The war and the conflict it has created to our society have little if any impact on the way they think or behave. They are affected by the attitudes and ideas of the other mental patients. They are also influenced by the crisp government employee's who take care of them with a strict, sometimes uncaring, hand. .
The two characters that I have chosen to represent the influence, which is created by the context, are Nick and Doug. This is because they are both affected and influenced greatly by the context. They also create a balanced equation as both types of context and both environments have been represented equally. Nick is the perfect model of the modern day radicalist. He shows and backs his support for the suffering. He also openly opposes the war and Australia's involvement. He is critical of love and other such frivolous behaviour; where as Doug is a member of the mental institution. To put it simply he is a psychotic pyromaniac who does not understand much of what he does or feels and has little if any respect for others. .
Nick is a natural born leader and tries to bring the students of his era together in opposing the war and the establishment although he goes about it in the wrong way. He is prepared to go public with his opinions and shows no restraint in getting his ideas across. .
Interviewer: And for the left wing person like you, what does this mean? Nick: In means that these people, even the middle class will be radicalized by seeing how many of us are against them. They"ll know that to be against the Vietnam war is also to be against the old fossilised government we now have. They"ll want the war to end, they"ll want changes in our society and they"ll want to overthrow the establishment.
He also very openly supports the Vietnamese people who are suffering through no fault of their own. And once again is very emotional about this issue. He will not consider any other views and is very augmentative when these issues are raised.