Thursday, October 30, 2014
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Literature Analysis #2
The Things They Carried- Tim O'Brien
1.Tim O'Brien returns to war after being shot for the first time and is shot again. It takes the new medic, Bobby Jorgenson, a long time to get to him and by the time he does, Tim has gone into shock and the medic treats him for the wrong thing. He lives but is unable to return to the field and begins a new job in the military, preparing supplies and weapons. Tim O'Brien suffers from PTSD and struggles adapting back to his normal life. He is now looked at differently by his Platoon. Tim seeks revenge towards Jorgenson for not fully caring for his wound, which led to infection. He attempts to get his old Platoon members to help him mess with Jorgenson, but they refuse because he is now apart of their crew. One man, Azar, agrees to help. They go to where Jorgenson is working late at night and attempt to scare him by making noises in the brush and making items float. Tim finds a lot of joy in scaring Jorgenson, but wants to stop after awhile. Azar convinces him to keep going. Jorgenson shouts out that he knows it's O'Brien messing with him. They meet and forgive each other. The rest of the Platoon accepts O'Brien back in as family.
The narrative fulfills the author's purpose in showing the impact of war on a person's life. The author also shows how the men really relied on each other's friendships to survive.
1.Tim O'Brien returns to war after being shot for the first time and is shot again. It takes the new medic, Bobby Jorgenson, a long time to get to him and by the time he does, Tim has gone into shock and the medic treats him for the wrong thing. He lives but is unable to return to the field and begins a new job in the military, preparing supplies and weapons. Tim O'Brien suffers from PTSD and struggles adapting back to his normal life. He is now looked at differently by his Platoon. Tim seeks revenge towards Jorgenson for not fully caring for his wound, which led to infection. He attempts to get his old Platoon members to help him mess with Jorgenson, but they refuse because he is now apart of their crew. One man, Azar, agrees to help. They go to where Jorgenson is working late at night and attempt to scare him by making noises in the brush and making items float. Tim finds a lot of joy in scaring Jorgenson, but wants to stop after awhile. Azar convinces him to keep going. Jorgenson shouts out that he knows it's O'Brien messing with him. They meet and forgive each other. The rest of the Platoon accepts O'Brien back in as family.
The narrative fulfills the author's purpose in showing the impact of war on a person's life. The author also shows how the men really relied on each other's friendships to survive.
2. The main theme of the book is guilt and burdens- the title is a clear example of that. All of the characters in the story carry physical burdens as well as emotional ones. These emotional burdens include fear, reputation, and vulnerability. Many of the men can't forgive themselves for deaths of their brothers, and suffer from post traumatic stress disorder. The different stories in the book exemplify the struggles the men of the platoon went through during and after the war. The characters must attempt to accept their experiences, but for some, the burden is just too heavy.
3. The author's tone is pretty straightforward and comfortable. The author is retelling stories and the reason behind why he is telling them. He is familiar with his subjects, and you can infer that he is feeling remorse. "I wanted to do something, stop him somehow... I was trembling. I kept hugging myself, rocking, but I couldn't make it go away," expresses Tim's guilt about torturing Jorgenson. "None of it mattered. The words seemed far too complicated. All I could do was gape at the fact of the young man's body." Plain and simple- he felt bad. It's easy to gather from this that Tim felt remorse-it's pretty clear. "You can't fix your mistakes. Once people are dead, you can't make them undead." Straightforward.
4. Point of View: Most of the time the story is told from first person, but at times third person is used to distance Tim and allow other characters to tell their story.
Foreshadowing: Tim mentions the deaths of men, and later recounts these stories.
Symbolism: The dead young Vietnamese soldier represents guilt.
Juxtaposition: The placement of the stories told.
Blend of fiction and non-fiction: He questions stories.
Repetitions: He frequently repeats stories, adding in details. (he retells Kiowa's death 5 times)
Imagery: He describes the battlefield to allow the reader to try and experience what he dealt with.
Similies/Metaphors: Allow the reader to get a sense of the severity of a situation.
Flashback: To help the reader understand the character's experiences and their constant remembrance of the unfortunate events.
Structure: The book was written with interconnected short stories.
Characterization
1. Indirect:
"He would look them in the eyes, keeping his chin level, and he would issue the new SOP's in a calm, impersonal tone of voice, an officer's voice, leaving no room for argument or discussion."
"...I sometimes felt the fear spreading inside me like weeds. I imagined myself dead. I imagined me doing things I could not do- charging an enemy position, taking aim at another human being."
Direct:
"Lavender's left cheek bone was gone."
"There was a large Band-Aid at the back of her head, a row of black stitches, a piece of gauze taped above her left ear."
Tim uses indirect characterization to show psychological development, adding to the effect that Vietnam was this crazy place where you slowly lose your mind if you haven't already lost yourself as a whole. Tim uses direct characterization to be more blunt about the horrors of war. By telling the reader exactly how it looked, they can envision it for themselves.
2. When focusing on a character, the author's diction stays the same as he develops the characters specifically; some characters are emphasized more. The syntax slightly changes with an increase in dialogue when stories are being told.
3. The protagonist, Tim O'Brien, is a dynamic character. Before the war he doesn't want to be a part of it and tries to run away from it. By the end of the story, however, Tim can't leave the military life and his platoon-mates, and he continues to reminisce on his experiences. He is also a round character because by reading about the stories he was in and his experiences, the reader sees that he is a developed character.
4. After reading the book, I felt like I actually met a person. In the following passage, "They didn't know history. They didn't know the first thing about Diem's tyranny or the nature of the Vietnamese nationalism, or the long colonialism of the French- this was all too damned complicated, it required some reading- but no matter, it was a war to stop the Communists, plain and simple, which was how they liked things, and you were a treasonous pussy if you had second thoughts about killing or dying for plain and simple reasons. I was bitter, sure. But it was so much more than that. The emotions went from outrage to terror to bewilderment to guilt to sorrow and then back to outrage. I felt a sickness inside me. Real disease," all of Tim's emotions are shown. Throughout the book you get an understanding of who Tim is. I felt like i was personally told all of these stories.
Foreshadowing: Tim mentions the deaths of men, and later recounts these stories.
Symbolism: The dead young Vietnamese soldier represents guilt.
Juxtaposition: The placement of the stories told.
Blend of fiction and non-fiction: He questions stories.
Repetitions: He frequently repeats stories, adding in details. (he retells Kiowa's death 5 times)
Imagery: He describes the battlefield to allow the reader to try and experience what he dealt with.
Similies/Metaphors: Allow the reader to get a sense of the severity of a situation.
Flashback: To help the reader understand the character's experiences and their constant remembrance of the unfortunate events.
Structure: The book was written with interconnected short stories.
Characterization
1. Indirect:
"He would look them in the eyes, keeping his chin level, and he would issue the new SOP's in a calm, impersonal tone of voice, an officer's voice, leaving no room for argument or discussion."
"...I sometimes felt the fear spreading inside me like weeds. I imagined myself dead. I imagined me doing things I could not do- charging an enemy position, taking aim at another human being."
Direct:
"Lavender's left cheek bone was gone."
"There was a large Band-Aid at the back of her head, a row of black stitches, a piece of gauze taped above her left ear."
Tim uses indirect characterization to show psychological development, adding to the effect that Vietnam was this crazy place where you slowly lose your mind if you haven't already lost yourself as a whole. Tim uses direct characterization to be more blunt about the horrors of war. By telling the reader exactly how it looked, they can envision it for themselves.
2. When focusing on a character, the author's diction stays the same as he develops the characters specifically; some characters are emphasized more. The syntax slightly changes with an increase in dialogue when stories are being told.
3. The protagonist, Tim O'Brien, is a dynamic character. Before the war he doesn't want to be a part of it and tries to run away from it. By the end of the story, however, Tim can't leave the military life and his platoon-mates, and he continues to reminisce on his experiences. He is also a round character because by reading about the stories he was in and his experiences, the reader sees that he is a developed character.
4. After reading the book, I felt like I actually met a person. In the following passage, "They didn't know history. They didn't know the first thing about Diem's tyranny or the nature of the Vietnamese nationalism, or the long colonialism of the French- this was all too damned complicated, it required some reading- but no matter, it was a war to stop the Communists, plain and simple, which was how they liked things, and you were a treasonous pussy if you had second thoughts about killing or dying for plain and simple reasons. I was bitter, sure. But it was so much more than that. The emotions went from outrage to terror to bewilderment to guilt to sorrow and then back to outrage. I felt a sickness inside me. Real disease," all of Tim's emotions are shown. Throughout the book you get an understanding of who Tim is. I felt like i was personally told all of these stories.
Literary Fiction & Empathy
After reading this article, I found that the study done was awesome. They concluded that reading literary fiction "allows for more imagination and encourages readers to make inferences about characters and be sensitive to emotional nuance and complexity." Over any other genre, literary fiction teaches readers to be more empathetic. I feel like this can be very beneficial to me. In regards to Hamlet, this strategy may help me see the deeper meaning of Hamlet. This will allow me to see the real character of Hamlet rather than what is just on the surface or what one can read on Sparknotes. Reading about Hamlet's thoughts and struggles may make me more open-minded when trying to understand someone.
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Communities studying Hamlet
If you search the topic Hamlet on Twitter, many related posts will come up of students just like us studying Hamlet. Many of these posts say that people are dreading it.
Monday, October 13, 2014
Vocabulary #6
abase - cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of
Ex- I watched my colleagues abase themselves before the board of trustees.
abdicate - give up, such as power, as of monarchs and emperors, or duties and obligations
Ex- The government was accused of abdicating its responsibilities.
abomination - an action that is vicious or vile; an action that arouses disgust or abhorrence; a person who is loathsome or disgusting; hate coupled with disgust
Ex- This law is an abomination to all mankind.
brusque - marked by rude or peremptory shortness
Ex- She is known to be brusque and impatient.
saboteur - someone who commits sabotage or deliberately causes wrecks
Ex- The saboteur was punished severely.
debauchery - a wild gathering involving excessive drinking and promiscuity
Ex- One may find another's personality debauchery.
proliferate - cause to grow or increase rapidly; grow rapidly
Ex- Apple products continue to proliferate.
anachronism - an artifact that belongs to another time; a person who seems to be displaced in time; who belongs to another age; something located at a time when it could not have existed or occurred
Ex- Everything was as it would have appeared in centuries past apart from one anachronism, a bright yellow construction crane.
nomenclature - a system of words used to name things in a particular discipline
Ex- For one thing, the basic nomenclature was confusing.
expurgate - edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate
Ex- The editors expurgated hateful references to the government in the author's book before publishing it.
bellicose - having or showing a ready disposition to fight
Ex- There is a group of bellicose men.
gauche - lacking social polish
Ex- Some will find it gauche; others will enjoy its boldness.
rapacious - excessively greedy and grasping; devouring or craving food in great quantities; living by preying on other animals especially by catching living prey
Ex- His landlord is very rapacious.
paradox - a statement that contradicts itself
Ex- The man lied many times before, but when he told his friend, "I'm lying right now," the paradox confused him.
conundrum - a difficult problem
Ex- Jane was confronted with a large conundrum and didn't know what to do.
anomaly - a person who is unusual; deviation from the normal or common order or form or rule
Ex- There are a number of anomalies in the present system.
ephemeral - lasting a very short time; noun anything short-lived
Ex- Fashion is ephemeral.
rancorous - showing deep-seated resentment
Ex- Many people became rancorous because of the man's ignorant speech.
churlish - having a bad disposition; surly; rude and boorish
Ex- It seems churlish to complain.
precipitous - extremely steep; done with very great haste and without due deliberation
Ex- The cliffs on the North Atlantic coast are precipitous.
Ex- I watched my colleagues abase themselves before the board of trustees.
abdicate - give up, such as power, as of monarchs and emperors, or duties and obligations
Ex- The government was accused of abdicating its responsibilities.
abomination - an action that is vicious or vile; an action that arouses disgust or abhorrence; a person who is loathsome or disgusting; hate coupled with disgust
Ex- This law is an abomination to all mankind.
brusque - marked by rude or peremptory shortness
Ex- She is known to be brusque and impatient.
saboteur - someone who commits sabotage or deliberately causes wrecks
Ex- The saboteur was punished severely.
debauchery - a wild gathering involving excessive drinking and promiscuity
Ex- One may find another's personality debauchery.
proliferate - cause to grow or increase rapidly; grow rapidly
Ex- Apple products continue to proliferate.
anachronism - an artifact that belongs to another time; a person who seems to be displaced in time; who belongs to another age; something located at a time when it could not have existed or occurred
Ex- Everything was as it would have appeared in centuries past apart from one anachronism, a bright yellow construction crane.
nomenclature - a system of words used to name things in a particular discipline
Ex- For one thing, the basic nomenclature was confusing.
expurgate - edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate
Ex- The editors expurgated hateful references to the government in the author's book before publishing it.
bellicose - having or showing a ready disposition to fight
Ex- There is a group of bellicose men.
gauche - lacking social polish
Ex- Some will find it gauche; others will enjoy its boldness.
rapacious - excessively greedy and grasping; devouring or craving food in great quantities; living by preying on other animals especially by catching living prey
Ex- His landlord is very rapacious.
paradox - a statement that contradicts itself
Ex- The man lied many times before, but when he told his friend, "I'm lying right now," the paradox confused him.
conundrum - a difficult problem
Ex- Jane was confronted with a large conundrum and didn't know what to do.
anomaly - a person who is unusual; deviation from the normal or common order or form or rule
Ex- There are a number of anomalies in the present system.
ephemeral - lasting a very short time; noun anything short-lived
Ex- Fashion is ephemeral.
rancorous - showing deep-seated resentment
Ex- Many people became rancorous because of the man's ignorant speech.
churlish - having a bad disposition; surly; rude and boorish
Ex- It seems churlish to complain.
precipitous - extremely steep; done with very great haste and without due deliberation
Ex- The cliffs on the North Atlantic coast are precipitous.
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Unphotographable
This is a picture I did not take of my sister and I driving down A.W. Grimes in Texas. I rolled down the passenger side window on the jeep and the warm night air filled the car. The street lights glowed in the rear view mirror. We were singing I Hold On by Dierks Bentley. In that moment I felt infinite.
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)