“War is like love, it always finds a way” (Bertolt Brecht). Although one is pure and the other evil, the forces of both love and war influence the best stories. A more interesting topic emerges when a character must choose between loyalty to a loved one and devotion to government. In “The Sniper” and “Cranes” the main character is involved in a civil war that calls for allegiance to the government despite his feelings for a loved one who fights for the opposite cause. “The Sniper” and “Cranes” share similarities and differences in the plot, the characters, and the theme. Although, these stories are two similar pieces of literature and share many similarities, they both are unique from one another and consist of many differences.…
Mary Anne did not originally dream of consuming the war, yet after converting to the dangerous and edgy lifestyle, she says, “Sometimes I want to eat this place. The whole country -- the dirt, the death -- I just want to swallow it and have it there inside me” (106). The war unapologetically and completely corrupted a young innocent girl and transformed her into a nasty war animal. Tim O’Brien’s dream was to avoid the war at all costs, yet he participated in the war and took a life. War brought out the evil instinct Tim inherited and although he wanted nothing to do with the war, “Beyond anything else, he was afraid of disgracing himself” (121). Norman Bowker’s dream was to find an escape from the war and be at peace with the loss of his friend. However, his guilt would not let him live with himself. He tried to cope with the grief by occupying his time with pickup basketball and odd jobs, but the war made Norman feel so alienated and alone that he physically could not talk about it and thought the best decision was to take his life. The conclusions drawn about men and war are that it brings out the negative qualities in people and although one can physically escape the war, the war never emotionally leaves someone…
During times of war, people were faced with challenges and conflicts where they were forced to make difficult decisions. Everyone had their own reasoning behind the decisions they made; whether they were wrong or right was determined by them. At an early age people learn through childhood experiences how the world works. This shaped who people became and governed their future actions. All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr, proved that individuals’ decisions were influenced by the ethics and beliefs they formed in their childhood.…
“War does not determine who is right - only who is left.” This quote was written by Bertrand Russell, a British author, mathematician, and philosopher. This quote explains that in war it does not matter whether or not you do the right thing, but whether or not you know how to survive. This quote relates to Liam O’ Flaherty’s short story and Thomas Hardy’s poem. In “The Sniper” by Liam O’Flaherty and “The Man He killed” by Thomas Hardy both literary works show similarities and differences by the use of plot, irony, and theme.…
Military General in American CIvil War, Robert E. Lee. Lee was is known for commanding the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia during the American civil war (Wikipedia). Lee eluded that war often has the tendency for brothers and friends to turn their backs on one and other. The idea of war is to have mankind gain a sense of peace on earth. However it is in fact, decaying our civilization, along with mankind. “The Sniper” by Liam O’Flaherty and the poem “The Man He Killed” by Thomas Hardy are two pieces that deal with the issues of war, and in fact share many similarities and differences in the areas of plot, irony, and theme.…
There are many principles that set us up as a non-democratic nation. Which, are Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Conscience, and Freedom from Arbitrary Search and Seizure. John Locke and John Stuart Mill were two political theorists who lend a hand in shaping these evolving ideas about liberty and political rights. Having Freedom of Speech allows us the right to express any opinions without restriction. Having Freedom of Assembly allows the individual right of people to come together and collectively express, promote, pursue, and defend their ideas. Having Freedom of Conscience gives us the right to follow one’s own beliefs in matters of religion and morality. Having Freedom from Arbitrary Search and Seizure allows everyone…
What Tim O’Brien is telling readers about is how true stories about war can make people feel more emotion. Some stories are full of emotion that touches a reader’s mind when they imagine the feeling of a character.…
According to Kurt Vonnegut, “...there would always be wars... they were as easy to stop as glaciers” (Vonnegut 3). And from these wars come the stories of those who struggled through them. Night by Elie Wiesel, Maus by Art Spiegelman, and Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut all show how the choices people make when they are in danger are generally selfish, attempting to save their own lives and rarely aiding anyone else. People are selfish by nature and will only look out for their own interests, although they are capable of caring for those around them, but will betray even those they love if they benefit from it.…
J.F. Clarke once stated, “The bravest of individuals is the one who obeys his or her conscience.” To me, this statement means that any individual who follows their conscience, and what they find to be right or wrong, is most brave, or strong, because they step away from society’s opinion and go with their own feelings whether it be what they need or desire. I agree with this statement because I also feel that an individual who listens to their conscience shows bravery. In my opinion someone who follows their conscience rather than society’s standards shows a lot of strength. It takes a lot of character for a person to leave their comfort zone to do the right thing, especially when that person has no support. Two literary works that support my opinion are The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. In both of these literary works the protagonists are faced with life altering decisions where they must make choices and differentiate right from wrong while having no support from other characters.…
These myths however do not permit civilians to acknowledge the ruthlessness and brutality that American soldiers are forced to face when they are sent off to war. The loss of innocence is what is focused on most in the novel, the soldiers are thrown into a harsh reality where they are shown the trials of war. In the end, they come to the understanding that the movies and campfire tales that depict valiancy and honor are just falsified images of a vacant idea; that war is full to the brim with horror and meaningless destruction of soldiers who are not at fault for what they have…
In 1983, two businessmen, Murray Waldron and William Rector laid out a plan to start a discount long-distance provider called Long-Distance Discount Service (LDDS). The company began in Jackson, Mississippi. In 1985, LDDS selected Bernard Ebber, who was an early investor, to become chief executive officer. LDDS went public in August 1989 when it acquired Advantage Companies, Inc. LDDS name was changed to LDDS WorldCom in 1995, which later became known as just WorldCom.…
He exlpains that young man does not want to be in the war and he sees the reflection of himself in the young man’s life that he makes up. Like when he was back in Minnesota, he did not want to be in war so he attempted to escape to Canada yet when he looks back, he sees all the memories he has with the country he is about to leave and knows he will never be able to. “Which separates Minnesota from Canada, and which for me separated one life from another” (47). He does not believe in war and he has no intention of killing anyone. “In June of 1968, a month after graduating from Macalester College, I was drafted to fight a war I hated” (42). He also gives the Vietcong soldier about how he does not want to be in the war and he just join the war to make his family proud. “In the presence of his father and uncles, he pretended to look forward to doing his patriotic duty” (127). The fictional life he gives Vietcong soldier is that he always afraid to go to war and he also ashamed to not to attends the war. Just like The young soldier, Tim was at first do not want to go to the war but he does not want to live the rest of his life with the embarrassment for not going to the war. “It had nothing to do with morality. Embarrassment, that’s all it was”…
When involved in a conflict, individuals will often have to choose from a myriad of decisions. There is a wide array of factors influencing one’s decision in a conflict. It is part of natural human behaviour to favour physical survival when threatened with danger. Additionally, in order to maintain power, people may forsake their values, casting a blanket over any truth that may compromise their power or influence. However, one’s moral values may take priority over physical integrity, endangering or sacrificing their lives in the name of their values.…
In today 's society, we use certain objects such as machines every single day to perform jobs and tasks that would require human intelligence and judgment. Artificial Intelligence allow machines to send information in a matter of seconds, regulate ground and air traffic, guide missiles, and can perform any human task, but what if machines are create more like humans in the near future. Would we welcome them into society as one of the guys ' or would we discriminate their kind? The excerpt on Machine Consciousness by William Lycan argues the points for and against the human acceptance of an intelligent machine.…
Providing an alternative view to the theories of weak artificial intelligence is strong artificial intelligence. This approach redefines intelligence to include more than just the ability to solve complex tasks, or simply convince observers that such a quality exists within a system, as per the Turing Test. Strong AI theory rests upon the principle that complex machine systems such as neural networks are capable of establishing connections between different sets of data which were not previously programmed into the system. In other words, the ability to learn. A system which begins and continues to learn, creating and building a knowledge base, it is theorized, increasingly has the ability to exhibit intelligent behavior (Gackenbach, Guthrie, Karpen 1998).…