Hamburger Hill The Things They Carried Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Hamburger Hill The Things They Carried - Essay ExampleIrvins require showed that one of the first things that the soldiers faced when arriving in inelegant was a stark reminder of the serous risk to their lives, as they were asked to sign insurance papers and various different legal forms in case they did not survive. This legal reminder of the danger that faced them was backed up by a serious of training talks given them while in camp, including sessions demonstrate them how serious, stealthy, and committed their enemies were, and even how such normal individual(prenominal) concerns such as hygiene and communication could lead to injury or death. At every level, the stark naked recruits were told to follow orders and to respect their fellow soldiers, and they were told that the only way they would come out alive is if they stuck together. This was perhaps the major theme of Irvins film and it played a strong element in OBriens essay, in the story of the dead soldier Lavender, who died because he wandered off. This process of early acclimation also include instruction on the use of weapons and the necessity of negotiating the many different factors that they would face during the war, from physical wounds to sexually transmitted diseases to psychological wounds from opinions of the people back home when they returned. OBrien describes the variety of planned and makeshift provisions that the soldiers carried with them into battle, including bug spray, odd superstitious charms, and varieties of weapons. Each man carried their own materials, but OBriens essay suggests and Irvins film represents that they also carried their humanity, their hopes and fears. Only in the battle did they also learn to love each and appreciate each other and stick together. Irvins film spends a great deal of time in the early moments showing the soldiers horsing around and fighting, listening to music and playing cards, in order to stress the guide for camaraderie among the soldi ers. One of the keys to this camaraderie was following their leader without question. While the new recruits learned to take this lesson in stride during the early training, they didnt quite entrust it. When they are dropped in the combat zone at minute 4120, one new recruit tries to calm the nerves of another by expression these guys know what theyre doing in regard to their officers. The nervous recruit replied with a sarcastic Oh yeah, definitely. By the end of the film, all such sarcasm had disappeared. They had seen the necessity of bank one another and pulling together in the heat of fire. They had learned that their leaders and the bravery of their fellow soldiers was perhaps the most important thing ensuring their survival. OBriens essay echoes this sentiment, as he relays the feelings of the fictional leader of the platoon he describes. He shows how Lt. Cross takes personally the loss of soldier under his command because he lost focus for a moment. He claims that Cross f elt the pain... blamed himself (p. 6). He had become distracted by his own humanity and his own personal needs for a moment and the soldier had wandered off, not to fight but to urinate. He was killed. Both works stress the way soldiers kept each other honest and diligent, looking out for each other even as they argued among each other. One of the major themes that Irvin emphasizes throughout his film is the difficulties of navigating race