Week 3 Post B

Dear Mr. O'Brien, 

I haven't gotten much further into your novel, but I can tell you it hasn't gotten much happier. That's for sure. The whole blowing up the puppy portion of this chapter was less than satisfying. That was one of the most scarring things I've ever read, but I have this sneaking suspicion that you weren't kidding. And if you made that up yourself that's sick. 

Other than that, I think the book is great. I almost feel like I'm there with the soldiers out on the battle fields, and I too am trying to figure my life out while I'm there. At least that's what I feel like the other men are trying to accomplish; what their life's purpose is or trying to figure out why they are there. Something that I noted was that the men are losing their emotion towards a lot of things, like the deaths of other soldiers and just other people in general. 

Also, the whole situation with Lt. Cross and Margaret. I don't really get why he loves her so much. He doesn't really have a lot of great things to say about her, but nevertheless he still loves her, and it's annoying knowing that Margaret doesn't love him like that, I'm not sure why she wouldn't, but he still loves her anyway. I guess that goes to show that you can't help who you fall in love with. I think that is another emerging theme in this novel. Mainly with Cross and Margaret, but I have a feeling it happens along with the other soldiers too. 

Until next time,

Grace

Week 3 Post A

Vocab: 

Encyst: to enclose or become enclosed in a cyst. (20)

plodding: to walk heavily; to trudge. (15) 

Figurative Language:

1) "... and then he soars into a tree."(32) Here I think O'Brien is trying to describe how this soldier loved being in the trees, and when he was shot he saw him soaring into the trees. This example can be looked at literally or figuratively. The soldiers can be soaring into the tree, as in his spirit, and that would be personification because humans can't soar into trees by free will. On the literal side, you can actual visualize the soldier being blown to bits and his body parts flying in the trees, which I'm afraid to admit might be the real meaning. 

2) "You'd feel the boredom dripping inside you like a leaky faucet"(34) This figurative language because it is a simile. It's describing how their boredom would get to them, and they would convince themselves they were getting sick. 

3) "All that peace, man, it felt so good it hurt. I want to hurt it back." (35) Here's personification because you can't actually hurt peace physically. At least I think this is personification, otherwise I'm not sure what to call it. 

Quote: 

"Or Ted Lavendar adopting an orphan puppy-- feeding it from a plastic spoon and carrying it in its rucksack until the day Azar strapped it to a Claymore antipersonnel mine and squeezed the firing device"(36).  This quote may be found significant because it shows that blowing a puppy up wasn't a really big deal and the death a puppy wouldn't matter because their own men were dying everyday. They, or at least Azar, found it fun and entertaining. I guess their boredom lead them to this. Personally, I don't think this quote should've even been added into the book beacuse it's so depressing. 

Theme:

Trying to figure out life's purpose. 

Week 2 Post B

Dear Mr. O'Brien, 

As I dive further into your novel the more intrigued I am becoming. I really enjoy hearing about how war changed the soldiers, and how life begins to develop a different meaning. The death of fellow soldiers become a natural phenomenon, and also a joke. But the joking is how they deal with it; which is also interesting to hear about, because they all deal with the deaths a little bit differently. Like Kiowa talks about the death of Lavendar in amazement, while Lt. Cross cries by himself in a fox whole blaming it on himself. Your styling of writing i what really makes one understand the emotion on the battle field. Your writing is very casual which reflects to the events in the novel. Like how death is now a casual event or so it comes off.  

One question I have is are you apart of this unit? I can't tell if you, Tim O'brien, is writing of your real experiences, or if you are writing from  the perspective of a  retired soldier, and you have drawn personal experiences into his character. Basically, what I am asking is: Is this a true story/ autobiography? I look forward to continuing the journey though the Vietnam war that isn't about the history or tactics, but of the lives of the soldiers. 

Week 2 Post A

mortared: A machine in which materials are ground and blended or crushed. (15)

Volition: a choice or decision made by the will. (15) 

Figurative Language:

1)"They carried the sky. The whole atmosphere, they carried it, the humidity, the monsoons, the stink of fungus and decay, all of it, they carried gravity"(15).  This excerpt is figurative language because they can't physically carry these things because they aren't tangible. It is said they are carrying these things to know what sort of mental things they had to carry. 

2)"Like cement"(17). this isn't a very descriptive quote but in context it makes sense that it is a simile because he is talking about what a soldier looked like when he was shot. 

3) "Zapped while Zipping"(17). Here's a term the soldiers use a lot to describe someone who was shot while taking a leak. I'm not sure if this is technically figurative language, but I like to think it is because it's sort of like an onomatopoeia because of the "zapped." I'm not exactly sure why, but I feel it is just very figurative. 

Quote: 

"... the resources were stunning--sparklers for fourth of July, colored eggs for Easter--it was the great American war chest--the fruits of science, the smokestacks, and the canneries, the arsenals at Hartford, the Minnesota forests, the machine shops, the vast fields of corn and wheat"(16) I thought this was a very interesting quote. Mostly because he mentioned Minnesota, but besides that I think that it also carries some significance. Here he is mentioning all the things the supply planes would drop to them, and how for war these are pretty luxurious

things to have dropped down to you. Also, all of the things that were dropped to them reminded him of America and his longing for America. At least that's how I interpret it. 

Theme: 

A theme of accepting death is emerging because it's better than being embarrassed. The soldiers would rather die then try and escape death and thought to be a "sissy"

Outside Reading Sucks-Week 1 Post B

Dear Mr. Tim O'Brien, 

I have only read the first 9 pages of your book, but I am thoroughly enjoying it already, and looking forward to reading more. From reading those nine pages you have already struck a chord with me and made me feel a bit of what the soldiers felt during that time.  I can tell it is going to be a very touching novel that I will learn a lot from. You especially have a talent for setting the mood and tone of a book. 

What I really liked so far was how you list of all the things they carried, and not just a list of the objects they brought (toilet paper, gum, ammunition, pot, etc.), but also the emotional baggage they marched  with too.  

Also, the character Jim Cross is someone I can relate to easily because he is a mind-wanderer. He marches through battle fields giving orders, but isn't even really focusing on what is happening, rather he is daydreaming about things in far off lands. He is an intriguing character and I have a feeling he is probably the main character of this novel.  Well, I can't say much more until I read more. 

Sincerely, 

Gracie

Outside Reading Sucks- Week 1 Post A

Vocabulary:

topography: the detailed mapping or charting of the features of a relatively small area, district, or locality. 

bandoliers: A belt fitted with small pockets or loops for carrying cartridges and worn across the chest by soldiers. 

phantom: an appearance or illusion without material substance, as a dream image, mirage, or optical illusion. 

Figurative Language: 

1.  "... goes ass over teakettle"(6) a term used to described a body flipping and turning, and is figurative language because it is imagery and a form of personification (giving a human like characteristic to a  non-human like thing). 

2. " the eyes chilly"(8).  Another form of personification or something that describes what the eye looks like, but the eye can't actually be chilly, and it is also imagery.  But it is figurative because an eye can't actually be chilly. 

3. " Suns and waves and gentle winds, all love and lightness"(9). Here someone is describing how their love for someone feels and it feels like the "sun and waves and winds," which is personification because he is giving an attribution of a personal nature to abstract notions. 

Quote:

" He carried a strobe light and the responsibility for the lives of his men" (5). This is a very interesting quote because something physical the soldier is carrying is listed but then followed by something that isn't physically carried, but weighs more than the object that has an actual mass. This quote is sort of a set up for the mood and feelings of the rest of the book, because you understand his physical pain, but you feel the weight on his shoulders for the responsibility of other lives even more because it has so much more importance than a strobe light, and this is basically what the men carried : tangible and intangible things. 

Theme:

The idea that you can carry both tangible and intangible things. 

Poseidon's background music

Poseidon doesn't interest me or inspire me as much as just stand out to me. The fact that he has a grudge against Odysseus is brought up regularly or at least every so often throughout the poem, and that grabs my attention because of its repetitiveness. Also, the fact that he is one of the only things holding Odysseus back form getting home. 

What really sticks out is Poseidon's persistence to make Odysseus' life as difficult as possible. Not only that but the fact that he is mad because Odysseus stabbed his Cyclops son, Prometheus, in the eye; which is just kind of funny. Especially because it upset Poseidon that much, but it is admirable that he will go against the others (gods) to get revenge for his son's loss. 

The song I chose that I thought best describes Poseidon is "I Won't Back Down" by Tom Petty and The heartbreakers. The title sort of speaks for itself because Poseidon basically "won't back down." But more specifically Tom Petty says "gonna stand my ground, and I won't back down." That is exactly what Poseidon does, except I guess he literally doesn't stand his ground being God of the Seas...He also says "Hey baby, there ain't no easy way out," that's Poseidon basically telling Odysseus there is no easy way out. This song is pretty self explanatory. 

What lead me to ultimately choosing this song was that I saw Tom Petty playing this at the half-time show at the Super Bowl, and I thought to myself "hey, that sounds kind of like something Poseidon would listen to."