Bowling Vs Humping

How can we compare too irreverent things? Sure, they both deal with blood, gore, and deaths, but is that enough for them to be compared and contrasted? The answer to that question is yes they can. You can contrast that during the Columbine shootings which were held a few years back, the boys enjoyed the gun play and took many lives including there own. While in "The Things They Carried", we have a man by the name of Tim O' Brien who was not a fan of the Boys Scouts, and was on a threshold between joining the war and ditching the war. They both have a lot of similarities also. There is no real setting to both, the director of the movie goes everywhere throughout the U.S while in "The Things They Carried" we go from one part of time to another. Also Bowling for Columbine has some humorous parts like the dog holding gun being cute part while in "The Things They Carried”, Tim Lavender's death brought some laughs here and there and you can't forget about his squadron’s comments about his death. The Columbine event brought a protest to guns throughout the U.S while the Vietnam War was protested from the beginning. We also have some history in both, the director included how guns were popular from the beginning, while O'Brien goes over how the Vietnam War started and how the U.S was in the war for more than beliefs. The movie tries to go into depth by going to person to person and searching for details to why that fateful event ever occurred, while "The Things They Carried" uses many descriptive features and words.

Now, now they aren't that similar. I can always go to the extreme and say that Bowling for Columbine was a movie and "The Things They Carried" is a book. The director of Bowling for Columbine was not actually in the event of Columbine while Tim O' Brien was actually out in the Vietnam War humping what he actually wrote. Only "The Things They Carried" can really show us how Tim was actually feeling, there is no way unless due to some unnatural powers can we ever understand how those two boys felt while doing their dreadful deeds.

So I leave with some words of advice, violence is a bad thing! Don't smoke, read once a week, and live life to your fullest! Okay, Thanks, Bye!

How ironic...

On page 44 of "The Things They Carried" It says, "I was afraid of walking away from my own life, my friends and family, my whole history, everything that mattered to me. I feared losing the respect of my parents. I feared the law. I feared ridicule and censure." This feeling that O'Brien had when he was thinking of running away, I feel the same way when I fail at something. One mistake, can lead to many others. One fail on a simple math test can change your life. It makes you think...Will I make it? Will my parents be mad at me? Am I going to get made fun of? It’s ironic if you think about it. I'm comparing a man who just got drafted to a war he wouldn't like to fight in, with a school experience that I went through, once in a while. So I guess this proves something, a story can make you think. It can relate with some problems that you go through. It may not solve the problem, but it can help you accept that you're not alone.

A question with an infinite amount of answers.

After reading a portion of "The Things They Carried" I wonder what I would have done if I was in Tim O'Brien's position right when he got drafted. Would I freak out? Jump off a building? Or be like Tim himself and wonder whether or not to run away, but then having to think about what he would leave behind. Luckily this issue won't happen to me. (At least I hope not O__O) This is a question I would ask myself when I would think about soldiers of the Vietnam War. How did they handle the situation? Tim couldn't sleep at night, and pictured himself of running away to Canada. I don't know now. Now that I think about it, I'm considering more of becoming a hippie and just protest the war with my fellow hippies. Yeah that’s what I would have done. Call it coward or whatever you want, I call it smart and that’s all that matters.

Letter to the Author

Dear Mr. Tim

After reading "The Things They Carried" I am overjoyed that you wrote this novel! You added so much description and visual effects that it feels like the reader is in the action too. I also loved the fact that you added humor. For example on page 31, (Spin) it says," When the boy hopped away, Azar clucked his tongue and said, "War's a bitch." He shook his head sadly. "One leg, for Chrissake. Some poor fucker ran out of ammo."" I find it amazing you can add those little laughs here and there on such a serious event in history, but one way or another I bow my head to that. To tell you the truth, I love reading your novel because not of the war scenes, but I'm waiting for a joke to appear.