Terminsprøve 2012

Hej alle. Jeg var oppe i Engelsk terminsprøve (skriftlig) idag, hvor jeg i 2. del skrev om det at være udsendt i krig.
Hvad tænker i at i ville give denne opgave, kritik, ros? Har en fornemmelse på et stort 7 tal men er godt nok ikke sikker.
Anyways opgaverne lød:
1. Noget med at beskrive meninger omkring "at være i krig" i de 3 texter
2. tag fat i text 1 og gør rede for hvordan SArah palin "engage the reader" med eksempler
3. Taking point in on of the texts discuss why young people go to war.

The three texts “Why they serve” - Sarah Palin, “A soldier’s story: war affects whole family” - David Zucchino and “The making of a Marine Officer” by Joel Pitney all have something in common. The theme is “serving in the army”.
Sarah Palin describes a situation many mothers can relate to. In 2007 her son Track enlisted in the army. This was an honour for her. She talks about motivation and refers to something most of us can relate to which is protecting our family. “He has little sisters, a special baby brother, and a nephew. He wants a world that is safe and welcoming for them”.
As a contrast to Palins positive thoughts of serving in the army we have the text written by David Zucchino. This article is about the Kahlors family. They have a different view on war after watching all the things their son, Ryan Kahlor, has been through. As Zucchino says “he was a walking billboard for virtually every affliction suffered by today’s veterans”. After his combat tours in Iraq he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. Not only Ryan but his parents are heavily influenced by his disorders. The father Tim calls it “secondary PTSD”. The father even takes medication for depression. Both the parents wish that they had never let Ryan enlist.
Even though they regret now they did have the same feeling Palin had when she sent her son to Iraq. “…they were proud of his determination to serve his country”. They too were proud that he would go and fight for their country and fight for freedom. 
The third text is quite different from the two described above. This is a review of the book by Lieutenant Fick called “One bullet away: The making of a Marine Officer”. Fick’s reason for joining the Marines and serving in war is different from those above. It is to become a man. The Marine Corps is his rite of passage. He is not fighting for people’s freedom; he is fighting for the other marines, for the brotherhood. He wants bigger and more dangerous challenges those where you can get killed.
In the first text we see how Sarah Palin tries to engage the reader. As I mentioned before she refers to family. This is familiar to almost all of us. Who wouldn’t do anything for the family, for the sisters and brothers? The reason she is talking a lot about her son and not all the other sons and daughters might be that people would think: “If she let her son go, I will too”.
Palin is also trying to reach the “patriotic I” inside of the reader. “But America isn’t just another country, it’s an exceptional country. (…) That idea is that all human beings have a God-given right to be free.” She wants the reader to know that America is special. Maybe this will engage some people to fight for their country because it is special; because it is not ordinary. In this text “freedom” is one of the words that happen to appear the most. In USA there are a lot of different people but the thing that unites them is their freedom.
Sarah Palin uses intertextuality when she refers to some great personalities.
“(…) John McCain calls “a cause bigger than themselves”.”        
She also refers to a specific speech of Ronald Reagan, who was a great president from 1981-89, where he says that your country is worth dying for, democracy is worth dying for. The speech is delivered on the 40th anniversary of the D-day which is a national event everybody in America knows. People can relate to this, people can relate to the words of Ronald Reagan, the word free, the family safety.
Motivation can be many things when we talk about war. As we see in Palins text it is to glorify freedom and to make the world safe for the family. Ryan Kahlor did it for almost the same reasons. I think a lot of us felt unsecure and angry when the 9/11 incident happened. Many would maybe feel that they had to do something to stop this just like Tom Kahlor. He let his son enlist to fight against the terror in the world. You could say that Ryan Kahlor enlisted because of revenge. I do not think that it is strange. If someone hurt my family I would definitely try to seek revenge in the heat of the moment.
Maybe young people serve in war because they have suffered from incidents. They have seen cruelty and they can not bear to watch more. I do not think that people are motivated by the burst of adrenaline you feel when you’re in war. Yes, we do have people like Fick who love to live on the edge. But we should have in mind that this is a book and in books you may have a tendency to exaggerate a little. Another motivation could be the family. Maybe you have the feeling that no matter the causes you will try to protect the family so that another terror attack won’t appear. Ronald Reagan said:
“You all knew that some things are worth dying for”. I think the soldiers would die for their family safety, for their country safety. But I think they have to consider if the motivation is worth killing for.