Behind Enemy Lines

Through this book, an average American high school student can learn academically through this book. This book teaches the reader about different forms of perspective. This book is told through each character’s perspective and can be seen as a learning tool for young writers. In addition to the perspectives, another benefit of reading this book is the literary devices used through it. For example, a common literary device that can be found throughout the story is the use of cliffhangers. They leave the reader in suspense and they often happen at the end of chapters. The story features many diverse squads of soldiers and their experiences are split into chapters. The use of cliffhangers leaves the reader waiting for their favorite character’s story to come back. Finally, the reader can take organization skill from this book. Throughout this story, the events of different characters happen at the same time and Mark Bowden divides the experiences through the chapters. A high school student can take this style of writing and utilize it throughout their literature. As well as teaching a student academically, the story provides social benefits.

Although many historical filmmakers alter some events and use fiction as a tool in providing an accurate historical representation, the makers of “The

troops on a hopeless humanitarian mission pulled out of Mogadishu, Somalia. A few Americans realize that during this mission, U.S. troops had the most continuous and gruesome battle fought by American’s since the Vietnam War. The afternoon of October 3rd, 1993, soldiers of Task Force Ranger, and Delta Force were sent to capture two lieutenants of a rebel Somalian warlord and return to base. This mission was supposed to take 30 min, but instead, the soldiers were pinned down in the middle of Mogadishu market and in a desperate effort of kill or be killed. For about 20 hours, U.S. soldiers created a bloody firefight that resulted in 19 American fatalities and the death of 1000 Somali fighters. Black Hawk Down tells the story of that desperate battle, from all angles of the war.

This is a great example of initiative, honor, courage, and commitment to the mission. This is a perfect example on how we must be on a day to day basis. Always putting the mission before self-comfort, to never question or object with whatever order or command you are given. Especially with us being in The United Stated Marine Corps, we should abide by these examples, and help others understand the importance of it as well. Everything that Captain Rowan did reflect our duty, our expectations, and our standards. Our duty as Marines to complete whatever mission is given to us, regardless of the objectives we may encounter throughout the way. To exceed the expectations they have for us, and to prove that no mission is impossible. One very important standard is to never strive for the bare minimum, but to always do everything to the best of our ability. We should always adapt and overcome in any given situation, and take initiative with good judgments. We should always work with what we got and do it with no hesitation, but most importantly, to go above and beyond the call of duty. Staying motivated and dedicated and applying Honor, Courage, and Commitment will take

In the movie Platoon, the author, Oliver Stone, tells us a story about an American soldier in Vietnam during the war. The story is mostly based on his own experience when he went there. Even though the story is fictional, he keeps it really realistic and the more close possible to what was reality in Vietnam. He shows how that war was hell for the soldiers we sent there and also for the local population. Oliver Stone produced Platoon to show his disapproval of the war in Vietnam, because that war harmed the American soldiers that went there and also the population that they were supposed to protect. To deliver his political message, Stone used different elements of a movie like the structure of the plot, cinematic techniques and

O’Brien’s unification of fact and fiction is to illustrate the idea in which the real accuracy of a war story is less significant than storytelling. The subjective truth about what the war meant and what it did to change the soldiers is more meaningful than the technical details of the

Moreover, aspects from the past are important in a historical fiction novel because the readers see key elements develop. Many authors suggest that “Any aspect from the past can be useful to the present-day novelist attempting to reanimate it to serve as the context for character and plot development” (Facts). Plots and characters begin developing from the author’s research of aspects from the Iraq War. Furthermore, the war in Iraq was full of question, which created many aspects for Walter Dean Myers to choose from. Captain Miller was “Mad because there were kids in and playing around the school when they attacked it” (p. 100, 24-25). Those types of features from the war in Iraq helped the author develop fictional characters. In addition, aspects from the war in Iraq can be used for the development of the plot. For example, at one point in the novel “The vehicle ahead of Robin’s crew made a sharp U-turn, ‘RPGs!’ Jonsey shouted; he braked to a skidding halt” (p. 101, 23). This commonly used tactic of the Iraqi military was a feature that Walter Dean Myers used to help develop the plot. After analyzing the novel, readers quickly realize the importance of using aspects to develop characters and the plot.

As with any genre, all novels termed ‘war stories’ share certain elements in common. The place and time settings of the novels, obviously, take in at least some aspect of at least one war or conflict. The characters tend to either be soldiers or are at least immediately affected by the military. An ever present sense of doom with punctuated moments of peace is almost a standard of the war novel. Beyond the basic similarities, however, each of these battle books stands apart as an individual. Charles Yale Harrison’s World War I novel, Generals Die in Bed is, in essence, quite different than Colin McDougall’s Execution. Coming years earlier,

It is a story about the soldiers and their experiences and emotions that are brought

As soon as the front cover is opened, the book makes itself clear: it is ‘a work of fiction by Tim O’Brien’. However, things start to get strange once the book actually begins. O’Brien writes the book as a memoir, inserting himself as a soldier in the war. When one reads a book and sees the author as one of the main characters, they are quick to assume that the story is based on true life. In fact, O’Brien

In this essay, I will discuss how Tim O’Brien’s works “The Things They Carried” and “If I Die in a Combat Zone” reveal the individual human stories that are lost in war. In “The Things They Carried” O’Brien reveals the war stories of Alpha Company and shows how human each soldier is. In “If I Die in a Combat Zone” O’Brien tells his story with clarity, little of the dreamlike quality of “Things They Carried” is in this earlier work, which uses more blunt language that doesn’t hold back. In “If I Die” O’Brien reveals his own personal journey through war and what he experienced. O’Brien’s works prove a point that men, humans fight wars, not ideas. Phil Klay’s novel “Redeployment” is another novel that attempts to humanize soldiers in war. “Redeployment” is an anthology series, each chapter attempts to let us in the head of a new character – set in Afghanistan or in the United States – that is struggling with the current troubles of war. With the help of Phil Klay’s novel I will show how O’Brien’s works illustrate and highlight each story that make a war.

Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 film directed by Steven Spielberg dealing with the World War II Battle of Normandy. During its intense first twenty minutes, the film depicts the brutal, gruesome realities of what happened on June 6, 1944 on Omaha Beach. The historically accurate portrayal of the D-Day invasion by Allied Forces is the background for the fictional plot of a rescue mission for a single soldier, Private Ryan. The story of Ryan, his family, and his rescue is not true but it is symbolic of the heroism and terrible losses suffered in this crucial military campaign. Historian Steven Ambrose was a consultant on the film and views this kind of fiction as “the kind that illuminates truth rather than diminishing it.”

Combining all these serious themes into a very entertaining book should attract many readers. However, there was some confusion with the story line. Since this book is a collection of interviews, it wasn’t a conventional story. When I first started the book, I wasn’t sure why I was jumping from country to country and why each story was completely different. As I continued to read the book, I was able to understand that these were a collection of eyewitness accounts of the war. Also, Max Brooks uses a rife amount of vulgar language which I think could have been kept out. However, it made it real and that’s what this book is about.

The war film genre includes films about warfare, including naval, air or land battles. Films in this genre may focus on the battles, prisoners of war, military training, life during wartime or morality and humanitarian issues of warfare. This genre commonly includes works of fiction, works based on historical facts and occasionally works based on alternate-history fiction. According to American Cinema/American Culture, the genre also includes four narrative elements: the suspension of morality during times of war, the prioritization of collective goals over individual motivations, the rivalry between men and their objectification of women and the issues of reintegrating veterans. (Belton 165-71)

In addition to Behind Enemy Lines, it is another film of Bosnian war era. Nevertheless, instead of being a lustrous and technically refined and amazing film, it presents a Bosnian version on the clash, over spilling with meaninglessness, sarcasm and unyielding tragedy. In fact the director of No Man’s Land, Tanovic started his filmmaking profession by making war footage for the Bosnian army and examined events as first hand observer which he mercilessly criticizes in the movie. The film starts in 1993, somewhere close to the Bosnian town of Tuzla, where a small body of relief soldiers from the Bosnian army are seen moving in the open countryside at night. As the thick fog covers the area, they determine to take a pause and have camp the night. Unluckily as the morning sun takes shape and fog subsides, it is known that they are lingering very close to the Serbian frontlines and consequently they are fired upon.