Cracked Ethical Compass The movie Platoon is a film, written by a Vietnam Veteran, following an American Infantry platoon through their time in Vietnam. The movie specifically focuses in on a new recruit named Taylor. He narrates as the story focuses in on the two most senior Non-Commissioned Officers on his patrol Sergeant Elias and Sergeant Barnes. These two elements of the movie create an ethical dilemma that leads to a degradation in the platoon’s ability to operate effectively and a large number of casualties. While the platoon is on patrol, three men are killed by hidden explosives that they accidentally trigger. Shortly after, a nearby village is discovered to be hiding a large cache of weapons and ammunitions. Emotional tension is high, with the loss of men still fresh, and this spills into very violent interrogation methods. Most of the men use the violence to cope with the loss of the three men, but some, especially Taylor, find the actions appalling. The momentum builds and it apexes when Sergeant Barnes is interrogating an uncooperative and shoots his wife to get the man to admit that the village was supporting the North Vietnamese Army. This is the first ethical dilemma in the movie. …show more content…
This can be seen through the basic principle of valuing human life. Taylor had difficulty expressing to his platoon that these people were still humans and should be treated as such, but it is seen that Sergeant Barnes did not see this as he shot a woman who was not threatening him in any way. It can also be interpreted through the response of Sergeant Elias who physically fought Sergeant Barnes once he had realized what had happened. Some could argue that the emotional stress and grief could be valid justification for the actions seen, but there is no ethical justification for murdering an innocent civilian who is causing no threat to the Sergeant’s
Tim O’Brien writes us a wonderful fictional tale of a platoon of men in vietnam during the vietnam war, The Things They Carried shows the reader that when the men are over in this distant and strange land, not only do they carry physical objects, but emotional baggage and ideas that truly make, or break a man in war. Tim and his men show several signs of stress and turmoil while fighting the war, and while they survive they begin to understand what is really means to live, die, and what is right, and wrong. While over in vietnam the men are in a war, not a simple skirmish or fight, but a full on war against an enemy that they were not sure they are the enemy. The men would walk from location from location seeing what there is to do and trying
Killing is an action that can never be undone. In the novel War Brothers, Sharon E. Mckay examines the impact of this action. War Brothers is a story about four children fighting for survival after their capture by the LRA. During their time in the LRA, they all learn what the true meaning of family is and how you have to look out for not only yourself but others too. There are three characters in the novel that are impacted in different ways by the choice to kill.
Officer Tommy Hansen started off as an average officer who had gotten fed up with his partner, leading to his first ethical dilemma, when he let his partner, Officer John Ryan, pull over a husband and wife in a car and then let Officer Ryan grope the wife in front her husband. Officer Hansen had expressed his distaste in the situation, vocally, but he did not bother to stop Officer Ryan at all, he stayed in the car and watched the entire scenario fall apart. Officer Hansen had also turned away from the situation and tried to look away, as if Hansen was trying to ignore that Ryan was doing anything wrong in the first place. Another dilemma Hansen faced, is when he had chased down the vehicle the husband was in and when the husband was exerting his anger in a manner where the police might have shot him, if he did the wrong move with his hands. Hansen had realized he was the husband of the wife, who his ex-partner had groped earlier, and talked the husband down to a calm manner.
The three movies – Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, and The Green Berets – are all movies based on the same historical event – the Vietnam war and US’s involvement in it. Yet, they all presented us with different and narrative point of view and authority figures in order to paint their individual values. The movies’ most obvious differences lie within the choice of their narrative point of view. The Green Beret, the earliest one, was directed by John Wayne and he also starred in the leading role. Wayne’s authority and influence in the 1960s was similar to the influence of Tom Hanks in the 21st Century.
The human condition is full of paradoxes and double meanings. We can commit the most shocking and terrible acts, but we can complete the most virtuous and honorable feats. Ishmael Beah describes the appalling and violent behavior he and other children exhibited toward the human life during his time in the Sierra Leonean civil war in his memoir, A Long Way Gone. Beah also details the forgiveness and kindness of complete strangers that helped him become the man that fate meant him to be. Homo sapiens are complex creatures brimming with irony and surprises.
This chapter “The Ghost Soldiers”, showed us how Tim O’Brien and the other soldiers were dealing with the war both physically and psychologically. It also shows us how the Tim O'Brien behaved and felt when he was shot, wounded and had a bacteria infection on his butt and how the war changed the way he thought, and viewed the other soldiers around him. This chapter also contain a lot of psychological lens. From the way Tim O’Brien felt when he was shot and separated from his unit to a new unit to when he wanted revenge on Bobby Jorgenson for almost “killing” him.
A young teenage boy gets drafted into the war with high expectations of freedom and an experience of manhood. Little does young Paul know, he would be faced with the true hardships of the Western front. The horrors of the war were unimaginable, and this film allowed us to experience what it was like to be surrounded by the continuous deaths and traumatizing situations. Fighting for your life and fighting to save your teammate’s life isn’t something that just anyone can do, but it was expected from the young teenage boys who were drafted into this war. There were no room for errors and if you had made a mistake, you’d be lucky to be alive to fix it.
In the short story Ambush, the protagonist killing the young man was justifiable. This is ok because doing what he did, was the protagonist's job. It was his responsibility to ambush any enemies who came on the site. Even though the man may have not been the enemy, he was on the site. So, as soon as the protagonist saw him, it was a natural reaction for him to pull the pin on the grenade.
The first thing we notice is the emotions through the narrator's trauma. In “The Man I Killed” Tim O’Brien the main character wanted to contain his emotions by adding more positive emotions. You can see the negative when the soldier is constantly looking at the man and standing there shaken,
Richie then discovers the true face of war: suicide ambushes, enemies hiding and lurking in spider holes and murky swamps, explosive landmines, burned out villages full of dead old people, women and children, the accidental friendly fire at soldiers in your own platoon, children who are strapped with bombs and sent among the American soldiers, and seeing his comrades die in front of him What began as an thrilling adventure for Richie has turned into a nightmare. Fear and death are tangible in Vietnam and soon Richie begins to question why he is fighting. After surviving two encounters with death, Richie is honorably discharged from the service. Disillusioned about the glory of war, Richie returns home with a renewed desire to live and an appreciation for the family he left
According to Quora.com, the first ever documented use of snipers was in the American Revolution. The short story, “The Sniper”, takes place in the Irish Civil War. Two snipers discover themselves on the same territory, both trying to kill the other. After being hit, the protagonist fakes his death. His plan gives him an easy kill on the enemy sniper.
The Things They Carried The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is a novel written about the Vietnam war O’Brien throughout the story describes events that happened to him and his brothers during the war, also how the soldiers experiences affected them in many ways. When one thinks about war they come to a conclusion that it's about fighting for our country. Strict rules and boundaries being set and doing the best for our country. Although the moment you're getting fired at, your brothers dying and the possibility that you could die all runs through your head to a moment where you are no longer thinking you are just doing.
If you knew who you were shooting at, would you pull the trigger? In the story called ¨The Sniper¨ by Liam O'Flaherty, a man, who is referred to as ´the sniper´ is about a man who is in a war in Dublin. The first thing that happens is when he shoots a man in a turret and a woman. Then he gets shot in the arm. Then he shoots an enemy sniper.
In “The Sniper”, a realistic fiction story written by Liam O’Flaherty, there is a war waging in Dublin, Ireland. The sniper must kill his enemies, but it will be a challenge. Republicans against Free Staters, only one side can win. As the two snipers shoot at each other from the rooftops of buildings, they have to use their military skills and think outside of the box to vanquish their enemy. By using irony and 3rd person perspective , Liam O’Flaherty depicts the lesson throughout the story that there is value to life.
"Platoon" is a movie from 1986 depicting the war that happened in Vietnam between 1955 and 1975. The movie takes place in 1967 and is also the semi-autobiographical account of the director, Oliver Stone's, real experience while fighting in the Vietnam War. It went on to be the first ever Hollywood film to be written and directed by a Vietnam War veteran. It was a big hit with viewers and most critics. Produced for only $6 million, it went on to gross $138 million worldwide.