The Things They Carried

The book “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien exceedingly helped me understand how hard it is to withstand the burdens of grief, love, fear, yearning all while carrying fifty pounds of supplies really is. I couldn’t imagine and don’t really want to what it would be like to carry almost my body weight in gear while being scared, feeling anguish, and never truly knowing if the one you love is staying faithful. It is pretty unreal when you think about. How could someone deal with all that while getting shot at?

The author depicts images of the things that the soldiers carried mostly the items of Lieutenant Cross. Not to mention all the mental baggage he has such as his love for Martha, grief of his dead men, his longing for Martha. Martha has an enormous affect on Lieutenant Cross and his ability to focus on the tasks at hand those being keeping himself and his men alive. After one of Lieutenant Cross’s men is shot and killed he can barely stand the heartache because he feels it was his fault for not paying attention and instead daydreaming about Martha. In reaction, he burns the letters and photos of Martha.

Mr. O’Brien does an excellent job of explaining why men kill and go to war. His explanation is that men are afraid to show that they are scared and that they are terrified of dying. That is the reason they came to war because they are afraid of what people might think of them. In the end, I’m pleased I read this and I’d recommend it to anyone.

More on Tim O'Brien: http://www.bookreporter.com/authors/au-obrien-tim.asp

Summary

The short story “On the Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien is about a recent college graduate who is unexpectedly drafted in the army. He has to fight for a war he doesn’t believe in. He spent his last summer before being shipped off to basic training working at the slaughter house with the job of declotter. It made him reek even after he bathed this made it hard for him to get dates.

He had many thoughts of running away to Canada. A little while before he had to leave he went to a lodge for a few days to relax. Where he helped an old man there named Elroy with simple tasks. He told the old man about his job in the slaughter house and worked out a deal with him so he could pay for his stay. After he had paid his debt the old man took him out on his boat almost all the way to the Canadian coast to fish. The old man was giving the young man a chance to swim to Canada and escape the war. Unfortunately he couldn’t bare the embarrassment so he didn’t and jump in. Instead he went home and then went to war. After that the man deemed himself a coward because he went to the war.

Analysis

My analysis of the short story “On the Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien is that if you don’t do something because you are worried of what people will think of you then you are a coward. The young man in the story said “All those eyes on me-the town, the whole universe- and I couldn’t risk the embarrassment” (O’Brien 59). Which does make him a coward because he couldn’t do something he believed in. Which was running away so that he did not have to fight in a war that he didn’t believe in because he couldn’t handle what people would think of him.

Works Citied

O'Brien, Tim. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1990. 246. Print.

Facts about the Veitnam war
http://www.vietnam-war.info/facts/

The Necessity to speak response
The essay “Necessity to Speak” has a horde of reasons explaining that if you are not part of the solution then you are part of the problem. However, some people would disagree. I am not affiliated with that group. If your just sitting around assuming you’re in the right even though you ignore the apparent issues such as, talking to your children about sex, rape, and violence in other words, the difference between wrong and right. Then you are doing more damage than good. Because in my opinion, people are molded into whom they are when they are children. Almost everything Sam has written in this essay is very true. You can deny it but, on the inside you know the truth.

I am too young to have the knowledge to express how overjoyed I am that I read this essay because I would have made the same mistakes as so many other people and thought that everything was just fine and dandy. I told myself a while ago that I would shelter my future children and not talk to them about pressing matters like sex, rape, and violence. Only because I thought it would help but, after reading this I know that it would just make it all worse.

Hamill wants the reader to understand how a person’s childhood affects their adulthood so drastically. You see and learn things as a child and they are typically with you forever. A child that was involved with domestic violence is more likely to be the so called “executioner” as an adult.

Sam Hamill
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/733

Eng 102
Responding to poetry
The two poems that I decided to respond to are: The Colonel, by Carolyn Forche and Song of Napalm, by Bruce Weigl. I was able to connect very deeply to the poem Song of Napalm, but I despised the poem The Colonel.
I hated reading The Colonel I don’t want to read a commentary about the authors evening. The whole poem was horribly boring and choppy in my opinion. The way everything was described was just too boring for my liking. Not to mention the part about the ears was really gross and I didn’t want the image of dried ears on a dining table burned into my mind. I despise this poem and I hope I never read any other poems like this; otherwise I may give up on poetry all together. I couldn’t stand this poem so much that I will never recommend it to anyone for the fear that it will simply ruin their day because it has ruined mine.
I enjoyed reading the poem Song of Napalm significantly better than The Colonel. The details were much better in this poem than the other which helped me develop a clearer picture of what the author was describing. Although, the poem made me sad I was able to connect with what the author was saying very well. I know what it feels like to have bad memories stuck forever in your mind. There are some things you just can’t forget they are with you for the rest of your life. Besides the point I am still glad I was able to connect on such a level.

Image acquired 6/16/10
http://eplteen.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/poetry.jpg

Nabokov essay

Kyle Lindahl
nabokov Essay

Nabokov believes that a great reader must look at the text in an artistic sense as well as a scientific sense. I completely agree each side is going to have great arguments. So it is important to understand both sides of the text to ensure you fully understand. I believe that to be a great reader you must be imaginative, have a dictionary, have a good memory, have adequate time to read the text, and must be able to read in both an artistic sense and scientific sense. I consider myself as a great reader. I am able to understand mostly everything I read fairly easily.

Image taken 6/11/10

http://fc.gecdsb.on.ca/~3betteridge/S031D78EF.1/summer_reading.jpg