Response to Question #3

Rating: Null/10 (19 December 2006)

The Deer Hunter's Steve, Nick, and Mike have been very close friends all their lives, but when the three of them head over to Vietnam we see that the roles the men play at home carry over to the war. From the beginning Mike is the leader figure of the three, he is loyal and has solid morals. At war, he is brave and knows what risks must be taken in order for him to survive. He isn't satisfied when he makes it home a hero, for he has the gilt of breaking his promise to his dear friend Nick. Which leads him to travel back to Vietnam and risk his life for Nick's.
Nick definitely respects Mike a whole lot, and we can tell he wishes to learn and be like Mike. From their hunting trips we can see Mike has influenced Nick when he is told to hunt with the philosophy of one shot. Nick is loyal and listens to Mike during the Russian roulette sequence in the prison camp. We see Nick's downfall starts when he is separated from Mike; Nick starts to mentally break down without his leader there to support him. When Nick losses all hope that he will never see Mike again, he mentally collapses and starts playing roulette for money, and it turns out Mike was just too late to save his friend.
Steve, although he was a good friend with Mike and Nick, was clearly not as close as the other two were. He respected Mike, but never to the extent Nick was. He was the first of the three to get married, even though he was about to head off to the war. At war, Steve was the one that needed the most saving, and he was clearly scared of the whole situation. He constantly was asking to go home and showed the most fear at the prison camp.
The only way I could see any of the outcomes being any different would be if Nick had not been split up from Mike. For if Nick had been with Mike I am sure that the two would have been able to help push each other through the tough times at war. Steve on the other hand was set up for disaster and I think it was inevitable that he would be hurt. Steve never showed enough courage or strength to make it through the war, and frankly was lucky to have just been hurt and not killed