Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith Essay

If you have ever been in one of the branches of services then you know that it will not be good news when people in uniform come to your house. Two people in uniform come to Justin’s house which is where most of the setting takes place (top row, middle picture). “Soldiers at the door could only mean one thing…..Kyle.” “What had happened to him? Had he been hurt (pg.9)”?

Personality traits: He is considerate, in a sense that he didn’t want his 9 year old daughter to know about the fact that he killed someone with a grenade while in battle.

Throughout Jeffs time at this so called “prison,” he is constantly being stripped of all of his freedom, as well as his feelings. Although he is a convict, many of the experiments taking place on him are inhumane; it becomes increasingly clear in the dialog between Jeff, and the head scientist at this prison, Abnesti. Towards the end of the story, when Jeff is reluctant to give Heather the “Darkenfloxxed,” Abnesti is quoted saying, “Do I remember birthdays around here? When a certain individual got athlete’s foot on his groin on a Sunday, did a certain other individual drive over to Rexall and pick up a prescription, paying for it with his own personal money?” Abnesti is using his minuscule good deeds in the past to prove that he is still on Jeff's side; indicating that Abnesti is an unstable human being, who does not feel how wildly this experiment has gotten out of hand. Also, he is

Big Jeff has the ideal characteristics of a student who would be made fun of because of his peculiar ways. When Big Jeff is teased, the narrator describes it, “When you did tease him he didn’t get it, he just looked at you like a puppy wondering why in God’s name you’d tied a can to his tail” (33). So again, Big Jeff is compared to a dog. This is because dogs are blindly faithful to their owners, and Big Jeff trusts that his peers are treating him well. This stops Big Jeff from getting bullied so much because his classmates feel like they’ve betrayed him if they bully him. Big Jeff is also friendly and always in kind spirits to everyone and never gives anyone a direct reason to be mad at him.

Throughout the film, I have to remember that this is a professional voyeur. He is paid to look at people through a lens. So I have to say that looking is an essential part of his everyday life. In a conversation he has with his nurse in the beginning of the film, she tells him that " We have become a race of peeping toms" reinforcing our suspicions about Jeff's part in the narrative.

With the Emerstarians just across the Aarons River, River Point was the next obstacle in their path. The West Vanian General at River Point was extremely mad at Commander Mason's performance at Ventier and assigned him to a defensive position. They couldn't risk another loss on the front. As for the average soldier at River Point, they were commanded to patrol, dig trenches, and strengthen defenses. Sergeant Rick Ianson was overseeing the soldiers and laborers work on digging the trenches and piling up the sandbags. When one of the patrol groups were walking in front of the forest one of the officers said while pointing his gun at the shadow, "Did you see that?" Another officer replied saying, "It's probably just a deer or something." "you're probably right." "yeah, I am. Now let's move on."

No matter how hard a person can try, they can never forget their recollection of the horrors in war. Some people are driven by their to the dark point of being severely depressed and/or suicidal, and in some cases, committing suicide. Norman Bowker kills himself in The Things They Carried due to the guilt from his friend’s death and the feeling that he had no purpose in his life anymore. On the other hand, Chris from Miss Saigon lives in turmoil after Kim commits suicide. James Blake Miller also lives in confusion and distress after coming home because he is traumatized from being in combat. Veterans are haunted by memories from war; some vets find the rest of their lives controlled by these memories, which slowly destroys the possibility for a stable and hopeful life.

David Newhard was a very brave man who fought in the Vietnam war. Imagine if you were nineteen years old, never involved in the military, and enlisted in the army so you would not be drafted. This was the path that David chose to take in his military career. At the time, he only received $230 a month as income in Vietnam. According to him, he thought that this was a lot of money. Soldiers went over knowing they had to serve for 365 days. This meant that they knew when they could return home. However, David got to come home a little early, and the guy who replaced him was killed two weeks later! If he would have stayed, David could have been the guy who ended up being killed. Human minds cannot grasp the concept of war and all of the horrors that come along with it.

Benjamin Martin goes from being a chair maker in his barn to a Colonel in the militia. Most people knew him as the hero of Fort Wilderness. He was very anti war and wanted to make peace treaties and talk it out with the British. The last thing he wanted to do was go to war. His oldest son on the other hand had been wanting to join the army for the past couple years so when the war came to South Carolina he final disobeyed his dad and signed his name on the draft. His dad was mad but just went home and forgot about it. Then one day there was a fight out front of Benjamin's house. He went to help them and they were all laying around his house and the people we're helping the wounded. Then one of the generals came and killed them all and one of

Some of the soldiers being treated on the USS Repose were Vietnamese men. Other Vietnamese people Rogers came in contact with were people who came aboard for both elective surgery, and general care. On November 24th Jeff Rogers mentions that though he is in Vietnam he is surrounded by all things American such as American people, American food, and American entertainment. The other small interactions he had with Vietnamese people were the military men he passed on the street on the way to the club, and the Vietnamese staff that waited on them at the club. April 20th is when Rogers writes that he wishes that southern Vietnamese would do more to help themselves because he believes that American troops need to be heading out of Vietnam as soon as can be done.

He was content with the blessings of his family. He had a family who loved him and supported in every way that they could, just like any other family. Jeff also had siblings to let him know the great things and the bad things he has done in life. His brother takes on a role of tough love. He saw the unlimited potential Jeff had with his music ability.

While on Patrol the platoon hears Viet Cong singing resulting in the U.S. opening fire. During the fire fight Lieutenant Carrol was killed. He was hit under the arm. Sergeant Simpson asked Perry to write a letter home to his family informing the family of Carrol death. Captain Stewart liked the letter Perry wrote to Carrols family. Lobel is blaming himself for the death of Lieutenant Carrol. From the fight, they have a Viet Cong in custody from the Second platoon. Peewee receives a letter from Perry’s mom. Peewee didn’t really care to read the letter. The company received a new person named Turner. In another fire fight Perry was responsible for setting up the clay mores. However, when he did place the clay mores he placed them in the wrong direction. The Viet

During patrol duty, their squad takes out a Vietnamese man and they all agree he was one of the enemies. Upon later inspection however, Perry discovers that not only was the man that they killed was innocent, but their company commander marked the situation for killing three enemy soldiers instead of only one. Throughout the days there are many horrific situations that involve confusion and death. With a different company, Perry and his squad encounters what they think are the Vietcong. After the attack, the squad comes to realize there was a miscommunication, and that they just attacked another squad of American soldiers. He meets back up with his squad later on to “pacify” a nearby village and convince the residents that “the Americans aren’t the bad guys”. A few days after the pacification mission, the same village was attacked by Vietcong because the villagers got help and supplies from the Americans. To retaliate, Richie’s squad set up to ambush the Vietcong in the village. His comrades were fairly close by, but not able to communicate during the ambush. After hours of waiting, the squad hears gunfire and shoots aimlessly in the general direction of the enemy. The aftermath of the ambush resulted in the loss of their honorable and tactful leader Lieutenant Caroll. Distraught over the death of the bravest soldier in the squad, Perry begins to question the purpose of the war and his role in it. He wonders if the war is really about freedom and what

The plot type of Rifles for Watie is man vs. society because Jeff is against many people, not just one particular person. At the beginning, he was against the Confederate army, but at the moment, he is against the Union or people finding out who he truly is. The rising action is when Jeff becomes a scout for the Union. The turning point is when he gets captured, but tricks the Confederate soldiers into believing he is one of them. Jeff’s conflict is that he is stuck in the midst of enemies, enemies that he has grown to be friends with. He is torn between leaving them and giving the Union info, or staying and not betraying his newly made friends. He is trying to resolve this issue by making the decision to stay loyal to his friends, or his country.

The story is told by an omniscient narrator focusing mainly on the character First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross. Lieutenant Cross is in charge of a company of men who go on daily marches through Vietnam search for the enemy, their sympathizers and supplies. He daydreams often of a college girl he is fond of back in New Jersey. Mitchell Sanders is the radio and telephone operator and known for being the ladies’ man. Kiowa is a Native American Baptist who carries an Illustrated New Testament with him. He also carries his grandfather’s old hunting hatchet given to him by his father and his grandmother’s distrust for the white man. Dan Jensen practiced field hygiene having with him a toothbrush, dental floss and bars of soap stolen from a hotel while