If I were Joe

If I were in the same position as Joe, I would be concentrating every minute of the day on how to kill myself. I couldn’t lie in bed, just waiting to die with nothing to do. I daydream a lot, so I could entertain myself for a while, but I would still want to die. I would be waiting for my mother to come and save me and help me die a quick death. I wouldn’t care how painful it was, I would want to die at practically any cost. Not letting anyone have any connection with people besides touch, and not being able to move or eat would be complete and utter torture. If I were Joe, I would keep trying to build up my back muscles so I could turn over and destroy the machinery keeping me alive. That would be my main focus.

The book is boring

I had very high hopes for this book. I really liked the peace sign on the cover, and the man with the military war gun. I thought this was going to be a very strong, perhaps hippyish anti-war book- I was very wrong. Although I think the books has some very strong implicit arguments about why war is wrong, I also think that it’s, unfortunately, incredibly boring. I feel terribly sorry for Joe. All he has to do is sit in bed and think about how his life could have been, with nothing to do but think. Also, I don’t perceive Joe as a very intelligent man, therefore there is only so much an unintelligent man can think about for years and years. I think it’s awful that this is what goes on in war, but it makes for an incredibly boring book.

This is the kind of man that Joe was talking about. As Joe would put it, he says all of these big words as to why you should fight, when really he doesn’t care about the soldiers. He’s one of the people in Johnny Got His Gun that persuades other people to go out and fight for “democracy” or for “the common wealth,” but you certainly don’t see him doing it himself. He doesn’t care about anything other than winning the war, and America being more powerful. Some people, like me, would call him a war mongral.

Dsouza

Dsouza is saying in her essay that without the support of American citizens, America wouldn’t be near as strong of a country as it is now. The only war America didn’t win was Vietnam, and that’s because people didn’t necessarily know what they were fighting for or against. Americans get the motivation to fight from what the government tells them is happening, but if they aren’t informed or are confused, they won’t fight to their full potential. This relates to the book because Joe doesn’t know what he was fighting for, and that’s why he lost.

First Johnny got his gun blog!

This essay and the book Johnny got his gun are very similar in the idea that people have toward government. Both in the book and essay, the people feel very separated from the government. They aren’t exercising their right to have a say in government and such because they feel distanced from it. Because of this, when they have an opinion, they don’t express it. Joe said (thought) that he didn’t know why he even got himself into this mess, and that it was none of his business. The government is supposed to be for the people, not to rule over the people, and people aren’t exercising that. People are thinking that they have nothing to do with government. Because of this, when people are forced to fight in the war, they aren’t really fighting for anything. They don’t feel that this is their problem, their mess, etc…

A better blog

Today, my blog will be better than yesterday. I promise. I’m really focusing on my schedule. So far, I’m taking AP Literature, AP Statistics, AP Spanish, anatomy, government and economics, and yearbook. It seems like a really stressful schedule for senior year! Although, I don’t think I’ll get all my first choices anyway, so I’ll probably have to change it all anyway. Also, I’m so worried about the SAT! I haven’t taken it yet, but from what I’ve heard, it’s pretty torturous! On top of that, we all have the AP exam for this class at the end of the year!

A bad blog

Today, I caught up with my good ‘ol friend Stephen Downton! When I was a freshman at Plainfield, he was a senior, and I haven’t talked to him in forever! Now, he lives in Indianapolis and he works at some car repair place. Also, in his spare time, he races cars! And now, I never get to see him! He has a girlfriend, but I forget her name. This is a really random blog, so I’m sorry about this. My manicured nails look absolutely atrocious. I’m really worried about the swine flu! It has already killed 151 people in Mexico! They also found their first case in Indiana! Scary!