Analysis Of Edward Cole 's ' The Bucket List '

In Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried”, O’Brien created several allusions that each character endured during the Vietnam War. Throughout the story were vast representations of the things the soldiers carried both mentally and physically. The things they carried symbolized their individual roles internally and externally. In addition to the symbolism, imagination was a focal theme that stood out amongst the characters. This particular theme played a role as the silent killer amongst Lt. Cross and the platoon both individually and collectively as a group. The theme of imagination created an in depth look of how the war was perceived through each character which helped emphasize their thoughts from an emotional standpoint of being young men out at war.

Denial is the first stage of grief in the Kübler-Ross model. Denial is the act of declaring something to not be true. Christina Gregory, PhD defines the denial stage as “a stage of numbness and clinging to false hope”. She also remarks that isolation plays a large role in denial. In the Catcher in the Rye, Holden demonstrates that he is in denial. When he is talking to his sister Phoebe, he tells her

To begin, I will discuss how Bearing’s cancer and treatment generate pain that then leads to her salvation anxiety. Bearing first experiences physical pain which prompts her to seek a medical opinion. She describes this pain as “like a cramp, but not the same” (27). As it turns out, the pain she felt was ovarian cancer. After her diagnosis, Bearing chooses to undergo an experimental treatment. The medicine used produces nausea, vomiting, fever, and chills (31, 41, 47). After several rounds of chemotherapy, the chemicals kill all of Bearing’s white blood cells leading to her immune system being compromised and further subjection to illness (46-47). With extreme pain as a constant reminder of her death and what follows, it is no surprise Bearing also begins to suffer from salvation anxiety.

He told me a story of a friend he had who had cancer and she made the choice to stop the chemotherapy. Her arms had scabs and she decided enough was enough. She knew she wasn’t going to get better. She talked about death as if she were going to a party. He described how she appeared to be at peace because she lived a fulfilling life. Mr. E felt that she encouraged and motivated him more than he to her.Mr. E felt that the greatest joys of getting older were family and seeing it grow. He also felt that being loved and having others think highly of you were great achievements.Looking back on his life Mr. E felt that the only thing he could have done differently was to be more patient, smarter, more humane and not make as many mistakes. “You look back and think that you were not able to see things that are obvious” (E. Privacy, personal communication, October 10, 2012).

Sometimes in life things just happen and we have no control over them but we learn to move forward in spite of everything we face. When Nick receives his diagnosis for cancer, it frightens him greatly to the point where he begins to see death everywhere. He becomes adamant that his life could be lost to the same disease that took his father’s life. Not knowing how to deal with the news, he asks the

Facing Death is a compelling documentary on, oftentimes, the final journey patients and their families will venture through together in life. The documentary seeks to capture how the patients and their families respond to the inevitability of death. The film includes families who respond to the issue by allowing their family member, the patient, to pass through the door of death without aggressive care, while there are yet other families who insist on everything being done to delay the moment of death. This topic of fighting death is attributed with producing much debate. On one hand are those who do not see the point of fighting death, however, on the other hand, there are those who believe that delaying death and staying alive is what ought to be done. Personally, from what I understand of either party, I think that I am a part of the later party. In addition, this issue naturally delves into what one believes occurs after death, as it is an issue dealing directly with death. This also compels me to view this topic from the viewpoint of the later party.

The first stage of grieving in Dr. Kubler- Ross’s model is denial. When someone goes through the passing of a loved one, they may feel as if it is not real, or that they are in a horrible dream. . Some people may experience denial by not being able to accept that someone has expired from this world, entered the dying process, or has a terminal illness and will leave this world. (Patricelli, n.d.)

Concluding, readers witness the irony between his choices; suicide or risk trying to survive

Erin Geoffrey II, his father, a rich, prominent Brain Surgeon, married seven times. Devoted to long hours teaching students tarnished his marriages. Death do us part, was literally deleted in the wedding vows of his last three weddings. In addition temptation had caressed his dark side of life with flames of desire, want and need quite a lot, while the other side of his life demanded full attention with life-and-death decisions daily. Oh, don't get me wrong, Erin Geoffrey II was a grateful man who fought his way from poverty. The horrible disease of brain cancer had taken his mother to her death, dying at home in his arms; he was sixteen at the time. Erin's father was a truck driver, and he left 30 days after his wife’s death, never to return

As the book by O'Brien The Things They Carried continue plus the short stories from Patriots, it made me think more and more about the purpose of the war and the consequences of the war on soldiers. The war started because of the political disagreements and because of that, people had to go and fight for their country's standpoint. According to the O'Brien book, when he is visiting Vietnam after the war, his daughter asked him: "This whole war, why was everybody so mad at everybody else?" and he answers her, "They weren't mad, exactly. Some people wanted one thing, other people wanted another thing (175)." The whole conflict was based on disagreement, that Vietnam wanted to be independent does not matter who is going to help them to reach

There were many things the soldiers carried with them during the Vietnam War. They carried guns and ammo, rations and canteens, and things necessary for survival. The soldiers also carried letters, photographs and land of Vietnam itself. Tim O’Brien tells of this in The Things They Carried, a book detailing the lives of the soldiers in Vietnam through the things the men carried with them. Not everything the men carried was physical, however. The soldiers carried ghosts, memories, and burdens. Everyone carried something that shaped who they were. Above all else, however, all of the soldiers carried the themes of love and war, fact and fiction, and individuals versus the collective.

The Narrator is convinced she is sick; however, her brother and husband do not believe her. She says, “You see, he does not believe I am sick…If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but

‘You mean, of her not dying? … No, of course there isn’t.’ … Startled by the expression of distress…” (Pg. 180-1)

Elizabeth Kübler-Ross was a Swiss-born psychiatrist who spent two years of her professional career gathering information from terminally ill patients to create the premise for On Death and Dying. “It is not meant to be a textbook on how to manage dying patients, nor is it intended as a complete study of the psychology of dying.” (Kübler-Ross, 1969). This book was written as a call-to-action; to raise awareness of the voice of the dying. Not only is there stigma surrounding the topic, but also numerous misconceptions concerning the emotional journey of the terminally ill. The Kübler-Ross Model creates a framework for those interacting with dying persons, to help caretakers better understand the transitions that are taking place, resulting in higher-quality care. This model is comprised of five stages, which can be experienced in a variety of combinations. Prior to the first stage, the patient must be delivered the news of their illness or the severity of their illness, which usually results in shock. Denial is the first stage noted by Kübler-Ross. Denial and isolation are normal responses to overwhelming emotions and serve as a temporary response until the individual is ready to accept reality. Although this defense mechanism is normative, it is important to note that it isn’t necessarily healthy, and that some never move past this stage. As reality sets in, pain beings to emerge and manifests itself in the next stage: anger. Rationality takes a

	This illness Johnny had was incurable, and Johnny knew that, but Johnny had such hope he didn’t believe that. Later in the book, Johnny finally accepts he is going to die. " A desperate charging hope shone in his eyes. Very slowly the hand went up. He felt his head tentatively, felt it again with full palm, and then, limply, helplessly, hopelessly, the hand fell down, and this was the only time I ever saw his eyes actually spill over with tears."(p85) Johnny finally realized that death was a possibility now. Throughout his battle with the brain tumor, Johnny’s dad recalls that this moment was the only time Johnny ever shed a tear. The doctors finally come to a conclusion about Johnny’s condition. " He’s dying. Shall we do anything or not?" (p110) Now that Johnny knew he was going to die, he had nothing to look foreword to, but he still kept a positive attitude and faced death with courage. Each day, until his last, the determination Johnny had to get well and to live a normal life was phenomenal.