Vietnam Rat example essay topic

Am Literature Tarriq Hansrajh 06/07/05 4 thEntry #1: In my pockets: Cell phone - 5 oz Keys - 2 oz Wallet - 3 oz In my backpack: Spanish book - 5 lbs Trig book - 9 lbs 4 1 inch binders - 12 lbsUSHAP notebook - 1 lb Other misc. items - 1.5 lbs Total Weight: 29 lbs 10 oz This estimate does not surprise me at all because when I think about all the work that we have to do I remember all the textbooks that we have to carry around. In addition sometimes I come home with my back aching, but that's usually only when I carry my US HAP notebook with me as well Am Literature Tarriq Hansrajh 06/07/05 4 thEntry #2:" Rat" Kiley was born Bob Kiley on April 7 1939 in Albany, New York to Marie and Charlie Kiley. At age 11 Bob was given the nickname "Rat" by one of his friends when they were walking home from school one day when apparently Bob fell into a large open dumpster and when he emerged he had a few strings of spaghetti sticking out of the back of his pants. The nickname stuck with him all the way to his adulthood.

Rat graduated from Creekside High School in 1957. He did not want to attend college right away but wanted to work in one of the factories in his home town to earn some money to pay for college. Even then his co-workers called him "Rat". Two years later he had managed to save ten thousand dollar to put toward his college tuition but unfortunately he was drafted just like the rest of the men his age who were not attending college.

When he was in Vietnam Rat encountered many terrible situations and was faced with severe heart ache when his best friend Curt Lemon is killed by a landmine. Rat was devastated by this terrible event and felt an extreme sense of loneliness especially when he wrote a letter to Curt's sister and she never responded. Rat fought through the rest of the war seeing too many tragedies that are too horrible to mention here and when he returned to his family in 1973, two years before the war ended they found his behavior very strange. They found that he was not the same person that he was before and eventually the found that he had gone completely insane. Rat would mumble things to himself and would scream as if he saw his friend Curt being killed right in front of him. One night Rat apparently got up out of his bed and walked down to the basement of his house.

There in his basement he climbed into his large freezer and closed the door trapping himself in with no way out. He died at the age of 34 in 1973. Am Literature Tarriq Hansrajh 06/07/05 4 thEntry #4: Dear Family, I have not written in a while because my mind has been preoccupied with many things and for this I apologize. I must say in my own defense that it has been terrible things that have been keeping me from writing.

Well, first of all I am fine, obviously, but by the time you get this letter that might have changed. This place is a demon that haunts me all the time. No matter what I do I can't help but think about the war and what's happening around me. There is one good memory that I have of this place; this is such a dark and terrible place. Vietnam is like a black hole; it sucks in all life and destroys it without emotion. It cares nothing for the individual and what life has or had in store for him.

No, this place kills without discretion. Every step you take could very well be your last. Curt knows too well about that. He was standing right in front of me and then just like that his body was torn to shreds. Yes, Vietnam is an evil place, so deceptive and sly, it hides untold danger beneath its blackened soil.

All we were doing was playing with smoke grenades and then the mine tripped and Curt was gone. As he went down to the ground there was a shaft of light on his face. Tim said it was like a spot light signaling that it was his time to die. Tim could somehow see a beauty in his death, and that I could not understand. But now I feel horribly empty inside, there is a hole in my chest, not only from the loss of Curt but from what I did to that baby water buffalo. But I deserved it.

It probably brought the mine with his f king gook owner. Please write back to me soon. I wrote to Curt's sister to tell her what had happened but she hasn't written me back yet. So please write to me soon. Love, RatA m Literature Tarriq Hansrajh 06/07/05 4 thEntry #5: It was just around sundown when Lt. Cross told us that we would be stopping for the night. We had stopped just at the entrance of thick dense forest just where the tree line hit the open field.

The sun was just fading behind the mountain as the last lines of light shot through the trees and onto our campsite. Kiowa and Rat were digging their trenches next to each other". What a f ed up war this is eh Kiowa", said Rat". Yes Rat this is a horrific war, men should not have to endure the tragedies that we have endured here."I mean this is something that we have nothing to do with. I sure as hell didn't want to drag my ass half way across the damn earth to fight some f king war that doesn't affect me", replied Rat". It's like my uncle said, 'the old men cause the war and the young men fight it', and I agree with him whole hearted ly", said Kiowa".

And it's the young men that die, young men, good young men like Curt. Dammed war taking the lives young men, with the help of those f king gooks out there I'm surprised that we " re not all dead already."Well my friend, there's one thing that you have go to learn about America, and that is that she has a hard head. Harder than any nation on this earth and her resolve is just as hard. We may very well lose this war but we will surely fight down to lady liberties last breathe".

Am Literature Tarriq Hansrajh 06/09/05 4 thEntry #7: 1) What inspired you to write this novel? 2) Are any of the characters in this book based on the people that you met while you were in Vietnam? If so, who? 3) Was there ever a time during the war were you did not care if you died or not? 4) Was there a time when you wanted to die because continuing was just too difficult? 5) What was your most tragic experience during the war?

Am Literature Tarriq Hansrajh 06/09/05 4 thEntry # 8 Dear Sam, By now you must have seen many movies about the Vietnam war that attempt to recreate the horror of that ill fated war. But I tell you that no movie, with what ever special effects it may have will ever truly capture the terror of war. Actor play the part of soldiers without the burden and fears that we carried because they know that should anything unplanned happen the director will immediately call cut and the scene will end. They go on without that constant fear that we carried the fear of dying of losing our friends, of seeing all the horrors. I tell you the truth Sam, war is something that can't be described. My friend Tim O'Brien once said that trying to explain what war is like is like trying to tell someone what chocolate tastes like.

All I can say is that once you finish a war you will never be the same person you were before. The things you see are what change you. The destruction of the human body will numb your compassion for human life until death and murder is almost normal and a part of everyday life. Yes, you will lose all respect for human life but at the same time you will gain respect because war will make you see what is truly important in life. It will show you how fragile the human life is and how that each person has a different purpose in the world.

My friend Tim at times contemplated for days on end what the lives of the men he killed were like. He wondered whether they had families or not; sons, daughters, wives, mothers and father, what kind of jobs they had. When he did this he would feel a great sense of grief for the dead. This is the respect that you gain in a war.

Sam my boy pray, pray that you will never experience what I have experienced. I will pray that the sacrifices I made in Vietnam will save you from repeating my history. Love, Your Grandfather Am Literature Tarriq Hansrajh 06/09/05 4 thEntry #9: 1) Pg. 16: "All he could do was dig... he realized that she did not love him and never would". 2) The chapter "Enemies". 3) Pg. 70 "They were just goofing... vines and white blossoms". In ever one of these passages a terrible event has occurred and what comes out of them in the end is a sort of revelation for each person that has gone through the trauma.

Lt. Cross finally finds that Martha does not love him. Dave Jensen finds that he can't take the guilt of what he has done to a fellow soldier and injures himself to make it equal and Tim finds almost the beauty in the death of Curt Lemon. Am Literature Tarriq Hansrajh 06/09/05 4 thEntry #10: How to Clean Your Room: First you have to start with the things that are already lying around in your room. What I would so is make a pile of all the different types of things that are lying around my room. For instance I make a pile of all the electronic equipment I have, then a pile of all my clothes, then papers and school books and binders and finally miscellaneous items that are lying around the room. After that I go through each pile and figure out what I need and what I don't need.

In the electronic pile I find out what still works and if I haven't used and item in more than six months I usually throw it out. Next in the clothes pile I find out what is dirty and what is clean and then I take the dirty clothes to the laundry room and I dispose of all the electronic waste. Next file all the old school work away in a binder that has all the old work that I have completed. Once I have sorted out all the pile I go to my closet and my dresser and see what needs to be cleaned out or what I can get rid of. After I make the piles "keep" and "trash" I throw away all the trash or get it ready to go to Goodwill (your parents will like the tax break they get of this) and then I neatly pack away all the items back into my closet and dresser.

I would strongly recommend that you do this at least every three months. That way your parents won't constantly be on your case about cleaning your room because most of the time it will be clean thanks to this excellent program. And trust me it works extremely well because I have tested it for years and it hasn't failed me yet!