Link To Essay

For this IOC practice, I chose the extract from the first chapter “The Things They Carried” (Page 16~17). My initial intent was to analyze how various characters hold different values, and how they are transformed by the war. However, as I was writing the essay, I began to explore the habits they relied on and the change in their worldview as a consequence of their changing value systems. I realized that all the values that tended to be prioritized by the soldiers were values that focused on surviving. I wanted to question whether these values that came from the mindset of ‘surviving no matter what’ was immoral in a sense, or if it could be reasoned.

One paragraph that I am proud of is when I analyzed the tendency of soldiers to use harsh language in order to escape from the frightening reality.

This was the feedback I received:

Some things I need to consider when analyzing next time is to use fewer connective words such as moreover, therefore, hence, thereby – these were overused and unnecessary.