Once Upon A Time

Plot
       To lengthen the story so that it could fit a full movie time, I would add more of the author's day. Rather than starting with her in bed, I would run through her day, including her reading about the man down the street who had been killed. Also, when she begins her story, I would have it start with a quick run-through of how the father and mother met. It would still be very fairytale-esque. It would be a similar style to the beginning of the animated Disney movie "Up". I would also add a scene at the end which shows the mother and father watching as workmen take down the barbedwire and uninstall the alarm systems.

Setting
       The author would live in a fairly new suburban area. All of the houses would seem clean and neat, but they would be covered with "No Trespassing" signs. It might feature a scene which shows the author, in a nice car, driving into a gated community with beggars at the entrance. For the story part of the movie, the setting would be the same as what the text describes. The houses would all be large, and it would show various brands of alarm systems throughout the neighborhood. It might show an empty park or basketball court because the children are not allowed to play out in the neighborhood. The house they live in would be very locked up, with locks on cabinets and closet doors that requires a key. It would also be mid-spring, with blooms everywhere, but no one paying much attention to them.

Point of View
       The point of view would need to stay the same because the whole point of the short story is that the author is telling herself a story. Her sarcastic tone and the fairytale phrases are important to keep. The point of view shows us that the author is scared in her own home. However, by showing how overprotectiveness can be just as bad, she brings herself comfort. All people tell themselves comforting things when they get scared, so it makes the whole idea of it more relatable. The point of view could not be changed to that of the father, mother, or child because they are flat characters in the story and should remain that way. By giving one of them narration, it would give them a connection with the reader, which would be harmful to the feeling of the story. In keeping them flat, the reader can see the tragic accident at the end as more of a lesson than the emotional scene it would otherwise be.

Characterization
       The author would have her characterization reveals mostly through her reactions and interactions with other people. We would also be able to hear her inner thoughts, which would reveal that she is a very sympathetic person. We would hear that she feels bad for the beggars at the end of her community, but she is scared to offer them help. As for the characters in the fram story, they would have as little as possible revealed about them. They would live the cookie-cutter lifestyle, but not be perfect. The parents would not really pay much attention to the boy. The boy would not have a sense of the poor lifestyle that some people in his community live in.

Theme
       The theme of this story is overprotectiveness. I think this is important, especially in the high-crime world of today. It is only right to keep the theme intact. People long for the olden days, when you knew all of your neighbors' names and let the summer breeze in through the windows at night. Instead, we try everything to be the oppostie. We lock our windows up tight and avert our eyes when we cross people on the street. The theme of the story should be the same in the movie because it has a clear purpose. It seeks to warn us about the direction our society is going in if we don't change our ways.

Independent Reading Film Blog

Plot-
       The plot of the movie was almost identical to the short story, from the quotes to the experiences the characters have. Some critical things did change though, such as Chris rescuing Teddy from the train rather than Gordie. Because of this switch, the reader is not able to know what feelings it evoked between Chris and Teddy because we are limited to what Gordie's thoughts are. A scene that was not in the short story at all was Gordie's Yankees' cap, a cap he loves because it was given to him by his dead brother, being stolen by Ace Merrill before they even leave town. This added scene goes against the almost apathetic feelings that Gordie had for his brother in the short story. It said that he didn't even cry at his funeral, while Gordie seems pretty torn up about the loss in the film. This switch can change the audience's attitude toward Gordie. While the movie adds the last scene, it takes away an important one in the book. When Gordie goes to get food in the movie, he does not get in a skirmish with the store owner over his brother. This scene was important to revealing Gordie's character and yearning to break away from under his brother's shadow, but the movie does not allow the viewer this knowledge.

Point Of View-
       Like the short story, the movie is told from an adult Gordie's point of view. It was important to keep it this way in the movie because it reveals the other characters very well. Gordie knows his friends very well, and this allows the readers to know them, too. At the beginning of the movie, it shows Gordie reading about Chris' death. Because the movie is in his point of view, we know that he cared very much for Chris. It gives it a emotional element that the reader or viewer can relate to. This point of view is important to the work as a whole because it reveals the character's inner turmoils, rather than simply telling about their journey to find a dead body. It would still be good if that were the case, but it would not grasp the audience as it does.

Characterization-
       The characterization is revealed mostly through the interactions of the characters rather than Gordie's inner thoughts, like in the short story. This mode worked better for the movie because if everything was revealed through the narrator's voice in the background, it would have made for a boring movie. It is a good idea for writing, but not for something that people want to view. While the mode of characterizing was changed, the actual characters themselves did not change. Teddy was still the son of a crazy veteran who did stupid stunts, Chris was still the tough guy with a big heart and Gordie's best friend, and Vern was still the odd fat kid who was always scared to try stuff. If one element of the character's had changed, it would have been a negative effect because the author of the short story, Stephen King, created them as they were meant to be.

Setting-
       The setting is the same. The town is still Castle Rock, Oregon, and they are still going to the Back Harlow Road. The take the same train tracks, go to the same dump, and the movie keeps all of the elements of setting. This helps to stay with the theme of young boys, in a time before people worried about kidnappers on every corner, setting out to find their own rite of passage. It was important to stay with this setting, because it went from their safe little homes and tree house to an uninhabited forest with wild plants and animals. They were breaking away from safety, and venturing out to find something new, a lesson which the reader appreciates.

Theme-
       The theme also stayed the same. The boys find what they are looking for, and come to the realization that they are no longer innocent. They have seen something mature, and they feel very strongly about it. The theme is rite of passage, a fairly common one, but it is taken to a new level through the short story, and the movie continues this idea. Had the theme changed in any way, the story would not be as powerful as it was. The first thing I noticed about it was that it was such a powerful story to people who had already gone through a similar rite of passage. The characters do not realize what they are in for, but the reader does. Seeing a dead body for the first time must be one of the most humbling experiences. And the fact that the movie kept this aspect of the short story the same is a very good thing.

"The Body" by Stephen King

1. Plot
       This story is about four young boys who go on the hunt for a dead body. It is told at a quick, action-packed pace with interruptions for the narrator's reminiscences. These interruptions take a look at the boys' adventure through a older, much more mature eye. These analyses of the narrator's younger days help the reader to realize that this is a rite of passage story. "There's a high ritual to all fundamental events, the rites of passage, the magic corridor where the change happens", and the narrator only realizes this after the events have long been past. As the young boy Gordie, he only sees it as a trip that he and his buddies are going to make during the last stretch of their summer. This plot of finding a dead body seems to symbolize the boy's finding themselves, and at the same time finding the "dead innocence" within themselves. Over the course of two days, they engross themselves in deep conversation and childlike rough-housing all at the same time. The plot is an element of this story which is hardest to explain, because it is complex, just as the feelings that Gordie was experiencing were.

2. Point of View
       "The Body" is told in first person point of view. This is important to the emotion of the story. If someone who had not experienced all that Gordie had, they would not be able to display it with such conviction as to make the reader feel it themselves. Also, Gordie is older, and tells the story of his younger days, which are twenty years past. This gives him a new perspective on what happened during the two days he went on a trip to find a dead body. This point of view reveals less about the inner workings of Chris, Vern, and Teddy as would an omnicient point of view, but it also gives it the feel of being told a story by someone real. Obviously, Stephen King is not Gordie, but the story feels like something that really could have happened. It is impossible to look back on memories, as the narrator does, and not see how you've changed. And so the reader is discovering all of these long lost memories and new angles on them at the same time as the author.

3. Characterization
     Most of the characters are revealed through Gordie's understanding of them. Gordie himself seems like a pretty typical boy, although the reader knows that he has a very interesting mind by the way he is able to make up intricate stories. Gordie describes Chris as the tough guy of the group, but his true character is also revealed through his interactions with other characters. He is the first to comfort Teddy, he tried to return the lunch money he had stolen, and he doesn't want to hold Gordie down with their friendship. These elements of his character show him to be sensitive. Teddy reacts poorly to Milo Pressman when he calls his father crazy, he defends his father and is proud of his service on the beaches at Normandy, and he always dreams of joining the armed forces. This shows that he is not spiteful of his father, even though he burned him badly, and feels that others should be as appreciative as he is. Vern is an odd character, and there doesn't seem to be a deepness about him as there is with Chris and Teddy. He is an odd kid, always digging for pennies, and he is a scaredy-cat, always running from danger when they are faced with it. All of the characterization is done through either Gordie's opinions of his friends, or his viewing of how they react to others and how others reacts to them.

4. Setting
       The setting of this story is Labor Day weekend of 1960. It is summer time, and the weather is on an incredibly long hot streak. The story is set in small town Maine, where not everything is developed and stretches of raw nature can still be found. All of these elements are important to the story. The fact that it is Labor Day means that the school year is coming soon. These characters do not have much time left to make adventures such as this one, and so they want to get it done while they can. 1960 was also a much calmer time. Neigborhoods were less scary and parents where more likely to not worry when they didn't see their children for two days, as long as they "knew" where they were. The hot weather makes the journey that much more difficult, showing the boys yearning to see the dead body of Ray Brower. And the fact that they are venturing into barely explored territory means that they will be completely on their own. All of these elements mean that these boys are leaving behind all comfort, all certainty that they will be safe, in an attempt to mature themselves and enjoy some time together to grow up.

5. Theme
       The theme of this short story is that death is always something in the future, and so you must live while you can. The boys go to discover this body, thinking that it will be a cool adventure and something that they will be able to say they've experienced. But when they actually see the body of Ray Brower, they are silent and reverant. Seeing someone your own age who is dead is a rude awakening. It made the characters, especially Gordie, realize that they are not immortal and it could have just as easily been them. Gordie sums it up best when he says that "the kid was can't, don't, won't, never, shouldn't, wouldn't, couldn't." All of those things which we as human beings plan on experiencing but put off for another time might not come to be. Gordie realized the sorry truth about death- that it means not getting to live. It sounds like a simple and obvious thing, but by live I mean experience all of the things there are to experience in life. Make a way for yourself, fall in love, get in trouble, all of those things. And so the theme of this novel is important to it's overall meaning because it gives the reader the idea to hold on to while they read about the adventure.

Miss Brill

Personal: While reading this story, I envisioned not a young woman, but maybe someone in her 40's. She describes other people as old. It is not until the end that the reader gets any sort of physical description and this is important. She is really an old lady herself, which helps to reveal the importance of her delusion. She feels like she is an actress on the stage. But the young people at the end only give a brief description of her because it is revealed only through their dialogue. The old fur that she is wearing is a symbol of herself. And at the end of the story, when she hears it crying, it is herself crying.

Once Upon a Time

Question #6: In the story's final paragraph, the boy gets tangled in the very thing installed to protect him. The paragraph reveals the overall meaning of the story- that there is such a thing as over-protection. They were attempting to keep danger out, when they really invited it in. Society is always telling us to install alarm systems and gates and barbed wires. But all of these things trap us in as much as they keep danger out. There has to be a happy medium. It is implied that black people are the robbers they are trying to keep out. In the end, the black workers are the ones who save the boy. Another theme of this story is not to be prejudice.

A Worn Path

Question #6: In regards to why the student would ask if the grandson was really dead, my answer is this. Most people read the story without looking deeper. In real life, whether or not the grandson is alive would matter. There would be repurcussions to her having a dead body. The way she was viewed by her townspeople would change. But if you look further, in a literary way, whether or not the grandson is dead does not hold much weight. The author's response to the question, "Phoenix is alive", shows this theory. Phoenix's character, her mannerisms, and the reactions of others to her presence are more important. The only way to find the true meaning of a work is to look under the surface.

Eveline

Personal: While reading this story, I went along with the girls idea of getting away from her mundane life. She describes her unhappy childhood and home life, althoughshe says they aren't so bad. She talks of the foreign country that this fellow who is well-acquainted with the world will take her to. As her excitement and pensiveness builds, so does the reader's. And yet, when the time comes to take a leap to somewhere she's never been before, she doesn't. After all of that time spent planning she can't do it. This was very disappointing, and my first reaction was to question why the author bothered to write such a boring outcome. But, this story was more like real life because of its ending and offers a life lesson. When we don't take that leap, we miss out on extraordinary things. It is easier to realize in a character than in our own lives.

Everyday Use

At the beginning of the story, the narrator speaks of Dee's yearning to get past her roots and make a way for herself in the world. Her mother has no problem with this. But when Dee returns, so eager to reconnect with her heritage, her mother becomes irritated. The reason that she feels this way is that when Dee was trying to be different, she wasn't exploiting her roots. Now, she is seeking them for the wrong reasons. She wants to "hang them up", present them to the world and yet not truly live by them, and her mother and Maggie do. Maggie is the one who will truly appreciate and use her heritage. That is the problem with some people relying too much on their non-American roots. They exploit them, rather than embrace them.

Bartleby the Scrivener

The narrator says that Bartleby is the most interesting person he has met. He almost seems to revere him for his quirkiness. After all, he tells an entire story about him. Also, when Bartleby begins refusing to do the tasks which are asked of him, the narrator allows him to continue hanging around the office. When he finds Bartleby there on a Sunday, seemingly living there, he does not get angry and kick him out. Instead, he allows Bartleby to ask him to leave his own office. Although the story is centered around Bartleby, little is revealed about his character. He is very static. It is not too often that a story reveals almost nothing about its main character. But I think this in itself reveals something- the emptiness of Bartleby. He really had no character to reveal.

Hunters in the Snow

Question #2- Frank's dialogue helps to characterize him as a weak man and a follower. His criticisms of Tub only come after Kenny has urged him to be mean to Tub. Also, whenever anyone confronts him about what he has said, he immediately apologizes instead of sticking behind his words. Another point that adds to his weakness is his affair with his babysitter and reluctance to tell his wife. This shows that not only is he immature enough to fall in love with a fifteen year old, but he is also not man enough to tell someone who he himself says has been nothing but fair to him over the years. He fits in with the other characters because of this. Kenny is bossy and loves when Frank caters to his malevolent whims. And Tub caters to the weaker side of Frank by saying his affair with the babysitter is okay.

Everyday Use

Question #4- The mother's refusal to allow Dee to have the quilt represents a permanent change. The beginning of the story is a fantasy in which she is able to be the polite and fashionable mother that Dee would like her to be. This shows her unchallenged support of Dee in her attempts to grow out into the world and live more than the simplistic lifestyle of her mother and younger sister. However, Dee comes back as a completely changed person seeking to embrace her grassroots heritage, and her mother no longer aims to please her. She realizes that Dee's lofty life goals are no more valuable than Maggie's more simplistic ones. She has never realized this before because Dee has always tried to get away from her heritage. The details such as her questioning why Dee changed her name and the distance between them foreshadow this event. It represents an important change not only for the mother, but for Dee, who is used to getting her way over her younger sister.

Short Stories Unit 1

How I Met My Husband
Personal Reaction

This story teaches a very important lesson. Sometimes the tragedies in our lives can lead to better things. Chris Watters represents temptation and sinning, something which seems good and fun but actually will lead to pain. Carmichael the mailman is like a blessing. It may be right in front of you, but you don't see it until the sin is gone. Had Edie received a letter from Chris, I believe her love for him would have intensified., and she would not have been able to give the mailman a chance. Chris wouldn't have settled down just for her, and who knows if she would have found true love at all. But she did because she gave up on the idea of ever being with Chris.

Short Stories Unit 1

A Rose for Emily
Question #3

The most obvious detail that foreshadows the end of the story is Emily's purchase of rat poison. It never explains her having a pest problem, although it is ascertainable with the condition of her home. Also, the way she is so cold and vague about its purpose when the druggist asks is suspicious. Another detail could be that Homer Barron goes into her house one day and is never seen again. I did anticipate that Emily had killed Homer. It was pretty obvious when he was suddenly taken out of the story. The narrator never explained where he went or what Emily's reaction was to his disappearance. The overall creepy tone of the story does not leave the reader surprised to find that Emily is a murderer. The story of her life, including her relationship with her father, had been very dark, which is usually how it goes.

Short Stories Unit 1

Interpreter of Maladies
Personal Reaction

Mr. Kapasi's job, besides being a tour guide, is to interpret patients' symptoms to the doctor. Mrs. Das asks him to do the same for her. She wants him to interpret her illness of not loving her husband anymore, and she wants him to explain it to Mr. Das. I thought this was a lot to ask of someone whom she had just met. She also opened up to him about her indiscretions very quickly. Because of this I got the sense that Mr. Kapasi was just one of those people that are easy to talk to. Because of her openness, Mr. Kapasi no longer likes her. Usually, when you discover more about someone you like it is a positive thing. I would have felt sorry for her had she not seemed so cold and mean throughout the story. It was an odd story in that Mr. Kapasi liked Mrs. Das so much in one day of knowing her, but by the way he described her I felt she was pretty stuck up.

Short Stories Unit 1

How I Met My Husband
Question #7

Alice Kelling is important in advancing the plot because had she not shown up the story could have gone in a different direction. Chris Watters showed no signs of planning to leave before her arrival. Theoretically, had he not been in such a hurry to get away from her, he could have fallen for Edie and she never would have met the mailman. I believe she could be described as the antagonist because she opposes Edie in her pursuit of Chris. Even when she looks at Edie, she thinks that she is after her fiance. As the antagonist, she is indirectly and unknowingly successful at keeping Edie away from her husband. Wherever Alice is, Chris does not want to be, even if it's close to Edie. Her arrival and Chris' impending departure may even have been what led to Chris and Edie kissing. And had Chris not left and promised to write to Edie, she would have never grown so close to the mailman.

Pattern Poems 4

"Edward"'s progressive pattern helps to clarify what is happening. He goes from killing a small animal, to a large animal, and eventually to his own father. And when he finally admits that, his mother stops questioning hi, meaning she knew who he had killed all along. And at the end, he says it was the "counsels she gave to [him]" that caused him to do it. Although he now has to run away for the crimes he did, his mother is the one who will have to live with the "spiritual" consequences. It is a strong poem about how other people can influence you to do things you otherwise would never think of. He has to abandon everything he's ever known to escape punishment while his mom gets off free and clear. And yet all she is concerned about is herself.

Pattern Poems 3

"That Time of Year" is very romantic because he is very ill and knows that he has many flaws which might make him unbearable to love, but his lover knows this and still stays with him anyways. He says that he is like the late fall when the beautiful things in nature are gone for the season. He also says that the fire of death is inside of him. His lover has even greater love for him because of all of these things. Throughout the course of the poem, the author uses three different images of fall, fire, and sunset. All of these repesent the ending of a lifetime. And even though they could have a positive connotation for their beauty, they do not. This author views death as a bad end.

Pattern Poems 2

"Death, be not proud" uses diction to present the effect of death. The speaker is not afraid of death. He actually seems to be challenging it, or enticing it. He says that "nor yet canst thou kill me" and thou art slave to fate", showing that even death is not invincible. His use of words such as "poison, war, and sickness" shows the negative side of death, but not necessarily it's power. In the last line of the poem, he says that eventually even death will die. This made me think that the poem may have had religious undertones. Christians believe that death will be destroyed and we will have everlasting life. Because of this, we say that we should not fear death, even though everyone still does. Maybe the speaker is just trying to call death's bluff, but he really is still afraid of him.

Pattern Poems

The poem "Lonely Hearts" is written as a villanelle. It gives the poem a very structured similarity through each stanza even though they are all very different "preferences". The speaker speaks about how people are all looking for a different kind of companion with specific attributes, but they are all looking for one common thing, love. It is this "simple wish" that connects all people. Another pattern in this poem besides it's repetition of the lines "Do you live in North London? Is it you?" and "Can someone make my simple wish come true?" is its newspaper ad stanzas. They are all based off of the ads found in newspapers or magazines. They are not complete sentences, but are very short descriptions of exactly what they are looking for. This pattern adds to the tone of the poem, which is the desperateness of searching for someone to love.

Tone Poem 4

"My mistress' eyes"

This poem seems to have a negative connotation, but is in fact a very good compliment. Most girls would love to hear this. He says that he is not going to lie to her and say that she is as beautiful as all of nature's greatest works of art. But he says that she is as beautiful as all of the girls who ARE complimented by being compared to these things. And the love that she receives from him is more sincere than those other girls receive because he isn't going to lie to her. Through his honesty at the end of the poem, you realize that his lover is not ugly. She could in fact be very pretty. But her features should not be compared to sunsets of coral or snow because those things are of nature, and she is simply a human being. It gives a real sense of humanity to the poems. We are not perfect, no matter how much we want to believe. The speaker realizes this.

Tone Poem 3

"The Oxen"

This poem reminded me of when my mom told me there was no Santa Claus. At the beginning he remembers a tale from his childhood about oxen. He talks about how much faith he had in the fact that the oxen really would be kneeling if he went and checked on them, so much so that he didn't feel the need to. Towards the end of the poem, he says that if someone told him that story now, he would try to cling onto the feeling he had as a small child. He would hope that it might be so. However, he also notes that he would go with the storyteller to check and see if it was true. He can never regain that blind faith that he had as a child because time and experience have taught him that it is wrong. People are so anxious to grow up, but then when they do, they are just as anxious to go back. We must learn to appreciate childhood, and try to preserve the innocence of those who still believe that the oxen would be kneeling in the barn if they went out and checked on Christmas Eve.

Tone Poem 2

"Getting Out"

What is the central purpose of the poem, the poet's fictional point?

The central purpose of this poem is to show that love does not necessarily work out. You can still love someone, even if you are not able to stand being around them. She mentions the man trying to leave, but for some reason or another we know that he came back. Both of them were trapped by this feeling of loving each other, but not being able to get along. She also mentions still having a picture of him and how he writes her every year. People who get divorced generally try to avoid each other at all costs. But these two are completely different. They want to make sure to keep in touch. Even when they were parting ways, they tried to hold onto each other. The two contrasting feelings are very evident in this poem.

Tone Poems

"Crossing the Bar"

Discuss the tone of the poem? How is it achieved?

The overall tone of this poem is acceptance. The man is aboviously referring to his proximity to death, and how he has become adjusted to the fact that he is going to die. Now all he worries about is that it be peaceful. His use of "turns again home" gives the reader the idea that he is okay with dying, because it is simply a journey home and not to some foreign land. He also says the he hopes to see his "Pilot's" face. The fact that it is capitalized making it appear to be a symbol for God. By saying that he hopes to see God, it means that he is almost awaiting his death anxiously. He does not want any moaning of the bar, which refers to bad weather. He just wants to drift past the sandbar and on to his next life without any major interruption.

2nd Unit Poetry

"I taste a liquor never brewed"

This poem was intriguing. Although I know that the different kinds of liquors are supposed to stand for something else, I wasn't sure what. I thought that maybe they were different life experiences. Throughout the poem, she is trying more and more experiences until she is drunk off of life. All the while, the angels are watching her. By saying that she "tastes a liquor never brewed" she is saying that she is trying something new, maybe even something no one else has attempted. She also has a reference to bees and flowers in the third stanza. This is the time in life when maybe other people give up on you, but you just keep going on. The bees are kicked out of the foxglove, but she keeps on "drinking". At the end of the poem, she is leaning against the Sun. I saw this as her making her way to death, but not necessarily heaven. The angels watch her as she comes there, so I definitely don't think that she is going to hell. But this poem was hard to find symbolism in, I think because it is not written clearly. She is very vague in her description of what exactly is happening.

2nd Poetry Unit

"Dream Deferred"

After learning that this poem was written during the Civil Rights movement, it made perfect sense. They had so much to lose by letting their dreams fall behind. Each way that Hughes describes a dream ending shows a different outcome. If they decided not to use peaceful means to win rights and just let themselves be controlled by America's overwhelming white population, anger would have taken them over. It is only human nature to resent those people who oppress you. Things would have ended much differently and probably less successfully had they not went forward at the time they did. America was in a wave of change, electronics making life simpler, a new attitude of freedom taking over as the 1960's were ushered in. And although this poem does relate so well to Civil Rights, it can apply to any unrealized dream. It could be a personal dream, something that one individual had hoped to accomplish. That is why this poem is so dynamic.

2nd Poetry Unit

3. " Discuss the diction of the poem. Look up any words with which you are unfamiliar and point out words which are particularly well chosen, explaining why."

"Toads"

The diction in this poem is very humorous, and relates to the feelings of most of the working force. The "toad" of work is something that everyone can relate to. His use of "squat on my life" was very endearing because that is what work seems to do. A few lucky people enjoy what they do for a living, but for most it is only a means to and end and a way to keep their livelihood. Thus, it only squats on life and is not a very looked-forward-to part of it. He also says that something toad-like in him "hunkers", which infers that something inside him is permanent. This is his desire for fortune, fame, and women. Our desire for worldly things is what drives us to work. Our want for these things is stronger than our displeasure at working for them.

2nd Poetry Unit

2. "Point out and explain any symbols. If the poem is allegorical, explain the allegory."

"Pink Dog"

Symbols can be found all throughout this poem. The most obvious and repeated one is the hairless and grimy dog. It represents the poor people in society, who are shunned. It speaks of how the poor people are thought, unjustly, to have diseases just because they are not clean. The poem takes place in Rio de Janeiro, during the Carnival right before Ash Wednesday and Lent. I thought this was ironic because Lent is a Catholic season, a religion which prides itself on doing service for the poor. But in this poem, they throw all undesired citizens into the river. The speaker is warning the dog to dress itself up and look decent. This shows that in society, it matters more what you look like than who you really are.

2nd Poetry Unit

1. "Discuss the imagery of the poem. Look up any words with which you are unfamiliar and point out words whice are particularly well chosen, explaining why."

"Bright Star"

This poem has the imagery of a star in the sky and a man laying wiht his lover. The imagery is important in this poem because it compares the "everlasting" existence of the star to the speaker's desire to be everlasting. However, the speaker does not want to be a distant observer, like the star. The positive imagery of "moving waters" and "gazing on...snow upon the mountains..." are deceiving when you read further and find that that is not the reader's desire. The imagery of laying with his lover is what he truly wants, and seems more meaningful when compared to the star's lonely existence. The poem has a tone of desperate longing. The speaker even says that if he can't have the star's long existence AND be with his love, he wants to just die at the peak of his relationship.

Poem Blog 5

"London" by William Blake

Everything I envision about London in the 18th and 19th centuries is captured in this poem. London was a dark place, riddled with disease and immorality. The speaker in this poem does not see one thing that is positive. He goes from bad to worse. The narrator speaks of someone crying out three times in the poem, which gives the impression that every corner he turns, there is human suffering. I also thought it was interesting that he said the "Harlot's curse" plagued the "Marriage hearse". This implies that the marriage was never all that happy to begin with, if the Harlot is damaging something from a hearse. He speaks of the blood from the palace walls, which seems to be alluding to the aristcratic takeover of the poor in society. They were the ones who were sacrificed for the good of the elites. This also added to the downward spiral of society, because the classes were so divided. The people could not work in unity to bring about a change, because they were so appalled by each other.

Poem Blog 4

"I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain" by Emily Dickinson

This poem was my favorite. The most obvious translation, to me, is that the narrator is going crazy. The fact that she hears all of these things going on shows that she is not dead, but maybe just disassociated. Several lines stuck out as proving that she was going insane, such as "That Sense was breaking through", "My Mind was going numb", and "then a Plank in Reason, broke''. It almost seems like at the beginning of the poem her sense is breaking through, meaning her mind is trying to be rational. But then her mind goes away and her reasoning and logical thoughts begin to break. The funeral image is not one of death of the body, but death of the mind. She is no longer able to communicate with the "mourners", just like she would not be able to communicate if she were physically dead. The end of this poem, being so odd, struck me as the final piece of evidence. She finished knowing anything logical or reasonable, and then nothing happened. She was crazy, but crazy people do not realize they are crazy. So, her poem ended because she had nothing else to relate to.

Poem Blog 3

"Discuss the diction of the poem."

"After Apple-Picking"

The author uses many words which word normally not go together to show the reader how out of place and disillusioned he felt himself. "Magnified apples" shows the narrator's feeling of being overwhelmed with his task. He also says he cannot rub the "strangeness" from his eyes. This is odd diction because strangeness is not something you normally wipe from your eyes. Throughout the course of the poem, the narrator is falling asleep, and wants the reader to have this same feeling. His imagery of a cup falling but him not catching it because he was asleep almost makes the reader feel drowsy. He dreams of being swallowed up by the apples, showing that even though it is a strong sleep that he is falling into, it is not a peaceful one. His repetition in the line about "ten thousand thousand" fruit shows the magnitude of apples with which he has been bombarded. I know myself what a bunch of apples rolling together sounds like, and the author's use of diction describes it very well. His ability to conjure up these images help him to convince the reader that they are in fact the one picking the apples.

Poem Blog 2

"What is the central purpose of the poem?"

"The Convergence of the Twain"

This poem's central purpose was to shed new light on the sinking of the Titanic. He talks about how human vanity was the ship's main downfall. After all of the commotion of the opulent mirrors, jewels, and the ship's size, it was destined to sink anyways. Although the poem is about the sinking, the focus is more on showing the reader how unimportant worldy objects are, and how easily they can be taken away. He also wants to show that human vanity never ends well. The simple fish who are now swimming around the sea see it for what the ship really was- a display of human extravagance which wound up being utterly useless. The fish are perfectly happy in their simple world. The author also touches on the idea of destiny. His line about "Immanent Will" almost says that the iceberg was made for the ship. Their destinies collided when they did. God was the one controlling the ship, not the people who created it, or steered it, or even rode on it.

Poem Blog 1

"Discuss the tone of the poem. How is it achieved?"

"Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden

I found the tone of this poem to be regretful. Such phrases as "No one ever thanked him" and "What did I know..." show these feelings. While most poems use symbolism and stand for something more, I thought this poem was very literal. The writer speak of how he didn't realize everything that his father did for him. He remembers how his father got up early for him, just to make sure the house was warm. I got the feeling that this poem took place after his father died, or at least that his father was unavailable to him. It definitely seems like he can't go and tell his father how much he appreciates what he did for him. He ends the poem by saying he didn't understand love and how lonely his father was. Because I mother was never mentioned, I also think that perhaps his father raised him by himself. It is hard for a father to show his son all of the love he has, so maybe the son got a false sense of harshness from his father. Either way, his childhood seems pretty harsh, but not abusive.

I believe that there are certain meanings to poems. The object obviously had a subject in mind when he wrote it, but because poems are so ambiguous, more than one interpretation can be correct. However, I do agree with Perrine that there is a "most" right answer to a poem's meaning. By the way Perrine explained how he knew that his answer was right, to me, seems to take the beauty out of the poem. He must have read it with a scholarly mind, searching for hints or clues that would lead him to what the author viewed when writing. But what about what the reader views? Poems should just be a window for the reader to look through and see what they want, not a picture for them to see what is already there. Some readers may notice the sea of daffodil as the golden color, or some might see the actual color, but both can connect with it.

But, the article does make good points which will enable me to view poems with a more scholarly mind. I will notice the small details that indicate a color, or something from history. The strategy which I read to be most helpful in this process was that symbols are complex, and they do seem to be endless, but they have a limit. There is always an answer which can be found. By reading a poem with a scholarly mind, I can increase my ability to analyze any kind of work. However, I do feel that taking the correct interpretation of the poem and trying to divulge it is a bad way to read a poem for growth outside of educating myself. I would much rather read a poem and think about how it connects to me, not how it connects to facts. I believe that of all literary artists, poets are the ones who want their readers to connect most to what they are writing.

The Sun Also Rises: Good Choices

"You know it makes one feel rather good deciding not to be a bitch." -pg. 249

Brett was my favorite character because she was so eccentric. The way she even phrased this line was very catchy. She seems to have quite a few male followers, and she relies on them to get her places. In that time period however, many women did that. But as much as she relied on them monetarily, she was very independent socially. She hated how much Cohn loved her, because she had to be mean to him just to get him to go away. It is awful when someone who's company you don't enjoy will not leave you alone. People who have negative dispostions but then change for the better have a sense of relief.

The Sun Also Rises: Rescue

"That seemed to handle it. That was it. Send a girl off with one man. Introduce her to another to go off with him. Now go and bring her back. And sign the wire with love. That was all right." -pg. 243

After all of his trying to get over Brett, trying to move on because she will never settle for him, he gets a telegram from him. In the end, he is the only one she knows for sure will come to her rescue. His love is not just for her looks, like Michael, or for infatuation, like Cohn, but is actual feelings. She has walked all over him, paraded other men in front of him, and yet he still goes back. I guess I never understood why she was so hesitant to be with him when he obviously loved her. Even he knew that his feelings were ridiculous, but he could do nothing about them. She had him on a short leash, but he didn't seem to mind. That is a dangerous place to be, because she will keep him there as long as he allows it.

The Sun Also Rises: Debt

"Probably he owes them money. That's what people usually get bitter about." -pg. 193

It is crazy how much power has in our world today. You can buy a jury, you can buy someone to spend the night with, you can pay to have someone killed. So when you are in debt with someone, not giving them back their money, you are also taking away part of their power. People do crazy things to get their money back. It seems like morals and human conscience go out the window when payment is on the line. It causes fear, it makes people bend to your will. So when you owe someone money, you also have power over them. .That is why people get angry when you don't pay back debts, because it takes away part of their power.

The Sun Also Rises: Cohn

"I hate him, too...I hate his damned suffering." -pg. 186

Cohn never bothered me, but everyone in the book seemed to have a bone to pick with him. Mike hated him because he was obsessed with his fiance. Bill hated him because he was a Jew with a superiority complex. Jake hated him also because he was with Brett. The poor guy was uninvited everywhere he went. The book started out talking about him, and how he was a boxer. It eventually came back to that towards the end of the novel when he punched Mike and Jake. No matter what the other characters thought, I thought he was just a guy who had two bad marriages and thought maybe he had found someone who really loved him.

The Sun Also Rises: Friends

"Don't be difficult. You're the only person I've got, and I feel rahter awful tonight." -pg. 185

Everyone has that one person that they go to when they feel desperate. It's the person who will understand your problems, or even if they don't, will sympathize with you. They will be there for you when all the others have abandoned you. Brett and Jake are the characters that you know have the realist deepest connection. They are the ones who stay friends throughout the novel. Even when they are apart, they think of each other. At the end of the novel, Brett is in trouble and Jake doesn't think twice about going to rescue her. Having those friends is something that people should never take for granted.They are the best asset for anyone to have.

The Sun Also Rises: Fiesta

"...and the streets wet and dark and deserted; yet the fiesta kept up without pause. It was only driven under cover." -pg. 174

I didn't really understand nor enjoy the constant need to party. Just reading about how they spent their days made me tired. The fiesta was actually a metaphor for the overall "party feeling" which arrives after a war. The characters in this book represent the victims or recipients of this party. And so when it rains, or things start to look a little gray again, the party just moves under cover. All of the countries and places that they visit show the long arms of the war and it's after effects. This novel does not aim to teach, only to show how things were. It is a timeless novel because war is timeless; its after effects seem also to be a generational cycle.

The Sun Also Rises: Karma

"I had been getting something for nothing. That only delayed the presentation of the bill. The bill always came. That was one of the swell things you could count on." -pg. 152

Karma is either comforting or unnerving, depending on how you act. Hemingway does a good job in comparing it to a bill at a restaurant. You pay only after you have already taken part. There is no getting out of it, however. In this case, Jake is talking about his relationship with Brett. He knew that for all of the pleasure, there would have to be pain. The time had come for him to cash in. I found the last sentence, that it was something you could count on the come, to ring very true. I find comfort in thinking that cuts you off on the freeway will themselves be cut off. Karma is a force which goes beyond what we can imagine, but Jake only wants to pay his bill so that he can be at peace.

The Sun Also Rises: Bull Fighting

"Montoya could forgive anything of a bull-fighter who had aficion. He could forgive attacks of nerves, panic, bad unexplainable actions, all sorts of lapses. For one who had aficion, he could forgive anything. At once he forgave me all my friends." -pg. 137

During this book, they spent a lot of time in Spain for the bull fights. I have never seen the magic in it. But for Montoya, the inn owner, it has a very powerful grab. The last linee of this passage shows how for Jake's friends, the magic is not there. It is simply something interesting to watch while they party in Spain. Very few people have the passion for bull fighting, and you connect instantly with others who share it. I am this way with horseracing. Not many people in Indiana like it, but i find it exhilirating. If you can find somebody you can talk about it with, it is easier to overlook their faults. This is probably not good, but with instant friends, your guard goes does. Montoya nd Jake are only connected through the bull fighting, so that is the only thing they will talk about. These kinds of friendships are very simple.

The Sun Also Rises: Manifest Destiny

"Every woman ought to be given a copy of this face as she leaves the alter. Mothers should tell their daughters about this face. My son...go west with this face and grow up with the country." -pg. 108

The last line of this excerpt refers to the idea of manifest destiny. It is the theory that Americans are meant to spread ourselves and our customs across the entire continent. This alone shows the readers that Hemingway is seeking out. Granted that at that time more people would have been accustomed to this idea, it still would take a certain intelligence. Bill is portrayed as intelligent in the way he talks. He is also making fun of his own looks, showing that he may be the least restricted character of the novel. His intelligence is at the level of many people who would have been in his social circle post WW1. He is the brainy, journalistic traveller who has no doubts about himself. He drinks a lot, but it was not so frowned upon at that time. The war had given birth to a generation of uninhibitied citizens. Bill is the example of this.

The Sun Also Rises: Jealousy

"Why I felt that impulse to devil him, I do not know. Of course I do know. I was blind, unforgivingly jealous of what had happened to him." -pg. 105

Jealousy is a powerful force. It causes us to be mean, bold, and canniving. Jake is jealous that Cohn got to be with Brett. He loves her, but knows that he can't be with her. This thought causes him to be mean to someone who was supposedly his old friend. I found it odd that all of these men who had been with Brett were still able to be friends. This jealousy angle, this display of true emotion, was the most realistic part of the novel I found. Their friendship, travels, and general lives are all irrational. Jealousy, however, is the most rational feeling in the world. Everyone experiences it, because everyone wants something they can't have.

The Sun Also Rises: Ladies

"You know how the ladies are. If there's a jug goes along, or a case of beer, they think it's hell and damnation." -pg. 92

Women at that time did not hold high positions. They were not entrusted to make important decisions. They held no voice in the community or the court systems, or even at home in most cases. They were not given the chance at a good education. This line shows the opinion that was common of men in the era. Perhaps the women didn't have a problem with the liquor. Rather, they disliked that their men went off together, leaving them at home and not listening to their advice. And the only reason they thought it was "hell and damnation" was because most of the time it probably was. These men put no limitations on themselves and too many on their wives.

The Sun Also Rises: Americans

"It was crowded with Americans and we had to stand up and wait for a place. Some one had put it in the American Women's Club list as a quaint restaurant on the Paris quais, as yet untouched by Americans, so we had to wait forty five minutes for a table." -pg. 82

This was so typical of American back then. Even now, when we travel, we all go to the same places so that you are never truly emersed in another country's culture. Everywhere Americans go, we can find someone from Iowa or Ohio just one table or seat over. We are all attracted to the most popular places, and so we migrate there in herds. It must be very annoying to find that your favorite restaurant has been over run by tourists. Americans, being the hypocrites that we are, find this to be anooying but we still do it. It is ironic that even back then other country's saw us as a nuisance. My guess is that in another hundred years, they will still feel the same way.

The Sun Also Rises: Daunted

"Ought not to daunt you. Never be daunted. Secret of my success. Never been daunted. Never been daunted in public." -pg. 79

By daunted he meant drunk. But what was irnoic is that he was always drunk.He was drunk in public many times, at the bar or at the bullfights. Even on the bus to Spain. I thought maybe he was just joking, or exceptionally dense, but maybe he was just naive. No one corrected him. For the entire book, he and his associates were wasted. It never brought them to their downfall. He was right there. However, it couldn't have been the secret to their success, because as far as I saw they were never very successful. They seemed to coast right along in the middle, not amounting to much of anything but satisfied with that because it meant they weren't screwing things up past repair.

The Sun Also Rises: Stuffed Dogs

This entire page was hysterical. Bill is a funny man who tries to convince Jake to visit the taxidermist. But if you extract this quote from the book, I can see it as an anti-fur statement. He claims that the road to hell is paved with dog pelts. Therefore, people who use animal pelts are helping pave the way to hell. Anyways, I found that Bill was the most interesting and likeable character. His good time never depended on anybody else. He was independent, and was not effected by the love square of Brett, Mike, Cohn, and Jake. His conversations are more interesting, although they normally don't add to the depth of the book. He is a good static character.

The Sun Also Rises: Michael

"I'm going to marry him...Funny. I haven't thought about him for a week." -pg. 69

Michael was one of my least favorite characters. I was confused as to whether he was rich or whether he had blown all of his money away by the end of the novel. Brett didn't really love him, but found security in him. He was mean when he was drunk, which was a lot of the time. No matter how annoying he was, he was just cruel to Cohn. Also, how was he okay with hanging around with so many of Brett's ex's, and letting her go off with some nineteen year old bullfight? He obviously didn't love Brett like Jake or Cohn, because he didn't feel jealous regarding her other men. He was the epitome of an annoying man you marry just for the money.

The Sun Also Rises: Drinking

"This win is too good for toast-drinking, my dear. You don't want to mix emotions up with a wine like that. You lose the taste." -pg. 66

The most noticeable part of this book was all the drinking. They were drunk all of the time. They spent most of their time in bars. Liquor was the first thing they looked for everywhere they went. I thought it was annoying. Was drinking really that much a part of that era? With all of the drunkeness, how could half of what they said be taken seriously? This book never really went anywhere, and I think it mostly had to do with how much they consumed. It felt like a recurring scene, always doing the same thing, just in a different place with different people. The characters did, however, say more of what was on their minds when they were drunk. Mike told Cohn how pathetic he was, Brett confessed her love to everyone, all of that. It was the only positive outcome of their drinking.

The Sun Also Rises: Jake

"I misjudged you...You're not a moron. You're only a case of arrested development." -pg. 51

Jake is a very smart man, but he does have a weakness. He doesn't really know what to do with himself because he is not confident in his abilities. He wanted to be with Brett but she rejects him, and he wants to be successful in his job but he doesn't apply himself enough for that to be the case. He has never fully discovered himself, and he never does throughout the novel. But most his generation felt that way. They were the "lost generation" for a reason. After the high stress of the war and the need to get things done, a chilling temper set in. People were not pressed to do things, so they didn't. Hence, they were not developed into the full person that they could have been.

The Sun Also Rises: Brett

"She was looking into my eyes with that way she had of looking that made you wonder whether she really saw out of her own eyes. They would look on and on after everyone else's eyes in the world would have stopped looking." -pg. 34

There are some people who had a deep soul, and that is an easy quality to give a charcter in a book. Brett thinks beyond what is happening or who she is with. That is why she has such an overqhelming personality and a stronghold on men. She represents the people who looked beyond that era, to what the future might hold for not only themselves, but their acquaintances also. She was a free spirit, but a grounded one. Those are the kinds of people who kept society from falling to pieces. They knew that eventually the post-war party would end, and they had to be prepared. She never got too drunk, and she kept an idea of who could help her the most. That is why she could always move on.

The Sun Also Rises: Georgette

"She grinned and I saw why she made a point of not laughing. With her mouth closed she was a rather pretty girl." -pg. 23

I don't know why Georgette was even in the book. She was only there for a little while, and she had no qualities to add complexity or a new angle. It didn't seem like anyone even cared that she was a prostitute. She was a funny character but only because she had bad teeth and Jake made fun of them. Her entrance into the novel shows how open everyone was, willing to accept a new person into their pack. It also shows how shallow all of their connections. They were just as friendly with the new girl as they were with their old pals. She fell in and out of the picture without so much as a ripple from the main characters.

The Sun Also Rises: Journalism

"It is very important to discover graceful exits like that in the newspaper business, where it is such an important part of the ethics that you should never seem to be working." -pg. 19

This quote reminded me of my idea of old newspaper offices. I see them wearing fedoras and long coats, taking taxis to the office where they grab a cup of coffee and start their day by chatting it up with the other journalists. I wish I knew why they felt it so necessary to seem nonchalant. They work very hard, and everyone knows this because we get well written, well polished news every morning. Why should the be ashamed of working so hard when everyone else seems to want to be noticed? I think it is part of the mystique and secrecy of journalism. They learn everything they can about everyone else, but always keep themselves out of the news. They expose crises and political scandals, but never delve into the life of someone at the office by asking them "How's the wife?" Journalism, for all it's exposure, may be the most secretive business.

The Things They Carried: Life

"Inside the body, or beyond the body, there is something absolute and unchanging. The human life is all one thing..." - pg. 223

People don't change, they grow. Everytime we overcome an obstacle, experience a miracle, learn something new, we are only adding to our life, not replacing the old. As much as we wish we could, we cannot separate the good from the bad. A complete life is made of both. A funeral is just as enriching as a wedding. If we refuse ourselves the ability to feel sadness, we are refusing ourselves life. Sometimes, looking at old photographs, I wish I could be that little girl again. But she is still an intergral part of me. And she will be when I'm eighty. I find this comforting. Whether it is something inside of me or beyong me, human life cannot be altered, reversed, or in any sense edited.

The Things They Carried: Right From the Start

"The teacher helped her put the cap back on, then we finished the spelling test and did some fingerpainting, and after school that day Nick Veenhof and I walked her home." -pg. 223

Nick picks on Linda's cap until he pulls it off and realizes she is sick. Only then does he treat her kindly, after he's already hurt her. Why can't we just start out treating people with kindness? Everyone has some kind of battle that they are fighting, emotional or physical. It seems almost like a human instinct to put people down to make ourselves look better. Nick didn't know she had cancer, only that she wore a funny looking hat. If he would have asked her about it, he could have walked her home earlier and maybe made a new friend. My friend's neice was only a year younger than us and liked to hang out. She had a reputation for stealing, so we never wanted to go shopping with her and we always guarded our purses like our lives depended on it. After she died of leukemia this summer, I regretted everytime I turned down an offer to go with her somewhere. I thought of how maybe she would have never stolen anything with me. Now, I wish I would have had the opportunity to "walk her home" earlier, as I'm sure Nick did.

The Things They Carried: Incredibly Alive

"Briefly then, rambling a little, he talked about a few of the guys who were gone now, Curt Lemon and Kiowa and Ted Lavender, and how crazy is was that people who were so incredibly alive could get so incredibly dead." -pg. 212

I have always found that the hardest part of losing someone you know is that you can no longer create moments which will turn into experiences with them. When my uncle passed away suddenly, the weirdest feeling was that that person you argued over a football game only weeks before could no longer watch the sport. Losing a source of laughter, a source of intelligent company, was hard because he could never be replaced. It is impossible for our minds to grasp what occurs in the hereafter, but we can only hope that the life force we lose moves on to a place where maybe one day we can see them again. We find the most comfort regarding death through our religion. "We Catholics know death," Jackie Kennedy once said. Religion gives us the hope that when we die, all of the friends we lose will be gained again. All of these "incredibly alive" souls will be tangible and we will be able to communicate with them.

The Things They Carried: Passing Time

"Twenty years. A lot like yesterday, a lot like never." -pg. 178

This passage related to my life right now. I am getting ready for college and yet I can still remember watching U.K basketball games when I was three. Sometimes my childhood feels like yesterday and other times it seems like its been forever. O'Brien is describing his time from Vietnam to the present, but I'm sure this thought has occured to many people. We can't go back in life, although most of the time our only aim is forward. I know that I am praying that the year flies by. But when we do take the time to look back, we often find that a great deal of our lives have passed. We rarely forget moments that affected us, but over time they seem to blur around the edges, like maybe they happened to someone else and we only heard about them. It is important to realize that all of these instances, whether they were 10 or 100 years ago, have etched out a pat of our personality which we carry with us today.

The Things They Carried: The Past

"Some dumb thing happens a long time ago and you can't ever forget it." -pg. 175

For O'Briens' daughter it seems that it should be very simple for him to just move on. That is what he is trying to do through his writing. He realizes that it is impossible. This Passage moved me because the girl cannot grasp how deeply the war effected him, and neither can I. His daughter is only 10, and she doesn't understand the large amount of stress her father went through when he was only a bit older than her. A child's innocence is very revealing, and she is right in saying that he should forget. His conscience would be cleaner forit. But he would also be losing a great part of who he is today. So while his daughter finds it weird that he is so obsessed with the past, I feel that he is just trying to work his way through all of the emotional turmoil he endured during the war.

The Things They Carried: Nothings Changed

"You could blame people who were too lazy to read a newspaper, who were bored by the daily body counts, who switched channels at the mention of politics." -pg. 170

Nothing has changed between that war and the current one. At first we started out paying close attention to how many soldiers died. But as the war drags on, people who do not know someone overseas seem to give a cold response to it. They would rather watch "Lost" than the news. And even those who do watch the news don't get a true vision. Even reporters move on, choosing to talk mostly about state budgets, bailouts, and local murders. When a soldier from Indiana dies, it gets some coverage on the news and an excerpt in the papers, but mostly everyone manages to go about their day. I cannot recall the last time I heard anything about the war. And so O'Brien was right to blame us. We should care more, because we are the ones who can put pressureon the politicians.

The Things They Carried: Valor

"Norman did not experience a failure of nerve that night. He did not freeze up or lose the Silver Star for valor. That part of the story is my own." -pg. 154

After O'Brien tells an elaborate story about how Norman drove around and thought about his dad, he says he lied. It left me wondering what really happened. Kiowa really did die, so was Norman just not able to get a good grip? Maybe he almost died too. The fact that O'Brien can convey such curiosity through a fictitional situation is impressive. He received a letter from Norman but that was all he used to write about him. That is a prime example of good writing. I was surprised to find that he didn't chicken out. Even so, he felt so guilty that he killed himself. He lost a good friend, he saw the reality of his own mortality, and all of theses factors didn't leave him as the years went on.

The Things They Carried: Bravery

"Sometimes the bravest thing on earth was to sit through the night and feel the cold in your bones." -pg. 141

Soldiers are trained. They are taught how to clean their weapons, how to fire them, how to march, and numerous other techniques. But when it comes to the waiting, that is not really something you can prepare for. They wait for danger for hours at a time, not being able to see in the dark. Sometimes they encounter the enemy and have to fight. But most of the time, they just wait, on attention, in fear. Then, when the threat is over, how could they just go back to normal? So I agree that bravery comes in the night. At least in the daytime when they are marching, they can see that enemy and know that they are more prepared. I felt this passage was profound because I have waited for something bad to happen. Obviously it wasn't profoundly life threatening like this, but my nerves were on high alert for hours afterwards.

The Things They Carried: Being Nice

"The Thing is, I blieved in God and all that, but it just wasn't the religious part that interested me. Just being nice to people, that's all. Being decent." -pg. 115

We sturggle with being nice. Religion is in effect a way for us to overcome this struggle. Through Jesus' example, or whoever you follow, we can see that treating people the way we would want to be treated is the best way to live our lives. All of the ceremonies and pomp surrounding religions are not the important part. It is the teachings, the guidance about what it right and wrong that are the most enriching. Being a decent human being is what religion's true purpose is. Going to church every day means nothing if you are not decent to other people. So the corrollary is true- that people can be decent and not be religious.

The Things They Carried: America

"In many ways he was like America itself, big and strong, full of good intentions, a roll of fat jiggling at his belly, slow of foot but always plodding along, always there when you needed him, a believer in the virtues of simplicity and directness and hard labor." -pg. 111

This passage is the oppostie of personification. It was interesting to find that a big fat man is a lot like America. By comparing a solier to his homeland, he shows how similar they are. O'Briend mentions many of the things we hold dear, such as hard labor, and by doing so helps us to relate to the soldier who is so similar to the rest of us. We as Americanstake pride in our endurance through difficult times, even though we are only a couple of hundred years old. Through this comparison we come to see how the author views his companions, and how they represent everything worth fighting for. By using reverse personification, O'Brien utilizes a wider array of literary tools. By using these tools wisely, he can pull the reader in.

The Things They Carried: Mary Anne

"When I'm out there at night, I feel close to my own body. I can feel my blood moving, my skin and my fingernails, everything." -pg. 106

My reaction to this passage had nothing to do with the book. It made me think of the nighttime. For me, I feel much more alive at night. There are less people around, less noise, less movement. This not only gives someone a feeling of relief, but a good sense of self. Your senses really do feel heightened, so I can see why Mary Anne fell in love with it. By patroling for others and trying so hard to hide herself, she got to know herself better. Of all the characters in the book, she changed the most, perhaps because she was a woman, or maybe just because she got wrapped up in the war.

The Things They Carried: Story of My Life

"Four guys go down a trail. A grenade sails out. One guy jumps on it and takes the blast, but it's a killer grenade and everybody dies anyway. Before they die, though, one of the dead guys says 'The fuck you do that for man?' and the jumper says, 'Story of my life man...'" -pg. 80

Although morbid, this story seems funny. This sounds like me, obviously not on the same scale. I have horrible luck, and so does this guy. O'Brien says that this is a war story that never happened. That doesn't matter because it rings true. War is never fair, and this tale displays it. It also shows the commeraderie between soldiers. They are willing to risk their lives for their friends, only so that they can march on to more imminent danger. "War buddies" get so close because they see each other at their worst and at their best. They show their true colors because they are always staring down the barrel of death. When you have everything to fear, you become an increased version of yourself. And if your friends can stand to be around you then, they will probably be lifelong friends.

The Things They Carried: Not True

"In war you lose you sense of the definite, hence your sense of the truth itself, and therefore its safe to say that in a true war story nothing is ever absolutely true." -pg. 78

O'Brien reinforces this statement throughout the book. He speak of how the truth doesn't hold much weight because it's the essence of the story that truly matters. Many veterans hesitate at telling their war stories because they are an essential part of who they have become, a very private glimpse into a chapter of their lives. Others find that telling their story is therapeutic, a way to rid their body of its horrors. Sadly enough, every generation has its tales, and so we remember them as such, and not as part of our being. But either way, the after taste of the story stays with us. We just assume that the storyteller told the truth, but it doesn't matter because they went to war and they saw more than we ever will.

The Things They Carried: Hate

He shot off the tail. He shot away chunks of meat below the ribs...He shot randomly, almost casually, quick little spurts in the belly and butt. Then he reloaded, squatted down, and shot it in the left knee. Again the animal feel hard and tried to get up, but this time it couldn't quite make it...Nothing moved except the eyes..." -pg. 75 and 76

I had one reaction to this passage- hatred. I hated Rat Kiley for doing it, I hated the other soldiers for watching coldly, and I hated O'Brien for writing it in the first place. I suppose it may be thoe most literarily successful part of the book for igniting such a reaction. I could perfectly visualize the scene, especially the baby buffalo looking up at the men, trying to get up, desperatly trying to get away from the source of so much pain. Reading or watching animal suffering is worse for me than human suffering. They look to us for protection, or at least for a fair chance at life. Man is the only animal that gets pleasure from killing. Animals kill for survival, never for pleasure. Rat could have taken his aggression out on a village hut, a rock, anything but the baby buffalo. Just for this passage, I don't feel I'll ever recommend this book to anyone.

The Things They Carried: Truth

" This next part you won't believe...You won't. And you know why? Because it happened. Because every word is absolutely dead on true." -pg. 70

O'Brien makes a point in this book that it doesn't matter if a war story is true because it could have happened and it's essence is real. This repetition serves to say that he feels this might be the most important element. He says it himself in the text, and he also displays it through his characters' conversations. Sometimes the strangest thing is what really happens, and reality seems impossible. This is how we know that O'Brien is credible. He admits when he lies and insists when he isn't. Either way, I found the entire book believable. This is important with a war story because if it is too sensational, readers will not take kindly to it and feel like the author is exploiting war.

The Things They Carried: Political Aspects

"You can tell a true war story if it embarasses you. If you don't care for obscenity, you don't care for the truth. If you don't care for the truth, watch how you vote. Send guys to war, they come home talking dirty." -pg. 66

Even though he does not directly hit on the political scale, he does say that the way you vote depends on whether or not we go to war. While the leaders of this country do make the final decision to send out troops, the beginning phases start in the lands across the seas. And it can only be expected that they would come home with a sailor's vocabulary. These soldiers are boys, many not even old enough to drink a beer, and they are sent not only to see violence every day, but to participate in it as well. They kill people they do not even know, something illegal on the homefront but expected of you in battle. They are burdened with a constant fear of an abrupt death. And so when they come home, if the only way a soldier has changed is by acquiring a more eccentric vocabulary, they should be lauded. This is, if they are able to return home at all.

The Things They Carried: Escape

"At some point in Mid-July I began thinking seriously about Canada."

When an American is drafted, they are often fresh out of high school, ready to embark on their new career path. Instead, they are given a ticket to a different and dangerous place. Their fight or flight instinct must kick in. For O'Brien, he wanted to go away. Although it is illegal, Canada seemed like the best idea. American pride is the reason why most people don't run there. They would be ashamed for their family and friends to know they were scared. So they go to war, where maybe they make it, maybe they come home hurt, or maybe they don't come home at all. This shows the power that the human ego has over the human will.

The Things They Carried: Raw

" A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing things they have already done." -pg. 65

A war story takes place when humans are in their rawest and most vulnerable state. They are not romanticized or used to teach a lesson; they are used to show how humans react. They are basically psychology studies. O'Brien knows that the men he writes about cussed, drank, showed little respect to the dead, and were generally vulger beings, but he also knew they were realistic. They have spirit, a sense of adventure and danger, and they relate more easily to everyday people. O'Brien does not expect his characters to become revered as good men, but only to be understood as such. I like war stories because they give me a fresh world to explore, but a world that really exists. War stories are timeless because as long as there are humans seeking to gain, there will be war.

The Things They Carried: Boredom

"Even in the deep brush, where you could die in any number of ways, the war was nakedly and aggressively boring. But it was a strange boredom. It was boredom with a twist, the kind of boredom that caused stomach disorders." -pg. 33

There is never a dull moment for a soldier. When they are not fighting, they are waiting for more fighting. How could they sleep soundly knowing that their enemy could be watching them? It may feel like boredom, but it is a stressful boredom. They become paranoid, every sense heightened, every sound a threat. I'm sure all of that stress does transpire into physical effects. Waiting for something to happen, and whether it does or doesn't, its a lot of paranoia. They spent more time waiting for violence than they did participating in it.

The Things They Carried: Human Reaction

"Even his fatigue, it felt fine, the stiff muscles and the prickly awareness of his own body, a floating feeling. He enjoyed not being dead." -pg. 17

I found this to be particularly enchanting. Kiowa is happier that he is not dead than he is sad that Ted Lavender died. This is such a good example of what humans are truly like, rather than the sometimes romanticized characters you find in other literary works. It shows the first basic instinct which connects humans to our lesser mammalian counterparts- self preservation. This passage goes to the overall theme of the book, which is presenting people in their most vulernable, realistic states. O'Brien uses Kiowa's inner thoughts to prove that he is not writing a war story about the gore and politics upon which most war writers fixate, but on the nitty-gritty inner working of a soldier's life. These are not experiences that every person gets to experience, but through this passage, and in effect the whole book, they can. It will broadem their understanding of the losses that war produces and take them out of the econimcal and moral spectrum to insert them directly into the hearts of those most effected by war.