essay due Thursday

Length: 4 pages Style: MLA;  

Choose one of the following prompts: 1. 

In House to House, Sgt. Bellavia states the following: I am a Christian, but my time in Iraq has convinced me that God doesn’t want to hear from me anymore. I’ve done things that even He can never forgive. I’ve done them consciously; I’ve made decisions I must live with for years to come. I am not a victim. In each instance, I heard my conscience call for restraint. I told it to shut the fuck up and let me handle my business. (43) In his evaluation of himself as a soldier, Bellavia is harsher than any outside critic would be. How does Bellavia, as portrayed by both himself and by Michael Ware (in our packet), fit or diverge from the noble example of the warrior-hero? (See Wesley’s typical motifs of the American war story.) Analyze several episodes in House to House in which Bellavia passes or fails to pass the tests he—or the Army—has set for the modern soldier fighting insurgents. Document your evidence in MLA style. 

2. We have been discussing modern war all semester, yet the war we see in House to House is in some ways a “throwback” war in the sense that it has aspects of both the modern in its technology and the primitive in its siege warfare and its at times man-to-man and hand-to-hand combat. Analyze several episodes in House to House that illustrate the particular physical, emotional, and moral aspects of war confronting the Army soldier fighting in a coalition with other US military branches and the Iraqi Intervention Force (IIF) against insurgent fighters in an urban setting. Document your evidence in MLA style.