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Extract From 'More Than Just A Target'

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Statement of intent: I have chosen to write an extract from a novel, called ‘More Than Just a Target’, aimed at American youth and young adults. The text is about a American man who has been conscripted into army, to fight in the Vietnam War. The purpose of the text is to inform the younger generation of the hardships of war. Specifically, it portrays to them how war can desensitise people to violence and hatred, through the juxtaposition of the main character and the antagonists.

More than a Target
You need to run.
You need to get out of here.
My mind was racing and I couldn’t think straight; I needed to leave, but instead I stood there. I stood there like a complete fool, unable to do anything. The Việt Cộng had come out of nowhere. They …show more content…

I held it firm, but I knew I would never be able to shoot it. Not at a person anyway.
A target doesn’t have feelings.
Or a family.
I have feelings and a family.
So do they.
The piercing shriek of the insects surrounded me, each one of them jumping around at their own free will. They mocked me as I stood there deathly motionless, reticent.
The men started to search around. They looked around stern, unafraid. If they saw me, they could shoot me with a swift pull of a trigger. They were programmed automatic robots ready to kill anyone. And now, it was my turn; they were programmed to kill me.
I hid further behind the tree, the only safeguard protecting me from death. It wearily strained to keep its dead and lifeless branches held high. It had been destroyed in the war.
But still, it stood stronger than me.
I could hear the men walking around, trying to look for me. The weren’t afraid. Why would they be? There were three of them, and only one of me.
The metronomic sound of one of the men tapping his vile fingernail on the metallic surface of his gun echoed inside my head. Each echoing tap in time to the seconds I had left to live. Counting down to my final

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