As we read O'Brien's collection of stories about the Vietnam War, we will contemplate questions such as: What is fiction? Why do we tell stories? What do the things we carry reveal about us? When, if ever, is violence justified? What has the United States learned from Vietnam? How is the war in Iraq similar and different from the Vietnam War? What responsibilities does our country have to its veterans? Use this post to share your thoughts as we read...
27 comments:
Hello Class!
While reading "The Things They Carried" I realized that we learn a lot about ourselves. One thing that I learned is that many of us do not appreciate life until we are an inch away from losing it.
One quote from the book is "All he could think was Boom-down, and all he could feel was the pleasure of having his boots off and the fog curling in around him and the damp soil and the bible smells and the plush comfort of night" (18).
In the book, there are men who are in the Vietnam War because of the draft and the want for honor.
I realized that many people take life and their youth for granted, but as I read the first chapters of the book I realized that these men were dratfed and didn't have a choice. We do.
That's one thing that this book revealed about myself.
Hey guys, this is Joshua. I usually dont like to read books, but when I read this book, it blew me away. I understand that Tim O'Brien is a Vietnam Vet, and to me, he perfectly described his surroundings, even noting the small detail of soil. I started to read "On The Rainy Path" when I was on the train, and I want to read more! This book is addicting....
Oh, and one more comment, does anyone have any recommendations of more Tim O'Brien books or any other war-related books? I'm dying for your answers!!!!!!
Sooo Tim O'Brien is a Vietnam dude who tells stories about his war life expierience. Before even reading this book ,i've already been fimilur with one of his stories. Its called .....
"Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong".
Now, i think im not suppose to say what its about but.... I REALLY LOVE THAT STORY! at first im like awww ok cute innocent girl and stuff and then i got that wow YOU SERIOUS? face expression lol =) ..... I CANT WAIT TO READ IT WITH THE CLASS!!!!!
OOoh B.T.W (By The Way) Chocolate Chip-munk other books from
Tim O' Brien are...
*If I Die in a Combat Zone
*Northern Lights
*Going After Cacciato
*The Nuclear Age
*In the Lake of the Woods
and
*Tomcat in Love
=)
Heyy Classmates!
Well now we are reading "The Things They Carried" and I am really into this book. I agree with Davisa. There are many soldiers out there that doesnt have the chance to choose what they want to do with their life but we do. We have many things in our life that we can change and take and leave but there are many people that doesnt have that priviledge but we dont appreciate that.Its sad to notice that there are many people out there fighting for their lives that can be taken away in any minute while us, we have a whole life in front of us waiting for us to discover it and notice it and take good care of it. I like this book because it shows the way that soldiers feel and what their worries are and what the "carry" and also because it makes me think of the things I'm letting go that i might need in the future but i dont notice it now.
The things they carried is a great book so far. This book sends us into a soldier’s head which is cool. This book sends me back to history and war movies I have seen in the past. The things they carried are helping me with my history project and have given me more respect for soldiers.
In the book so far On the Rainy River is my favorite chapter. This chapter showed what soldiers go through mentally went they are told they have to go to war. In this chapter I was sorry far Tim O’ Brien, he didn’t want to go war and he didn’t even believe in it. “I saw no unity of purpose, no consensus on matters of philosophy or history or law (40)”. This quote tells me that Tim hates the idea war but he did what he though was right.
thanks giselle! i'll look for the books in the library tomorrow, you're a big help!
I have to agree with georglina on this one!"Rainy River" was my absolute favorite chapter so far...it probally smacked me in the face a thousand times!! I can totally relate to the chapter. I myself, am going to the navy after highskool, and ive been having the exact same thoughts that tim had. the only difference was he didnt have a choice, i do. I felt that this chapter help understand that those thoughts i have are pretty normal for a teeenager about to go to the navy!!
I also love this book because its a crazy war!! yes, but if u READ what ur reading, the war is what we face everyday...Life!!
"...to guide me across the river and to take me to the edge and to stand a kind of vigil as i chose a life for myself." (56)
We get that choice everyday...
well i agree with the fact that the rainy forest is a good chapter but i believe the best chapter is Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong. This chapter is so onderul it shows you the theme of soldier v.s women.Eddie Diamond, the highest ranking man in his company and a pleasure-seeker, jokingly suggests that the area is so unguarded and seemingly safe that you could even bring a girl to the camp there. Mark Fossie, seems interested in the idea and goes off to write a letter. Six weeks later, his elementary school sweetheart, Mary Anne Bell arrives, and mny f the soldeiers is very happy. She comes there looking arvelous but the crazy thng is shjecomes there to see the soldiers from the U.S. and then sheturn her back against them, switch to fight with the vietnamee and tells mark fossie that he shouldnt be upset. She tells him that vietnamese are some great people. Fossie was engaged with mary anne before she decided to turn on them. The things they do for women its just crazy.
During class we read aloud the rest of the story "How To Tell A True War Story." Honestly, i was a little upset at the fact that they literally tortured the baby buffalo. But while we read on towards the ending we found out that the story was not even true. It was kind of confusing , but Mrs. Levine helped me to understand it .
"The Dentist" was a little awkward as well. Curt Lemon did not like the dentist so when it was his turn to be seen as soon as he got in the room he fainted. SO the doctor did not see him . Later on that day he swore his tooth was hurting and it needed to be pulled , but the doctor could not find a rotton tooth. For Curt's sake the doctor pulled a perfectly good tooth and after the doctor did that Curt was perfectly fine.
"The Things They Carried"...
This book is making me understand alot about war that i would have never thought of. For example I think one of the most moving stories in the book so far that i have read is "On The Rainy River" and in this story a boy is drafted in to war. Although he does'nt want to go to war he still does and he says "I would go to war-I would kill and maybe die-because i was to imbaressed not to."(pg.59) I could'nt belive that he would go to war just because he was worried about what people would say if he decided not to. It shows how much war can be a form of pressure. It makes me wonder also if even today people go in to war because maybe they're family or friends pressure them in to it. I've never thought of war being a form of pressure until i read this book.
Ciao Classe!
I have a few things that I would like to say regarding the chapter, "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong".
First, is my reaction to the chapter regarding Mary Anne. I was surprised about the ending. At first Mark was in love with her and she was also in love with him too. Then he goes through all of the trouble to get her to the camp. Next, they are engaged. At the end, they are on different sides of the war. Mary Anne becomes in tune with the Vietnamese culture. She ends up saying that he doesn't understand Vietnam the way she does. She feels that he is in Vietnam because he has to be and she is in Vietnam because she wants to be.
There are two quotes that support these statements:
One quote is "You're in this place, where you don't belong...You hide in this little fortress, behind wire and sandbags, and you don't know what this place is about...Vietnam" (111).
Another quote is "...they almost saw her sliding through the shadows...She had crossed to the other side. She was part of the land...wearing a necklace of human tongues. She was dangerous. She was ready for the kill" (116).
The Things They carried is so far one of the best books that i have ever read. Especially becuase i'm so into war and soldiers. This book makes you look at the Vietnam War in a different perspective. It really shows how hard its for our men to go out there and fight. Right now, I'm up to "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong". I've heard its one of the nest short stories and im willing to enjoy it as well as other have. Cant wait!
ok so the famous book "sweetheart of the song tra bong"..not my favorite chapter in the book. I didnt get any of it and didnt see a point to it! YA IT WAS COOL AND ALL HOW A CHICK WAS AT WAR BUT SHE DID A 360 ON THE poor guy!!
I haveo admit one thing i liked was the way they described how Mary Anne lost herself. It was almost like they knew so well because it was them that they were losing.
WOW, I feel sorry for Mark Fooise he was 18 years old and his heart was broken. Anne has tore Mark's heart into shells.Why would someone do that to someone who cares about them so much. I agree with Kate when she said Anne lost herself.I think it is true that the soliders are losing their identity.I agree with Davisa as well because it was crazy that the story ended that way, but I think It was good Mark found out who Anne really was.This chapter was not the best to me but it's a good love story gone bad.
I really expected this book to be boring. But after giving it a chance I find it to be pretty awesome!
I agree with Katie and Georgian, "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong" was a good love story gone bad.
Personally, I think my least favorite chapter of the book is "The Man I Killed". It was a very creepy and sad chapter. It is showing that our author has a conscience and how even after the war it still affected him.
While in the war, he accidentally kills a Vietnamese soldier with a grenade. Even after the incident, he sat staring and analyzing the dead body for a long time. He was even able to realize personal traits about the Vietnamese soldier. He realized that the man he killed was very young, skinny, and scared to be in the war to begin with.
Readers can clearly see that this war was a major turning point in the lives of our soldiers. We read about many of their deaths and even if they came home alive, the memory alone haunts them.
"The Man I Killed" is a significant chapter for a soldier's perspective. The Reason I say this is because in a battle you kill a man without having backround knowledge of who the person was or could of been. This chapter explores a mans death and sends Kiowa into some psycological problems that eventually be a disturbance to him later in life.
-agreeable or not?
ok guys so im gonna be flat out honest...i didnt read "the Man I killed" but iv read the two stories before that! awesome!!! so i have an answer for Georgian's question: the one about hurting someone that u care about. The answers fear. Fear is why she did it! She was probballyy scared of happiness, scared that she be labeled as "a woman" in the war..
You see its like these men, they kill for fear. yea for our country , but fear...think: "wat if he shoots me first?" FEAR!! its also wat they carried coming into the war.Fear is wat made him examine the body after killing it.
Heys guys The Man I killed was a ok chapter and I think it should of been longer. I agree with Jouse that this chapter is significant because it shows what a soilder has to do but also the effect it has on there life. Also I agree with Davisa that this chapter is very creppy and sad because who will like to see that and it is still scaring him.
Hello everyone and how are you . Speaking of Courage is a crazy chapter. I feel so sory for our man the that came home from the because they were treated with no respect. THe fought for the freedom of america while so they say. They fought to make life easy for the rest of america and now they life with the hurt and shame of what they did that was so graet. In this chapter Norman is repeating that crazy event in his head for years now.He is so upset of what happened to Kiowa because he thinks it's his felt."The left hand was curled open;the fingernails were filthy;the wristwatch gave off a green phosphorescent shine as it slipped beneath the thick waters(149)". Wow, that's a crazy sence because who should ever go through that.It don't matter if your goog or bad butno should.Also when the soliders come home we should help them out because they may look happy but the terror that leads within them is like a time bomb.
ok so is it me or is the book get a little too...gory???
I was searching for images of the war for my final project and I came across some really disturbing things. The are so many pictures of death and people lying on the side of the road. It really made me want to cry.
Today in class we read the chapter called "Good Form". I was really surprised that the story "The Man I Killed" was untrue. It semmed so true--the guilt I mean. Tim O'Brien seemed so depressed from the young man's death.
In claas Ms.Levine asked if we felted cheated, and to be honest I did feel cheated. But then after I hearing a few of my classmates voice their opinion, I reazied that we should've known all along that the stories in this book were most likely made up. The book is labeled fiction for that exact reason.
The point of all of this was for Tim O'Brien to make up alot of lies, so that we can discover the real truth. On the Rainy River was made up too. This story was made up to prove this point. The author, Tim O'Brien uses alot of symbols and lies so that we can discover the truth about wat really happened. This book is very interesting and eccentric compared to all of the other book we've read.
We are presenting our final projects to the class. Students in our class are very creative; some wrote poems, Georgie sang an original song, Eugenia made a painting of a soldier, and a few made powerpoint presentations. Today was mad cool because welearn from each other and everybody made the class go "Oh!" like Ms. Levine wanted. Ms. Levine is going to miss us!! We have one more day for presentations so we'll check back in tomorrow...Good luck to those who go tomorrow!
Post a Comment