Lawrence Heights Youth Gun Violence - Research Paper Example

The theme of both the essays deal with the psychological and emotional aspects of soldiers involved in war and both try to emphasize on the grueling effects that war could bring upon the soldiers. Apart from the theme, there are quite a few similarities in the ideas discussed in these two essays and they are detailed below. An account of The Things They Carried O’Brien, the author of this essay, tries to bring out the emotional burden that the soldiers carry during war, through the space of opportunities created by the explanation of physical things carried by these soldiers.

The mirage of fantasy that confounds their consciousness by feeding them misconceptions of reality is clearly described by the author through the character of Jimmy Cross. Cross accuses himself for the death of his team member Lavender, because, he was the person who failed to protect him in that grave hour. At that time, Cross was completely swept off from his feet by fantasy thoughts about his love, Martha and his doubts over whether she is virgin or not. If this story is considered to be a description of war between love and war, then the death of Lavender clearly signifies the victory of war over love.

(O’Brien, 2009) O’Brien brings out the cynical nature of war through the depressive attitude shown by Cross after Lavender’s death. Through the description of those thoughts, the author also tries to indicate the fact that most of the people who were involved in war were young and youthful – people who should have experienced the joyous life of college, in their age. Instead, the emotional guilt and coward thought haunts them in every second of their life. However, the author ends up the essay on a positive intent by elucidating the thoughts of Cross who tries to erase the memories of his girlfriend by burning her pictures and decides to believe that, to lead is better than to love.

Overall, O’Brien effectively persuades the reader to think deep and relate directly to the effects felt by the burden these soldiers carried day in and day out. (O’Brien, 2009) The Ecstasy of War and its Similarities Barbara Ehrenreich tries to distinguish the two needs of war – the material advantages and psychological dominance through this essay. Although she excludes discussing about the former need, she presents a critical thought and analysis of how the psychological impact presides itself in every human’s mind.

The first similarity between the two essays is how the two authors present the emotional struggle that every person faces while going to war. Barbara here presents those points with the description of how people go to the level of committing suicide to avoid the struggles they have to face in war. The second similarity is in how Barbara expresses the experiences that a youthful person could have in leading a normal life rather than fighting in war. According to her, boys become men ready to face society only through their experiences with social interactions but the soldiers who are completely devoid of such experiences are bound to fear and feel emotionally stressed.

Third similarity comes in the idea of inhumanness in approaching. As Cross chooses to lead leaving his love, Barbara also emphasizes on people leaving out all kinds of common human emotions and fight in the war like an animal, confronting everyone with