Old Courage Narrative

In Yusef Komunyakaa’s poem, “Facing It”, taken place at the Vietnam Veteran Memorial in Washington D.C, the poet explores the theme of sorrowful and painful recollections of the Vietnam War and the people who died from it. Through the literary devices of setting, symbolic conflicts, and imagery, the reader is able to grasp a deeper understanding of what it is like to lose someone and look back at memories that are often hard to face. Firstly, the setting of the poem plays a crucial part in setting up the theme of painful remembrance, as it takes place at a memorial. Memorials are solemn in nature, full of grieving loved ones, and in this instance, the gut-wrenching way they have passed.

Through the overcast skies appeared a silver bomber, the largest aircraft anyone had ever seen. It was the Boeing B-29 Dinah Might, crippled in a raid over Tokyo, seeking an emergency landing on the island's scruffy main airstrip. As the Americans in the vicinity held their breaths, the big bomber swooped in from the south, landed heavily, clipped a field telephone pole with a wing, and shuddered to a stop less than 50 feet from the end of the strip. Lt. F. Malo and his 10-man crew were extremely glad to be alive, but they did not stay long. Every Japanese gunner within range wanted to bag this prize. Mechanics made field repairs within a half-hour. Then the 65-ton Superfortress lumbered aloft through a hail of enemy fire and headed back to its base in Tinian Island. The Marines

Emotions and Burdens – “They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing – these were intangibles, but they were tangible weight.”(20). O’brien, as well as his platoon members, had to b prepared for death at any given point in time, whether it be his own death or the death of his comrade in arms.

In the poem “The Man in the Dead Machine,” Donald Hall uses vivid imagery and alternative scenarios to emphasize the sheer overwhelming specter of death that loomed over those serving in the greatest conflict known to man. The hook that Hall uses to initially provoke the readers interest is the mentioning of the Grumman Hellcat, a fighter plane used by Americans in World War II. Specifying the model of the fighter plane allows the reader to be knowledgeable about the setting of the poem. The meaning of this poem focuses on the destructivity wartime causes on the life of those in service. The main focal point Hall emphasizes throughout his poem is the uncertainty of life and death. However, other important targets of this poem are suicide

In the story titled “The Man I Killed” O’Brien reflects on the events leading to and following his killing of a Vietnamese soldier via a grenade. He goes on to tell the reactions of his platoon mates as well as his own. The explosion of the grenade left the Vietnamese soldier’s face burned and unrecognizable. This symbolizes the life of so many of the thousands of dead Vietnamese soldiers that too were killed and consequently buried. These dead soldiers went unidentified and failed to bring their respective families closure. O’Brien struggles to cope with

The freezing air is blowing as I lay in bed listening to the soldiers moan struggling to survive in this harsh war. There are many bitter conditions here at Valley Forge. There is a big risk staying here as we struggle to stay alive. My hut is filled with smoke and is surrounded by the cold snow. We have huts that are a few feet long and have a small fireplace on one side and a door on the other. The food here is horrible and barely keeps us alive. We get a small piece of meat each day and a little bit of cornmeal. I have decided to re-enlist for 3 reasons which are that I need to fight for a cause, to help the sick and dying army, and to get my family and aging mother into a free country.

I remember the smell, the sounds, the taste of blood. I remember seeing my comrades fall beside me, the sting of the cuts. The numbness as I fell alongside them, the sadness, the tears. The price of war, I believe my father said that to me before he died. I remember being lifted and carried, I remember a laugh. Then I felt my mind slowly becoming numb, and soon my mind was consumed by the darkness. Like a wildfire it spread from the farthest of places, destroying everything in its’ path. It was over, the war was lost, hope gone; at least until today….

Throughout war literature, fiction or nonfiction, almost every character comes face to face with death. There is no easy way around it, death will always happen. In Tim O’Brien’s, The Things They Carried, death is woven within various stories narrated by the main character, O’Brien himself. Of all the death that O’Brien is surrounded by, the one that may appear to some as “just another kill”, surprisingly leaves the biggest impact. It can be seen as ironic, but after O’Brien had thrown the grenade that killed this enemy soldier, he finally received the reality check of the Vietnam War. Not only was there a reality check, but O’Brien’s storytelling about this soldier gave a whole new meaning to death itself.

Death defines life; it has the ability to reinvent the living for better or worse. “The Things They Carried”, by Tim O’Brien, provides a non-linear, semi-fictitious account of the Vietnam War that poignantly depicts the complicated relationship between life and death. His account breathes subtle vitality and realism into the lingering presence of the dead, intimating that the memories they impart have as profound an impact as the living.

When his body hit the ground, the people around him felt a wave of shock. He was dead. The women covered their mouths with one hand, tears already streaming down their faces. The other hand covered the eyes of the children who witnessed the horrendous scene and were no longer pure and innocent, sheltered and hidden from the cruel reality of the

War is unforgiving. He’s seen the bodies scattered around the fields, hastily buried in shallow graves before they begin to fester and rot. He’s seen them shot down before him, bodies hitting the ground and sinking into the mud- whether friend or foe, it matters not. They’ll all die here in the end. All he can do is wait it out, pray to survive until at least this war is over, and return home to a life of suppressing the memories and forgetting the images of men wiped out and dying, forgotten, in these turgid pits of death.

At the airport, Henry was very nervous. He didn’t know what to expect. They were walking onto their private jet, “The Huggle Express,” Henry asked his mother, ”Where are we going to stop first?” His mother replied, “We are stopping at the Samurai Museum!” Henry knew they were going to learn a lot about Japanese culture.

The world was spinning, I’ve been hit, this was the end. Without a thought I pulled the trigger, I saw three of him, but I knew that If I could end it I would. I wanted to be remembered a hero who saved our race, died in the battlefield. As I fell back a smile crept into my face as I heard a loud grunt, I did it , I killed him. I was ready to hit the hard concrete floor as our troops came out of hiding, but I fell into something delicate.

“We were cornered by your Soldiers and since I was the only one they were looking for they killed my friend that was with me, he’s the one that knew the Earth’s location. He had only recently returned from a trip there.”

After they left me alone to the laundry, I felt relieved from the tension under the soldiers. I was alone now, and I could take the chance to escape. But I decided to give up the chance,