The Windtalkers is an American film directed/produced by John Woo. In the movie, we meet the fictional characters Sergeant Joseph “Joe” Enders and Navajo Code Talker, Private Ben Yahzee. We also meet Sergeant Pete “Ox” Anderson and Navajo Code Talker, Private Charlie Whitehorse. Enders had survived the battle on the Soloman Islands with a scar and potential deafness in his left ear. With the help of his pharmacist, Rita, Enders returns to battle with the assignment of protecting navajo code talker Yahzee. The Navajo Code was used to communicate orders without the enemies knowing what was being said. Throughout the movie, we see discrimination and racism and the effects war has on the soldiers. After losing all his squad members and being sent to a hospital, …show more content…
After Enders successfully passes the requirements to head back, he and Anderson are assigned to protect the Navajos. When the four met, their relationships started out rocky and through the common grounds of music(Anderson and Whitehorse) and Catholic upbringings (Enders and Yahtzee), they start to grow fond of each other. In Whitehorse and Yahtzee's first combat in Saipan, we see the significance of the Navajo code talkers. Yahzee’s radio is destroyed by the American artillery which leaves him and Enders acting as a Japanese soldier and American prisoners. They fool and eliminate the Japanese soldiers so they can use their radio to call off the bombing. As the battles continues, we see a change in both the relationships and mental state of the soldiers and Navajos. When attacked by the Japanese soldiers, the soldiers are put in tough spots. Anderson’s and Whitehorse’s strong relationship is shown while Enders and Yahzee’'s hit a rocky road. Anderson was seen with a gun up Whitehorse’s body; he had to choose between killing him or keeping him alive because of the code. Instead, he was beheaded, trying to save Whitehorse. While witnessing the capturing and beating of
The book, Sioux Code Talkers of World War II by Andrea Page, is about Native Americans serving in World War II and using their unique language as code against the Axis powers. The book goes over the time during World War II and also World War I. Native Americans were never treated fairly by the American people coming over from England. American people always felt superior to other races. During World War II Native Americans joined the military to help serve their country. In World War II Germans were good at tapping communication lines and decoding messages.
In 1997, a group of Indian Code Talkers were communicating between radio during war time communications. These codes were created by Native Americans, also the Choctaw language was used during these wars to create secret messages. The United States used these codes because they believed it would secure any messages that they send. Navajo Code Talkers had many advantages in WWII because it saved millions of lives due to their ability to communicate with one another. Since the United States had this code, it gave them an advantage against their enemies.
This investigation evaluates to what extent did the Navajo code talkers aid the American military during WWII? In order to assess the extent to which these soldiers assisted the American military during WWII, this investigation focuses on their involvement in transmitting military messages in their native tongue, and the events surrounding these transmissions. In addition, the contribution of other Native American code talkers is considered and compared to that of the Navajos specifically within the investigation.
They never existed. Their mission never happened. For those reasons, they never received any military benefits including healthcare. It was not until 1968 that the operation was declassified and the Navajo Code Talkers could emerge from the shadows.” (Kowal) One reason that Code Talkers were not recognized until much later is because the program was secret and classified by the military. After the War, Navajo Indians did not get credit for the work they did during the war until after it was declassified in 1968. After the war, Code Talkers were sent home and they were not recognized for anything they did in the war. There were sent with the orders to never say anything about what they did in the war. They fought for the United States and were never given any respect for what they did. Many of the Code Talkers earned medals, such as Purple Hearts, Silver Stars, Good Conduct Medals, and Combat Infantry Badges, during and after the war. The medals they earned were things that other people could earn, it really had nothing to do with Code Talking. Special recognition for Code Talking would not come for more than 40 years. After the programs were declassified, people started to realize the importance of the Code Talkers’ achievements, and they finally started getting the recognition they
Childhood innocence contains curiosity, imagination and a frail mind that has yet to experience the real world. A young boy, Ender Wiggin, goes through many things a child his age normally wouldn’t experience. As he grows up in Battle and Command School, his humanity slowly strips away due to being isolated and pressured to be the commander that the International Fleet needs. Though everyone benefit from the end result, things they did to win the war should not be excused.
During World War II, the United States was looking for ways to ensure that its secret messages could not be decoded by the enemy. Philip Johnston, who had grown up on the Navajo Indian Reservation and had become fluent in the Navajo languages” suggested recruiting Navajo soldiers to speak their native language. The language had no written form or alphabet very few people spoke it.
This is where the Navajo code comes in play of changing the course of the language’s downfall. When the military realized that their language was valuable, they were asked to speak it again. After years of suppression, they were suddenly allowed to speak their native tongue again. This is immensely important in regards to the Navajo dialect staying alive. If their language was continually oppressed then, eventually, children would no longer be able to speak Navajo at all. This would lead to the ultimate extinction of their undocumented language because overtime the elders and speakers of the Navajo language would die out and no one would be knowledgeable of the tongue any longer. An example of a code used during World War II that was quite similar to the Navajo Code but not as successful, was made up of the Comanche language. They had the same purpose as the Navajo did, to send important messages that were incomprehensible to the enemy. Unlike the Navajos, the Comanche tribe was not hindered from keeping their efforts a secret whereas the Navajos were and continued their coding in following wars (“Comanche Code”). This created a longer line of Navajo speakers and a greater impact which helped to preserve the language more. The Comanche language
The struggle for identity within Ender’s Game was a common theme throughout the book. Ender’s Game is a book about a boy named Ender who was recruited into the battle school in hopes of unlocking his true potential so he could command the IF as he was humanity’s last hope. His main goal would be beating the buggers who are an alien species who launched two invasions on Earth and Ender was told that a third one would eventually come. Characters such as Ender are pushed to their limits while others hide behind a false identity in hopes of making a change. These characters change as the book progresses on and several instances show the reader the changes that are happening.
Despite his insecurities and loneliness, Ender becomes a commander in the battle that successfully leads his team to victory in destroying the alien species.
In today's age can you imagine getting sent away with the rest of society's garbage to rot away in an asylum just for not being the same as everybody else? This is nearly impossible to think about although their is still hatred and discrimination in the United States we have improved drastically compared to the 1950’s idea of ‘Normal.” The people who did not fit in were the people seen as different in any form compared to a white male. Women were were expected to stay at home and cook for their families while the men provided for them and their children. People were seen as lesser just because of their skin color. The people who went against these normal conventions were the outsiders and either sent away to institutions for being seen as ill
The movie The Blind Side was released in 2009. It is about a young man, named Michael Oher, who grew up in a poor environment. In the beginning of the movie, Michael was homeless and not currently attending school. All of that changed when a woman, named Leigh Anne Tuohy, offered Michael the chance to stay with her and her family. The Tuohy family was well off, unlike Michael, so it was an adjustment for both the family and him to live together. However, the family was very warm and welcoming to Michael, which differed from many of the other people Michael encountered. In the movie, Michael experienced racism, discrimination, and prejudice towards him from a variety of people.
“You won’t fail, Ender. Not this early in the course. You’ve had some tight ones, but you’ve always won. You don’t know what your limits are yet, but if you’ve reached them already you’re a good deal feebler than I thought.” (Card 286). Ender’s Game is a dystopian novel by Orson Scott Card that follows the training and thoughts of the protagonist, Ender, ultimately ending with the destruction of an alien race, the buggers. Ender’s militaristic and desperate society forces him to unwillingly commit genocide to an extent where Ender’s withering and empathetic mind begins to question the consequences of his actions.
In this movie, one may observe the different attitudes that Americans had towards Indians. The Indians were those unconquered people to the west and the almighty brave, Mountain Man went there, “forgetting all the troubles he knew,” and away from civilization. The mountain man is going in search of adventure but as this “adventure” starts he finds that his survival skills are not helping him since he cant even fish and as he is seen by an Indian, who watches him at his attempt to fish, he start respecting them. The view that civilization had given him of the west changes and so does he. Civilization soon becomes just something that exists “down there.”
Dunbar knows that the arrival of American troops in the frontiers will only be a matter of time. Soon, he has to make the decision whether he wants to stick to his new friends or go back to his fellow soldiers and fight against the Indians. When Dunbar rides back to his post to get his journal, American soldiers are gathered around his post. They see him coming and shoot his horse. Since Dunbar is wearing a Sioux gown, the troops look at him as a trader and treat him brutally. When the soldiers are on their way to the next village to have Dunbar hanged, the Sioux attack, and rescue their friend, Dunbar. Back at the Indian camp, Dunbar and his wife decide to leave the Sioux. John Dunbar knows that he is a wanted man now.
“What I’m about to tell you, Corporal, cannot leave this room. Under no circumstances can you allow your code talker to fall into enemy hands. Your mission is to protect the code… at all cost.” In the movie, Windtalkers, this is how a commander wants his marine to treat the paired Navajo code talker. That is, if it’s necessary, his marine could kill the Navajo, just like abandoning one of his properties. Even in the mid 1900s, the Native Americans were still treated not as human beings, but rather, machines; therefore, it is not hard for us to imagine how even more frightening the Native Americans’ circumstances were in the early days when they were first colonized by the western settlers. In Deborah Miranda’s “Indian