Hero英雄类型话题example论据.docx

Hero1. The Things They Carried (book) by Tim OBrienThis book is sometimes read in AP Language classes, but if you havent yet had that opportunity I highly suggest it. Not only does it question our concept of war heroes in the muddy light of the Vietnam war, but also questions our understanding of truth vs. literary truth (helpful also for the SAT theme of knowledge).The protagonist, who is named Tim OBrien, begins by describing an event that occurred in the middle of his Vietnam experience. “The Things They Carried” catalogs the variety of things his fellow soldiers in the Alpha Company brought on their missions. Several of these things are intangible, including guilt and fear, while others are specific physical objects, including matches, morphine, M-16 rifles, and M&Ms candy.Throughout the collection, the same characters reappear in various stories. The first member of the Alpha Company to die is Ted Lavender, a “grunt,” or low-ranking soldier, who deals with his anxiety about the war by taking tranquilizers and smoking marijuana. Lavender is shot in the head on his way back from going to the bathroom, and his superior, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, blames himself for the tragedy. When Lavender is shot, Cross is distracting himself with thoughts of Martha, a college crush. It is revealed in “Love” that Crosss feelings for Martha, whom he dated once before leaving for Vietnam, were never reciprocated, and that even twenty years after the war, his guilt over Lavenders death remains.In “On the Rainy River,” the narrator, OBrien, explains the series of events that led him to Vietnam in the first place. He receives his draft notice in June of 1968, and his feelings of confusion drive him north to the Canadian border, which he contemplates crossing so that he will not be forced to fight in a war in which he doesnt believe. Sitting in a rowboat with the proprietor of the Tip Top Lodge, where he stays, OBrien decides that his guilt about avoiding the war and fear of disappointing his family are more important than his political convictions. He soon leaves, going first back home to Worthington, Minnesota and later to Vietnam.In addition to Ted Lavender, a few other members of the Alpha Company are killed during their mission overseas, including Curt Lemon, who is killed when he steps on a rigged mortar round. Though OBrien is not close to Lemon, in “The Dentist,” he tells a story of how Lemon, who faints before a routine checkup with an army-issued dentist, tries to save face by insisting that a perfectly good tooth be pulled. Lee Strunk, another member of the company, dies from injuries he sustains by stepping on a landmine. In “Friends,” OBrien remembers that before Strunk was fatally hurt, Strunk and Dave Jensen had made a pact that if either man were irreparably harmed, the other man would see that he was quickly killed. However, when Strunk is actually hurt, he begs Jensen to spare him, and Jensen complies. Instead of being upset by the news of his friends swift death en route to treatment, Jensen is relieved.The death that receives the most attention in The Things They Carried is that of Kiowa, a much-loved member of the Alpha Company and one of OBriens closest friends. In “Speaking of Courage,” the story of Kiowas death is relayed in retrospect through the memory of Norman Bowker, years after the war. As Bowker drives around a lake in his Iowa hometown, he thinks that he failed to save Kiowa, who was killed when a mortar round hit and caused him to sink headfirst into a marshy field. OBrien realizes that he has dealt with his guilt over Kiowas death differently than Norman Bowker in “Notes.” Just before the end of the war, OBrien receives a long letter from Bowker that says he hasnt found a way to make life meaningful after the war. OBrien resolves to tell Bowkers story, and the story of Kiowas death, in order to negotiate his own feelings of guilt and hollowness.Like “Love” and “Notes,” several of OBriens stories are told from a perspective twenty years after the Vietnam War, when he is a forty-three-year-old writer living in Massachusetts. Exposure to the guilt of old friends like Jimmy Cross and Norman Bowker prompts him to write stories in order to understand what they were going through. But two stories, “The Man I Killed” and “Ambush,” are written so that OBrien can confront his own guilt over killing a man with a grenade outside the village of My Khe. In “The Man I Killed,” OBrien imagines the life of his victim, from his childhood to the way things would have turned out for him had OBrien not spotted him on a path and thrown a grenade at his feet. In “Ambush,” OBrien imagines how he might relay the story of the man he killed to his nine-year-old daughter, Kathleen. In this second story, OBrien provides more details of the actual killingincluding the sound of the grenade and his own feelingsand explains that even well after the fact, he hasnt finished sorting out the experience.In the last story, “The Lives of the Dead,” OBrien gives another twist to his contention that stories have the power to save people. In the stories of Curt Lemon and Kiowa, OBrien explains that his imagination allowed him to grapple successfully with his guilt and confusion over the death of his fourth-grade first love, Linda.2)The Diary of Anne Frank (book) published by Otto FrankMost of you probably remember her story of survival during the Holocaust from middle school, but that in no way disqualifies it from your potential sources. When considering the concept of heroes it important to keep you mind open to who is considered a hero, and why.- See more at: /sat/2014/sat-essay-theme-heroes-role-models/#sthash.VVurflvG.dpufAnnes diary begins on her thirteenth birthday, June 12, 1942, and ends shortly after her fifteenth. At the start of her diary, Anne describes fairly typical girlhood experiences, writing about her friendships with other girls, her crushes on boys, and her academic performance at school. Because anti-Semitic laws forced Jews into separate schools, Anne and her older sister, Margot, attended the Jewish Lyceum in Amsterdam.The Franks had moved to the Netherlands in the years leading up to World War II to escape persecution in Germany. After the Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940, the Franks were forced into hiding. With another family, the van Daans, and an acquaintance, Mr. Dussel, they moved into a small secret annex above Otto Franks office where they had stockpiled food and supplies. The employees from Ottos firm helped hide the Franks and kept them supplied with food, medicine, and information about the outside world.The residents of the annex pay close attention to every development of the war by listening to the radio. Some bits of news catch Annes attention and make their way into her diary, providing a vivid historical context for her personal thoughts. The adults make optimistic bets about when the war will end, and their mood is severely affected by Allied setbacks or German advances. Amsterdam is devastated by the war during the two years the Franks are in hiding. All of the citys residents suffer, since food becomes scarce and robberies more frequent.Anne often writes about her feelings of isolation and loneliness. She has a tumultuous relationship with the adults in the annex, particularly her mother, whom she considers lacking in love and affection. She adores her father, but she is frequently scolded and criticized by Mr. and Mrs. van Daan and Mr. Dussel. Anne thinks that her sister, Margot, is smart, pretty, and agreeable, but she does not feel close to her and does not write much about her. Anne eventually develops a close friendship with Peter van Daan, the teenage boy in the annex. Mr. Frank does not approve, however, and the intensity of Annes infatuation begins to lessen.Anne matures considerably throughout the course of her diary entries, moving from detailed accounts of basic activities to deeper, more profound thoughts about humanity and her own personal nature. She finds it difficult to understand why the Jews are being singled out and persecuted. Anne also confronts her own identity. Though she considers herself to be German, her German citizenship has been revoked, and though she calls Holland her home, many of the Dutch have turned against the Jews. Anne feels a tremendous solidarity with her aggrieved people, and yet at the same time she wants to be seen as an individual rather than a member of a persecuted group.During the two years recorded in her diary, Anne deals with confinement and deprivation, as well as the complicated and difficult issues of growing up in the brutal circumstances of the Holocaust. Her diary describes a struggle to define herself within this climate of oppression. Annes diary ends without comment on August 1, 1944, the end of a seemingly normal day that leaves us with the expectation of seeing another entry on the next page. However, the Frank family is betrayed to the Nazis and arrested on August 4, 1944. Annes diary, the observations of an imaginative, friendly, sometimes petty, and rather normal teenage girl, comes to an abrupt and silent end.Otto Frank is the familys sole survivor, and he recovers Annes diary from Miep. He decides to fulfill Annes wishes by publishing the diary. Annes diary becomes a condemnation of the unimaginable horror of the Holocaust, and one of the few accounts that describe it from a young persons perspective.Since Annes diary is a true personal account of a life in hiding, it is inappropriate to analyze it as a novel or other work of fiction. Parts of the diary were intended for public view, but others clearly were not. To appreciate and interpret the diary, it is necessary to consider its horrible context, World War II and the