Thomas Hobbes The Things They Carried

The world is driven by emotions that dictate what the world calls reality. Thomas Hobbes seems to disagree with this claim when he states how the world is essentially a complex machine that is solely governed by fact and logic. I disagree with Hobbes because it is evident throughout history and literature that emotions dictate the actions that create reality. Through World War II and The Things They Carried, I intend to depict how emotions fuel the beliefs that create and control reality for everyone.
Even significant historical events such as war are driven by the emotional beliefs between the conflicting sides. Take World War II for example, and how one man’s hatred results in the death of over six million Jewish people. There was no rational behind Adolf Hitler’s actions, only a fierce and inexplicable hatred for Jews. Although some people may argue that Hitler had a logical motive to slaughter the Jews, I would respond that the only plausible motive is that Hitler blamed the Jews for not aiding Germany in World War I. However, even if this

Take The Things They Carried for example, and how Tim O’Brien accidentally kills an innocent Vietnamese man during the Vietnam War. For O’Brien, there was no logic, just the instinctive emotion of fear. Although some people may argue that O’Brien kills the man in order to protect the platoon, I would respond that O’Brien did not see any weapons or uniform that would indicate the man as hostile to the platoon. Furthermore, O’Brien’s emotions prevent him from communicating with the man which forces O’Brien to act upon the only option he deems rational. In this case, the emotion of fear causes a man to act aberrant when he kills an innocent man. This is imperative to invalidating Hobbes’s claim because this shows how one’s irrational emotions drives one to create an irrational outcome through one’s