The Valley of Elah - 890 Words

In The Valley of Elah is undoubtedly one of the most realistic depictions of a modern soldiers experience during the war in Iraq. This film exposes the challenges that many soldiers face upon returning home from duty. In the Valley of Elah follows a detective plot as Hank Deerfield tries to find his AWOL son, Mike, who has just returned home from active duty in Iraq. As Hank pieces together the events that lead to his sons death, the viewers see how traumatized the returning soldiers are. This film submerges the viewer in very powerful and gruesome incidents, which is seen through the photographs and cell phone footage that Mike records while in Iraq. Throughout the film, Mike’s mental state progressively degrades through the photographs†¦show more content†¦At the end of the film, the audience learns what happened to Mike that changed him forever. Mike documented these experiences through video recordings and photographs that were shared with his father. Through the grainy video recordings we see Mike driving a military convey. Under military standing orders, a soldier is not allowed to stop a vehicle for anything in the middle of the road. If â€Å"someone or something gets in front of you, you do not stop. [If] you stop, shitheads pop up with RPGs and kill you all dead† (In the Valley of Elah 2007). Under orders, Mike speeds up the military convey and runs over a child. He proceeds to get out of the vehicle and takes a photograph with his cellphone of the boy’s dead body on the side of the road. That moment changed Mike forever. Running over a child during the first week of deployment had an immense impact on Mike and his behavior. Mike calls his father and says â€Å"you gotta get me out of here,† â€Å"something happened, Dad.† Hank asks his son if there â€Å"is anybody there with [him]?† because he does not want his son to be seen as weak while crying on the phone. This scene continues to add to the stress that Mike faces in Iraq. Mike is trying to reach out for help from his father about an incident that traumatized Mike but Hank did not want to hear or discuss any of Mike’s issues. This phone call and loss of connection with Hank further contributes to Mike’s downward spiral in Post Traumatic StressShow MoreRelatedGoliath : Giant Among Men1273 Words   |  6 Pagesvery important to the story line. The Israel army lead by King Saul was on one side of a valley named Elah while the enemy, the Philistines where on the other side. This creating the dead lock in which the champion Goliath is sent forth to challenge the Israelite army in a battle of champions. Now in Malcolm’s speech he mentions an interesting point about how Goliath was lead down by the hand to the valley floor by a servant. This is one of his big arguments on why Goliath could have been a giantRead MoreEssay on David and King Saul820 Words   |  4 Pageswith a fresh start as king; he came from a well-to-do family, was tall, dark, handsome, and it was told there was no man taller than he. But, his peaceful start did not last long. During his reign he had a stand-off with the Philistines in the valley of Elah, unauthorized sacrificial offering, failed to eliminate all of the Amalekites and their livestock as commanded by God, and lied to God as well. The break between Saul and God is arguably one of the saddest occurrences in Scripture. Saul’s finalRead MoreThe Courage to Differ Essay example700 Words   |  3 Pageswith his peers and choose what was right made a lasting impression on the lives of countless people from his time to ours. I am certain that D avid looked back in his older years and contentedly smiled at the decision that he made that day in the Valley of Elah. Doris Lessing stated in her essay titled Group Minds, Many agree that among our most shameful memories is this, how often we said black was white because other people were saying it (308). Why must we suffer the shame of being cowardlyRead MoreWhy Are Do Underdogs Win in Malcolm Gladwells Blink and Outliers904 Words   |  4 Pagesand destruction. But you create a community of remote misses. If you take away a mother or a father, you cause suffering and despair. But one time in ten, out of that despair rises as indomitable force. You see the giant and the shepherd in the Valley of Elah and your eye is drawn to the man with sword and shield and the glittering armor. But so much of what is beautiful and valuable in the world comes from the shepherd, who has more strength and purpose than we ever imagine† (Gladwell 346). RemoteRead MoreBible 104 Worldview Essay6535 Words   |  27 PagesSamuel’s anointing of David (chap. 16) and David’s resounding victory over Gol iath in the valley of Elah (chap. 17) clearly introduce David as God’s choice to lead the nation of Israel (chap. 17). David won a dramatic victory over the Philistines because he separated himself from Saul’s ways, depended on God alone, and believed that â€Å"the battle is the L ord’s† (17:47). View looking eastward from Brook Elah, where David killed Goliath. D. Saul’s Failures (1 Samuel 18:1–31:13) En Gedi WaterfallRead MoreDictionary of O.T1356 Words   |  6 PagesAs with many love story, Ruth and Boaz wed and beget a son name Obed. Thus perpetuating the Davidic and messianic lineage. DAVID David story starts to unfold in 1 Samuel 17, â€Å"which begins by telling us the location of this event, the valley of Elah† (Ed Hindson, Courageous Faith: Life Lessons From Old Testament Heroes, 2003, page 151). While authorship of I and II Samuel is anonymous, scholars predicts the books was written by Nathan or Gad. David lived in the land of Israel, the town ofRead MoreThe Effects War Has on Military Families1194 Words   |  5 Pagesonce they rejoin their families, but it’s the mental patients that give the look of having no problems at all on the exterior, but upon further inspection they end up being the ones that were affected the most by the war. In the film â€Å"In the Valley of Elah† by Paul Haggis a young lady goes to the police after her war veteran spouse drowns their dog in the bathtub, considering she’ll be next one she fled to the police for her life. It is very clear that the woman’s spouse is in pain from the mentalRead MoreLiterary Analysis 1 Samuel 17:1-281926 Words   |  8 Pagesthe king that his father was Jesse. Understanding the setting helps the reader develop the scene. The narrative is set in the Elah valley, which is approximately fifteen miles southwest of Jerusalem. The two armies are each camped on the side of the two mountains, each of which slope down to form the valley. A stream of water runs between these mountains in the valley (1 Samuel 17:40). The author has a unique design for the characters. The round characters in the narrative are Goliath, a PhilistineRead MoreThe Yellow Birds And Paul Haggis Movie1992 Words   |  8 PagesIn both Kevin Powers novel, The Yellow Birds and Paul Haggis movie, In the Valley of Elah the authors explore PTSD, pain and loss that many soldiers and their family members feel once they return. They explain these ideas with the help of the bodies of two soldiers. These bodies are the main focal point that they branch out and show the out reaching effects of their deaths. The biggest differences are between two of the main characters, Bartle and Hank and how they each handled their PTSD, pain andRead MoreEssay on Comparisons and Contrasts Between the Bible and the Koran3011 Words   |  13 PagesKoran. The Biblical version tells the story of the Philistines gathering for war against Israel in Judah. King Saul of Israel and his army get ready for battle and camp near the Philistines’ camp a t the Valley of Elah. The Israelites are camped on one hill, the Philistines on the other, with the valley lying between the two armies. Then Goliath comes out of the Philistine camp. He is an extremely tall man – 9 feet to be exact. He wears a bronze helmet and armor, with bronze greaves and a bronze spear

Drown Essay Example For Students

Drown Essay The story of immigrant struggles is the major theme in Drown byJunot Diaz. Every immigrant has a personal story, pains and joys, fears andvictories, and Daz portrays much of his own story of immigrant life in Drown,a collection of 10 short stories. This book captures the fury and alienation ofthe Dominican immigrant experience very well. Other immigrants griefs alsocome up in Dazs short stories. My argument for this paper delves with thequestion of is this book merely storytelling or is it autobiographical? Also, itseemed to me as if he uses some symbols and specific words (mostly verbs) toexpress himself in a manner which the reader can almost feel the story as if itwere real. The book tells of the barrios of the Dominican Republic and thestruggling urban communities of New Jersey. This book is very strong and thesestories tell of a sense of discovery from a young mans perspective. It seems asthough for the immigrants, even when things are at their best, a highprobability of calamit y looms just around the corner. Uncertainty is the onlycertainty for these outsiders, who live in communities that, are separatedfrom all the other communities by a six-lane highway and the dump. Ittells of a world in which fathers are gone; mothers fight with determination fortheir families and themselves. Drown brings out the conflicts, yearnings, andfrustrations that have been a part of immigrant life for centuries. Diaz himselflived in such a world. In each of his stories Diaz uses a first-person narratorwho is observing others. Boys and young drug dealers narrate eight of thesetales. Their struggles shift from life in the barrios of the Dominican Republicto grim existence in the slums of New Jersey. These young boys could be thevoice of Junot Diaz himself. If so, why would the book be a fiction? Thecharacters in these stories wrestle with recognizable traumas. Yunior and Rafain Ysrael and Fiesta 1990 confront the pain of growingup, the loss of innocence, and how misfortune just happens to fall upon them. InDrown, Edison, New Jersey, Aurora, weglimpse into anger stemming from unearned suffering, the embarrassment ofpoverty, the confusion of loving a Crackhead, and shock of reality. Drown tells of an impoverished, fatherless youth in the DominicanRepublic and his struggle with immigrant life in New Jersey. It shows pain andsuffering very accurately. The last and longest of the stories, Negocios,reconstructs the adventures of Ramon, the father who left his wife and childrenbehind to try to make it in the States. It is told from the point of Yunior, theyoungest son. Negocios, points up this collections one weakness. Itis a chronicle of his fathers immigration, remarriage and, finally, therescuing of his children and first wife from their bleak life in the DominicanRepublic. In this book, words used show lots of meaning (strong use of verbs). By doing this Diaz has managed to physically imprint the reality of hischaracters so as to make them seen. The characters step out of the plots sovibrantly real. What I enjoyed about this book is that there was no use ofItalics or any other editorial assistance for the reader. This showed me that heis taking a stand against the use of Italics. Its almost as though Diaz iswriting in a diary and there is no need for such things. Also, these stories arenot read like stories, they are more like a sociological study. The feelings andthe observations jump off the page so much so that the stories appear very muchautobiographical. Again bringing up the point of whether it should be classifiedfiction or non-fiction. Daz never loses sight of the telling details ofimmigrant life stateside. He describes food from the perspective of a Dominicanboy who eats only boiled yucca and platano. The yucca and platano is a symbol ofhis poverty and hunger in Aguantando. Then he writes about everyonegetting obese in America; even the immigrants themselves. This simple abundanceof food gets to the imagination of immigrants, enduring for many years as thenewcomers fascination with the United States. The picture inside the plasticbag of the father in Aguantando is one of the symbols. This is asymbol of an absentee father; present in more that one story. The governmentcheese, was also a symbol of hunger and poverty. It was both treasured andhated. He was amazed at the generosity of Americans but at the same time he wasashamed by it. Clear the government cheese from the refrigerator(Diaz 143) What I do like about Drown is Dazs ability to dramatize thetragedies of immigrants without making everything seem over dramatic or fake. Asan immigrant who shared several of these experiences, as a young stranger in astrange land, I find this narrative very accurate. Drown offers a dignifiedportrayal of immigrant life because of the reality behind it.