One focal fundamental idea in "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie" is to attack the Vietnam War and the deaths it bought about. Goines uses emotional mockery and irony to criticize the US Government by laughing at its drafting system. In "Attack the Water" we learn of the hardships Vietnamese people had to undergo and of Japanese-American people during the era of Japanese labor camps. Both Goines and Mirikitani condemn war and want the reader to think more critically. While Goines makes fun of human behavior to find some social change Janice Mirikitani depicts its harsh consequences.