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Ghosts of War Synopsis Ryan Smithson didn't have any kind of plan. High school was almost over, and he longed for a purpose. After witnessing the 9/11 attack on television, Ryan couldn't help but think about the military. When he was seventeen, he talked to military recruiters instead of college recruiters. When he was nineteen, Ryan Smithson was deployed. His story represents others like him, and it isn't at all what you thought it’d be. Why I Chose Ghosts of War The cover of this book was the first thing that interested me. Its title, Ghosts of War, was eye catching. After picking up the book, the quote made me pause and read the summary, rather than placing the book back onto the shelf like I had done with countless others. The quote had been “If I don't do something, who will?” I chose this memoir after reading the brief summary because it’s a true story, told by Ryan Smithson himself. His story is an account of a teenager, only a few years older than my peers and I. I had skimmed through the first chapter, and was captivated. An Important Person Ryan Smithson tells his story in first person. At the start of the book, Ryan is a sixteen year old junior attending Columbia High School in Albany, New York. With blond hair and blue eyes, he describes himself as the average teenage boy. Considering …show more content…
the book revolves around Ryan, it's hard not to acknowledge him. However, I believe that he has captured my attention because of his thoughts and views. Movies and stories do not express thoughts that are not-so-fearless. “. . . my mind races with questions. Will there be screaming drill sergeants? Will I be able to handle myself? Is everyone else as nervous as I am?” Thirty pages later, Ryan reinforces the idea that not everyone is as sure of themselves as they'd like to be. “Soldiers seem so durable, so resilient, and so heroic in war novels. On the television screen they're afraid of nothing. I wonder if I have that same courage. Basic training is supposed to teach us bravery and fortitude . . . But courage also means being afraid, accepting a fear of the unknown. Anyone who claims to be unafraid as they sit in a barracks in-processing for war is either lying or crazy. And being crazy is not the same as being brave. Bravery is being afraid of something but facing it anyway.” I have learned to not give up, even if it's the only thing on my mind. On page 22, Ryan states “If this isn't the longest week of my life, then kill me now . . . Each day feels like the end will never come. I haven't even started basic training and I already want to quit, to tell the army to shove that stupid Book up its ass. I don't feel any Smarter.” Quitting wasn't the answer, and he realizes it soon enough. Refusing to give up does not mean he enjoys it, however. “It's time to do my duty, to live up to my promise of service. It's time to abandon my family in the name of my country. Because that's what young men and women do when their country is attacked. Suck it up, I tell my mirror self like a drill sergeant. I'm not doing this for you.” An Important Event The most intriguing part of Ghosts of War is the beginning of the “Red Phase,” part one of three in the book.
Drill sergeants must break them down twice, building them back up afterwards. The first three weeks is the first breakdown - the hardest part. “They tell us we're worthless, that mommy ain't here, and that we are no different than any other rotting piece of compost in army fatigues. They tell us we're not wanted, that our recruiters lied to us, and that we should just go home.” Although most people know that military drill sergeants are harsh, it's entirely different from realizing it’s something that is, well, real - and people have actually experienced
it. Everyone is deprived from any luxury they've ever known. They are left with each other and the hair on their “chinny-chin-chins.” Then, they are forced to shave that hair. There is only one reason for this, one outcome that results from it. Each one loses their identity, and can truthfully say “We're all the same.” Ryan Smithson wasn't the only one - giving up had crossed the minds of many. Ryan was not lying when he said the hardest part was the Red Phase. A lot of people fail, and almost all of the privates who “fail to complete basic training, do so during Red Phase. And the army doesn't care. It doesn't want the washouts. The army doesn't believe in pity, because its enemies don't believe in pity. Only after we have been completely destroyed can we begin to find ourselves.” The Red Phase has taught me that the army is harsh, but only because it's necessary. Before reading Ghosts of War, I was not particularly informed about the phases, names, ranks, etc. I did not understand the need for such harshness. The Red Phase shows that everything's done for a purpose.
Where Men Win Glory is an ironic euphemism for war. The title is ironic because there is nothing glorious about war or the way it ended Pat Tillman’s beautiful life. Jon Krakauer orchestrates this masterpiece with his diligently, articulated descriptions and with a timeline sewn together from the threads of two worlds. The author’s style can best be characterized by his challenging, precise diction and his ability to fluently intervene pertinent quotes and facts that further persuade the reader toward his cause. Throughout the book, the author’s tone harnesses resentment towards the militant hierarchy; for through its ingenuousness, deceit, and manipulation, the military uses Pat’s death as propaganda to bolster the war’s support. Furthermore, the military covers up the fact that Tillman was a victim of fratricide, and it deceives the nation into believing Tillman’s end was a valiant fight against insurgents. When the truth is exposed and pursued by Dannie - Pat’s mother - the army destroys evidence and pleads guilty to ignorance as a rebuttal. This book is molded by three prodigious aspects that help to illustrate Pat’s life story. The carelessness of war, importance of family, and enhancement through change were all important ingredients that created a virtuous life. Each theme, in addition, challenges me personally to reassess the facts I have been fed and the reality that I have been presented. By doing so, I can achieve a sound base of knowledge and an intellectual prowess capable of challenging all facts presented.
David Malter was part of the Jewish sect that took on a more modern approach. He is very understanding, and he cares very deeply for his son Reuven. Reuven and his father's relationship would be considered healthy by most people. They love each other very much, and they have a very open communication with each other.
Timothy Findley pieced The Wars together like a giant jigsaw puzzle. When putting a puzzle together, a person must start off on the outside and work his/her way in, slowly adding piece upon piece until a clear overall picture is seen. Readers have to realize that the themes, characters, and setting within this book operate like puzzle pieces; they each weave themselves within the story and within each other. Their connections are the bonds that hold the book together, and one of the bonds at this puzzle's core is madness. To understand how madness appears to play a major role in the events of the war, we have to know the characters that are mad, the characters that are believed to be mad and how madness affects masculinity.
If you took a sensitive caring person and set them in the midst of a chaotic area, what do you think would, happen? Would these person adapt to this area, and live like everyone else, or would they become a mental mess unable to cope with what is going on around them? This was the theme of the novel The Wars by Timothy Findley, that is exactly what happened. Findley took a sensitive caring individual, Robert Ross and sent him to war. Ross became unable to cope with all of the events that were taking place around him, and eventually went insane. The life that Robert Ross had lived before was nothing compared to what he was experiencing during war. When Robert Ross was a child he was the captain of everything, a popular and academic student. Friends and family loved him, and he was the ideal of any boy in the community. One would think that Robert would have no problem handling the world he lived in, but that would be an inaccurate statement. The first sign of trouble, was Rowena death. Robert and Rowena were very close as brother and sister, losing one another was unbearable for Robert, which started a spiral down to the end result, insanity. Little things like killing Rowena rabbits could not be done, communicating with others was difficult, Robert decided he had to get away. But for someone as sensitive as Robert Ross, war wasnt where he should have gone. The chaos and destruction of war, and everything he experienced, like murders and rape, was unbearable for Robert, and drove him to the end result of insanity, and his death. In The Wars Timothy Findley uses an unusual time sequence to present his story. It is told from the perspective of an author trying to reconstruct the life of Robert Ross. The very first scene is of Robert Ross riding the horses down the tracks around 1918. The story then picks up in 1915 but jumps back to when his sister dies. Throughout the story there is also an element of confusion as the people telling the story, and therefore the perspective also, are constantly changing. The time sequence in this novel varies because it tends to jump from one person's opinion of Robert's situation to another. If this did not occur the novel would be much too depressing to read because of the constant view of war.
Scott Russel Sanders' The Men We Carry in Our Minds. In "The Men We Carry in Our Minds," Scott Russel Sanders tries to show how his views on men are completely different from the views that some women hold. He traces the problem to the country surroundings of his youth. He explains that the men he observed as a child were completely different from the men whom most women might observe.
The non-fiction book Hiroshima by John Hersey is an engaging text with a powerful message in it. The book is a biographical text about lives of six people Miss Sasaki, Dr. Fujii, Mrs. Nakamura, Father Kleinsorge, Dr. Sasaki and Rev. Tanimoto in Hiroshima, Japan and how their lives completely changed at 8:15 on the 6th of August 1945 by the dropping of the first atomic bomb. The author, John Hersey, through his use of descriptive language the in book Hiroshima exposes the many horrors of a nuclear attack.
The essay written by Scott Russel Sanders, “The Men We Carry in Our Minds”, was first published in 1984 in Milkweed Chronicles. In this essay, the author voices his opinion on the conflicts and differences between the social classes, which is told from his experiences as a boy in rural Memphis and as a student in a prestigious university. Sanders believes that these conflicts and differences, when explained by the patterns of the Marxist lens, are factors that influence and alter the course of life of all individuals. Throughout the essay, Sanders holds on to the idea that fate, the inevitable course of life, is largely dependent on the social-economical class of the individual; which can be explained by the author’s escape from lower class,
Carolyn Nordstrom’s A Different Kind of War Story offers a firsthand account from an anthropological perspective of Mozambique’s civil war and specifically looks at grassroots resistance to the efforts of both Renamo and Frelimo forces. She sees her books as an “experimental ethnography” that revolves around the process of war, rather than its location. Nordstrom sees war as “a shared culture of violence” and questions the available definitions of violence in an attempt to delve deeper into analyzing war. In the end, Nordstrom focuses on ‘creativity’ in indigenous Mozambican conflict resolution to defeat political violence while being conscious of her position as an academic throughout. Nordstrom is effective and convincing with her arguments and is able, at the very least; to show her readers a different and new perspective on war and violence.
Justification. Defined as the act of justifying something. To serve as an acceptable reason or excuse for our actions, based on actual or believed information. Throughout the history of not only the modern world, but certainly back to the “barest essentials of reason” our species have made decisions that have effectively shaped our world into what it is today. Or have not. The judgments made in the past may also have been relatively insignificant to a larger picture, but would still be important in one persons or a group of people’s day-to-day life. Either way, choices made in any way, shape, or form, are based on what the decision maker believes to be true or morally right. Timothy Findley displays the abovementioned opinion-based judgments in the novel The Wars. From the background behind the novel, to the ending scene of the main character being burned to the ground in a flaming barn, many choices are made. Whether large and important or small and insignificant, Mr. Findley asks us as readers and as humans to look into ourselves to uncover the reasoning behind the choices, as well as our own actions and the actions of our leaders. The justification for most of the aforementioned incidents in The Wars can be classified under 3 broad-based ideas: safety, self-interest or the moral/general good.
The main problem faced by Ryan during the story is not liking school. However, when he finds a piece of fabric with 'HELP' written on it he is faced with the problems of finding where it came from and why the word was written in mud on the fabric. When he finds the scarf that the fabric was ripped from he soon discovers a little girl in the nearby boathouse. This in turn creates the main climatic problem of having to rescue the little
Drill is an introductory part of every Marine’s career, as it is practiced every day in Marine Corps boot camp. With two competitions used to measure each platoon’s level of skill in close order drill, recruits and their drill instructors work together and better each other to edge out their competition, building camaraderie between each other and giving them a sense of pride in
These secrets show their partner that they are thinking of them and care about their happiness and the well-being of the relationship. In the article The power of secrets, writer Evan Imber-Black says, “We live in a culture whose messages about secrecy are truly confounding.” (Imber-Black). Some secrets are small but slowly erode trust. Fear of a spouse’s reaction can cause individuals to begin to hide something that they purchased or say they were at the office when they were really with friends. A distance will begin to between them and their spouse bit by bit until they are looking across a huge chasm at him or her. Secrets can wreak havoc on the very foundation of a relationship.
It started when Ryan was 5 and he was at the doctors with his family before his older brother was going to get his tonsils removed. The doctor thought that it was odd that after saying Hi to Ryan, he did not respond. The doctor was curious and asked if he could take a look at Ryan (Inspiration for The Rescue). The family was a little concerned that the doctor wanted to look at their child. He came back to the family with his suggestion that Ryan was autistic. Catherine and Nicholas were both very concerned for their son and they took him to get tested. Over the next year, doctors diagnosed many different types of disorders and disabilities (Inspiration for The Rescue). They they started to worry and became very discouraged in the doctors with the little information found about their son’s condition and it starting to take a toll on their life. They finally discovered that, “he has what’s called Central Auditory Processing Disorder(CAPD) which is something akin to “dyslexia of sound””(Inspiration for The Rescue). After the long and grueling process was over, Sparks was inspired to write another book and this time it was about a young woman who had a son that was diagnosed with severe learning disabilities and a couple whose relationship is made stronger in the search for her missing son. Once again, Nicholas shows us the love that people have for one another and a
It is important to go through hard experiences in life to be able to grow as a person and become the best you can be. 'Coming Back' is a novel written by David Hill. It is based in New Zealand and deals with problems not everyone must endure but most have heard of. Ryan and Tara are the main characters in this novel. Ryan is distracted by his friends and doesn't see Tara run into the road. Ryan is an important character because although he is not completely to blame he does take the fault. Reading this there is a lot to be taken from his character and to learn, especially in this situation. One is you have to be strong even if you don't feel it, and preserver through hard times. Secondly we learn from Ryan that having true friends and family
Ever since that day Ryan just drove, not to anywhere in particular, just listening to the radio, not sure where home is or where she can go to feel at home. She explains that she came to space to get away. Her sense of loss made her feel like her only connection to her personal life was destroyed. Her decision to go to space was not only to get away, but to also give herself a sense of meaning again instead of just aimlessly driving around to try and forget the past. Ryan feels like she is not sure where she belongs, by forcing her to find her own way in space she realises that she has had a home the entire time. As Ryan reaches the ISS there is a single shot that symbolises the point of realization. Ryan is symbolically re-born. She is shown to be back in a womb, back to where every human’s first home is. This shot shows how far humans have evolved, and at the same time how much we rely on the environment we need to