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Philip Caputo Sparknotes

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Philip Caputo, a former American Lieutenant, wrote the influential memoir, A Rumor of War, recapping his memories and perspectives serving during the Vietnam War. A Rumor of War was published in 1977, shortly after the US withdrew from Vietnam, and reflects the cultural and political context of that time period. The Vietnam War was one of the most disputed conflicts in United States history due to its extreme controversy and execution during its span. Throughout the story, Caputo’s memoir offers a thoughtful and introspective recollection of his experiences in Vietnam, and addresses instances of good and evil, justice and injustice, and the devastating consequences that come from war. Throughout the memoir, Caputo develops as he first-handedly …show more content…

Walking with his battalion down a trail, Caputo thinks about all the men who have died and about his possible death, where he says, “Thousands of people died in each week in the war, and the sum of all their deaths did not make any difference. The war went on without them, so it would go on without me” (Caputo 260). Thinking that he could possibly die at anytime, Caputo reflects on his actions he took within the war, and comes to a conclusion that even though he had numerous accomplishments within the war, he still felt that he didn’t make enough of a difference and that the war would still go on without him as it has with others dying. Additionally, he also uses a metaphor to further develop his mindset, in which he states, “Certainly, I had no illusions that my death, if it came, would be a sacrifice. It would merely be a death, and not a good one either … I was a beetle. We were all beetles, scratching for survival in the wilderness. Those who had lost the struggle had not changed anything by dying” (Caputo 260). With this in mind, Caputo continues to develop his perspective on morality and determines the lives lost in this war will not have a significant meaning if this war is won. He also includes this quote to show how insignificant he feels his position is as a soldier, and how they would be sacrifices for the greater good of the war. After serving his time in Vietnam, Caputo leaves in 1965, where a few years later, he observes the United States losing the war, thus confirming the moral fight for democracy in Vietnam all for

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I still feel their loss. I still ache for my failure to protect them.” He had an elevated level of selflessness, and this desire to help his comrades literally saved

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He told me that it was a good kill, that I was a soldier and this was a war, that I should shape up and stop staring and ask myself what the dead man would 've done if things were reversed” (O 'Brien 127). Response: This idea is really significant, because it represents the plain truth of the war: You either kill or get killed. You don 't really have any other choice. Yet, you cannot just kill and move on.

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In the memoir A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo, Caputo enlists in the United States Marine Corps after he graduates college in the hopes to end his dreary days of comfort living in a small, suburban town in Westchester, Illinois. Growing up in the secure, comfortable, and peaceful environment his whole adolescence, Caputo hungered for danger, challenges and violence. He was eager to prove to the others around him of the fact indeed he was coming into his independent manhood, as well as the confidence about that the war should not last so long. War is always attractive to those who knows nothing about it. Due to John F. Kennedy who awakened missionary idealism among the youthful innocent Americans, the war in their minds were full of illusions

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The murder trial had stirred up his thinking on the war. Though he regretted his actions in the incident, he believed that they were the natural extension of the things they were taught and encouraged to do in the war. He was frustrated by military court’s refusal to consider factors of the war. It further inflamed his belief that the war had produced a spirit of brutality, which corrupted the moral condition of those who had engaged in it, and that the military command did not operate with intellectual consistency. A plane could bomb a village of civilians and somehow have it be treated as a legitimate war action, while foot soldiers encouraged to hunt down the enemy at all cost and getting civilians caught in the process was taboo.

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Readers, especially those reading historical fiction, always crave to find believable stories and realistic characters. Tim O’Brien gives them this in “The Things They Carried.” Like war, people and their stories are often complex. This novel is a collection stories that include these complex characters and their in depth stories, both of which are essential when telling stories of the Vietnam War. Using techniques common to postmodern writers, literary techniques, and a collection of emotional truths, O’Brien helps readers understand a wide perspective from the war, which ultimately makes the fictional stories he tells more believable.

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In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, the author retells the chilling, and oftentimes gruesome, experiences of the Vietnam war. He utilizes many anecdotes and other rhetorical devices in his stories to paint the image of what war is really like to people who have never experienced it. In the short stories “Spin,” “The Man I Killed,” and “ ,” O’Brien gives reader the perfect understanding of the Vietnam by placing them directly into the war itself. In “Spin,” O’Brien expresses the general theme of war being boring and unpredictable, as well as the soldiers being young and unpredictable.

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“To generalize about war is like generalizing about peace”, words from the American novelist, Tim O’Brien. I inferred from his statement that the depthness behind these two intangible concepts is unfathomable. One cannot simply explain the who, what, why, when, where, and how’s of each concept without reaching a block. The novel The Things They Carried, was written in 1990 and is a collection of short stories from soldiers, each about the effect the Vietnam War left on them. The Vietnam War was a time where America was torn on whether fighting in the battle was the right thing to do.

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He does so by juxtaposing the two lives that the Veterans could have had through the repetition of the phrase, “Gave up. . .”. He does so to compare the ways of life that they would have had to the ones that they embraced when choosing to serve their country. This generates an emotional response from the public that portrays the image that those who have served have sacrificed not only one life but multiple thus so, deserving the utmost respect and honor.

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In a world ridden with war today, it is seemingly impossible for a human not to have an opinion on the violence and anger, being thrown around like an American football on a Sunday. Tim O’Brien, the author of many short stories about the Vietnam War, included many of the important thematic issues, including cowardice, leadership, burdens, judgement, courage, and heroism. Of course, I myself have many views on war. I will discuss why I oppose war, whether or not I would fight in a war, and overall how my opinions on war have evolved throughout our conversations in class these past weeks.

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General Patton said “No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. You won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country” (2015, p.3).Not only did he give them hope, but also, he encouraged them to not be afraid of the war they were going to fight. Moreover, Patton motivated his men, he was a great leader that led the soldiers to win the world war two, and he was also, a great

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As I look back upon the battlefield we beheld the dead lying there as if the have fallen through resilience. An awful spectacle! Dead comrades and foes, pompous horses, and fragmented

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Conclusively, there are many themes that Randall Jarrell portrays in his short poem The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner. Moritz sheds light on the fact that “He seems to object to war because it’s unnatural way for people to die. He suggests that an individual human life during war is nothing.” One of Jarrell’s best World War II poems, he expresses little emotion but says so much in this

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Selfless devotion of one’s life is necessary to be an honorable fighter. As the youth fled the battle, he thinks, “that he had never wished to come to the war. He had not enlisted of his free will. He had been dragged by the merciless government. And now they were taking him out to be slaughtered”, and demonstrated how fear has overcome him.

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Instead the fighting was still glorified, but the soldiers were told that they had to adapt these evidentially negative qualities in order to vanquish. I applied this in that they were told changing these characteristics before fighting would make them better than the others and would thus be the only way to survive. The effect that this could have on a soldier afterwards was interesting to explore. I also took some inspiration from Owen’s poem Anthem For Doomed Youth, where he further highlights the unnecessary nature of war. What I took from this piece was the metaphor described in the first line “What passing bells for those who die as cattle?”.

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The events that occurred in Vietnam remain a debate which continues to threaten our country’s politics. I will not deny our country was left with a scar which the years have shown us may very possibly never heal. I write from Washington as one who witnessed the politics that landed us in Vietnam, as one who supported the United States ' decision to get involved in this fight which could only have been described as taking place worlds away. The war may have been bloody, as all wars are, and the results may not have been the favored ones we had intended, but I stand by our decision. My intentions are not to paint over the events that took place in Vietnam as the ideal pathway, not to justify but to explain.

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