Topic Proposal
The work I have chosen is "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien. I chose to write about this topic because war is fascinating not merely in the violent sense but in the psychological way it affects the soldiers. Wars themselves are always interesting and the Vietnam War was one of the worst wars America ever fought. The war is significant not only because its the closest America has ever come to losing a war, but because it was the first war to have television coverage and therefore was scrutinable by the public eye. The war itself was horrorfest that had no winners, only survivors. In that way, the theme of the story is simply that the war may seem like a glorious experience but in fact its a hellish nightmare where only the lucky really escape from. I need to find more information not only about the war itself, but how it affected the survivors and how the war was treated by the media.
Thesis: The Vietnam War was a hellish time period where the men went over to fight were slowly driven mad by the horrors they witnessed.
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2 comments:
Devin, you have chosen a good story for the analysis and you are right focusing on the psychological effects of war. However your major claim (at least as formulated now) is too general and, most importantly, it is not about the story, but about the psychological issue itself. You assignment is to construct an argument about this story and how its theme(s) are illuminated through the research findings you have in the bibliography. So, make sure that you at least start with something along the lines of “this story reflects war as ….” You could also try to be more specific in your claim: was it only during combat? Were they driven mad because it was war, or because it was this war? Or both? I mean, does fighting far away from home land and on the enemy’s territory change anything? What does this story suggest? Any time you mention a historical or cultural clue, it should be to explain your claim about an element of this story.
I like how you said war is fascinating in the psychological aspect, and how it affects the soldiers. Also, the television coverage that allowed the public to witness the war is important because actually seeing what was happening affected more citizens.
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