq, the media, as well as other sources, tends to be biased towards the side that we, as humans, are more likely to be able to relate with. However, the untold side of the story is always the one with more facts, and it is the one that is truly the key to figure out motive. The book, Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, written by James Swanson is one, such text that reports how the man who assassinated Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth, created his plan and the manhunt that followed.
All of the stories are very similar because each person is content with their culture, but sometimes feel out of place. For example, in “The Green Killer,” Alan shows that he is jealous of Blaze when he states, “the brilliant, dazzling Blaze Dunn, seventeen; and yours truly, Alan Dunn, sixteen, average,” which compares his average lifestyle to Blaze’s “perfection.” This story is similar to the conflicts in “Tiffany, age Eleven” when Tiffany includes she felt insecure when she once scored the highest in karate, but the first-place trophy was given to another white girl on the team. Both of these stories also show connection to, “The Cutting of my Long Hair.” In this story an Indian girl felt “like sinking to the floor” because she felt insecure
In the midst of evil, you want to be a good man. You want decency. You want justice and courtesy and human concord, things you never knew you wanted.” (p.77) The author also suggests that the characters in this story had to choose a way of living or a cultural identity instead of taking elements from the Vietnamese culture and blending them in a comfortable way to live in. Most notably, the two chapters differ in the themes explored and in the position that the author assumes.
Gregg Easterbrook, a fellow of the Brookings Institution and author of The Progress Paradox, argues in his article “Road Kill,” that people in the United States are not paying attention to a major killer: our roads. In his essay, Easterbrook explains the lack of attention to the threat of road accidents, even comparing it to 9/11, which has become a serious threat to Americans on the road, and even worldwide. Many Americans dismiss the problem, even though it is huge even if it is not perceived as a huge threat like terrorism. Some causes of the rise in accident casualties proposed by Easterbrook are distracted driving and the rapid increase of horsepower. Easterbrook proposes multiple solutions to the problem, such as increased legislation on distracted driving and reducing horsepower in cars (A1-4).
Affairs affect people in different ways, but no one could imagine an affair destroying their ability to psychologically function. The “killings” by Andre Dubus is a shocking story about a killer named Richard who murders frank the man having an affair with his wife, who is his pride and joy. Riveted with murder and passion the author revels the characteristics of Richard Strout’s in the “killings” as a psychological obsessive and controlling person; these traits effect his emotions and behaviors throughout the story. Richards’s anger which evolves throughout the story, is what leads to his obsessive and controlling behaviors. The author explains Richards’s background as a young, striving man, who is overcome by failure, and this contributes
For hundreds of years, people have used art as a way of portraying strong emotions such as passion, lust and joy. One of the more powerful of these emotions is that of loss, which is often portrayed as a overwhelming and devastating feeling. Various forms of art have different ways of conveying emotions, whether it be through the use of melody in music, with colors in paintings or through the thoughts and actions of characters in literature. Several characters in Andre Dubus’ “Killings” clearly display their feelings of loss in the story through the way they are characterized and this highlights the devastating power that loss has on those who are forced to experience it. The protagonist of the story, the grieving father of Matt,
The soldiers in the Vietnam War are portrayed as losing themselves in the chaos and trauma of combat. Through the stories of the soldiers and their experiences, O’Brien explores the ways in which war strips away one's sense of identity and humanity. The author himself is depicted as losing himself in the war. O'Brien served in the Vietnam War, and his experiences inspired much of the book. Through the character of Tim O'Brien, the author explores the ways in which war can strip away one's sense of self and purpose.
Even after all these years, O’Brien is still unable to get the images of Vietnam out of him head, specifically of the man he killed. In the novel, he repeats the description of the man numerous times, almost to the point of excess, saying,“he was a slim, dead, almost dainty young man of about twenty. He lay with one leg bent beneath him, his jaw in his throat, his face neither expressive nor inexpressive. One eye was shut. The other was a star-shaped hole” (124).
In T. Coraghessan Boyle’s short story “The Hit Man”, underlying psychoanalytical themes are present that display an allusion to struggles in human life. The main themes present in this story are dysfunctional behavior, displacement, and an insecure sense of self. Readers see the main character, The Hit Man, go through his entire life struggling with insecurity and other dysfunctional behavior. During this timeline, his dysfunctional behavior represents common struggles and conflicts that occur in common day-to-day life. Relationships with his parents and classmates and also academic struggles seems to be the main contribution to the way this character is represented.
Upon the first line “Killings” was off to a somber and tragic start as we find out his youngest son, Frank fowler, was murdered without serious consequence. Dubus’ story chooses to follow the life of the father, Matt fowler, after this incident and how his life spirals downward to the unavoidable conflict of killing his son's murder, all while fundamentality damning himself to a life of hollow closure and becoming a ghost of his former being. Matt’s regression from his life presents itself as a few too many drinks,”He stopped, looked at willis, and finished his drink. Willis mixed him another,” (Dubus 64). Matt’s grief become increasingly eminent to the reader as described by the following,” He lost frank in a way no father expected to lose
Introduction The book “On Killing” by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman discusses the taboo topic of killing and how humans are affected by it. The author does this with the help of testimonials coming from veterans who served in wars such as World War I, World War II, and Vietnam. The book looks at the act of killing and discusses some of the psychological methods that have been introduced to make soldiers effective killers as well as some psychological effects soldiers face in battle and when they return home. The purpose of this book is “to not only uncover the dynamics of killing, but to help pierce the taboo of killing that prevented the men in his book and many millions like them from sharing their pain” (pg.XXXV).
In “The Murder Traveller” poet William Cullen Bryant employs a variety of literary devices such as juxtaposition, imagery, and tone to create an eerie atmosphere, with the continual thought being that life goes on with or without you. The poet begins by using imagery to create a cynical tone that makes the reader feel unimportant. By using strong imagery of how beautiful nature is even after a person has died, shows the death of the traveler didn 't affect anything around it. The nature continues to grow, people 's lives continue, and the world goes on. The contrast between the imagery of the beauty of nature with the bluntness of a dead traveler, creates this sense of unimportance, “And many a vernal blossom sprung, And nodded careless
Answering the call to serve causes enough moral conflict and killing for the war only adds to it. Tim O’Brien struggles to make sense of his thoughts after killing a Vietnamese man while outside of My Khe. O’Brien writes “The Man I Killed” detailing how the man’s disfigured appearance looks repetitively, and dreaming about what the man’s life must of been like before his death. Afterwards O’Brien reflects saying, “It was entirely automatic. I did not hate the young man; I did not see him as the enemy…”
Boston, Massachusetts is one of the oldest cities in the United States and has a population of over 650,000 people. This city is popular for many reasons and over the past two hundred years has expanded at a very quick growth rate. Massachusetts grew at a growth rate of 0.72% from July 1, 2013 to July 1, 2014 (Miller, Joshua). This rapid growth rate made Massachusetts one of the quickest growing states in the New England region. Within Massachusetts, Boston has been a huge contribution of this growth.
