On page 612, there is a line "It wasn't cruelty, just stage presence. They were actors and the war came at them in 3-D. When someone died, it wasn't quite dying, because in a curious way it seemed scripted..." This made me remember when I saw Apocalypse Now, this movie provided my mind with a specific image of how I picture the Vietnam war. Every time I read anything related to the Vietnam war, this film allows me to envision how the characters would look. Their uniforms, their weapons, the things they carried are all things that I can see through this film. This is a clip of one of the iconic scenes in the film:
On page 614, there is a description of Jimmy burning Martha's letters and photos. Here I make a connection to in the past when I have felt the need to destroy physical objects that represent a certain aspect of a failed relationship. Throwing away the objects, deleting the images, nothing erased them memories that I had. I predict this will happen to Jimmy, even though the physical reminders of Martha are gone, she will always be in his mind. The narrator later says, "You couldn't burn the blame." I can see the image of the flames burning the photos and letters but Jimmy still felt the guilt about Ted Lavender's death.
The last mention of "weight" occurs on page 615, "their days would seem longer and their loads heavier." I could see the platoon of men struggling with the weight of their heavy equipment with the added emotional weight of Ted Lavender's death. The weight of responsibility dragged them down and made their loads seem heavier.
I can see the men marching on, with grim faces and dragging their heavy loads, but they keep marching...
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien (Part 2)
Before I did the next part of the reading, I thought to myself...what do I see when I think about the Vietnam War.
This is the first image that comes to mind. This is a famous photograph taken after a napalm attack. This image of cruelty and violence is what I see.
The next thing I think of is a personal connection, my dad was drafted but intentionally failed the mental health standards so didn't have to fight. However, many of his friends were drafted and died while fighting. So I think of protests and resistance against the war.
They carried weapons, I visual machine guns and lots of ammo. I recall the weight of lifting a rifle at a shooting range, I could barely lift it with both hands. I imagine how physically straining carrying 3 weapons would be.
On 607, I feel the weightlessness of the small pebble Martha gave Jim. I imagine a balance scale that has the weight Jim carries on one side and the weight that Martha carries on the other. Jim carries the weight of his life, his men's lives, and a responsibility to his country. Martha carries a love of poetry, and college life. 
"Imagination was a killer." (p 608) This line leads me to predict that Jim's imagination was going to get him in a serious situation.
When Jim has to stand watch on a tunnel mission, his mind wanders and he day dreams of Martha. "he was not there." (p 608) His mind is far away, thinking of Martha and where he should be, with her. He cannot handle all the weight he has been given to carry. "He was just a kid at war, in love." ( p 609) I thought of the contrast of love and war and how love was the message of peace which is the opposite of war. I thought this is a powerful line that really explains the emotional condition of Jim.
Friday, September 11, 2009
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien (Part 1)
For my content area reading, I selected "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien. Although many of my friends read this short story in high school, I wasn't exposed to it until college. It is one of my favorite short stories. The work is fiction but because of his real life experience in Vietnam, it has chilling realism. You can read a short biography about Tim O'brien here: Tim O'Brien's Wiki. This is the story of a platoon of American men and what they carried with them during the Vietnam War.
The first paragraph of this story draws the reader into Lieutenant Jim Cross' character and his imagination. The description of these scenes are highly visual, which lead me to picture Martha. I could see Martha sitting in her college classrooms, her reading and writing the letters to Jim. I pictured her slowly and carefully licking the envelope's seal.
The next paragraph introduced the reader to more characters and what they carried. This made me think of what I would carry with me, what I would deem a "necessity" and how it would vary with the characters in the story. I also related characters to people I know, Henry Dobbins reminded me of my friend Gerard because is a big guy who loves dessert. Dave Jensen reminded me of my boyfriend, since he values cleanliness. Ted Lavender reminded me of my friend Joe I. since they are both paranoid and rely on drugs to medicate their emotions. Norman Bowker reminded me of myself, because I would want a diary with me. Those were only some of the connections I made with the characters.
When the narrator discusses the weight of items, I added it up and tried to picture/feel what carrying that amount of weight, all the time, would be like. It would be exhausting. I also pictured Ted Lavender being wrapped in a poncho and carried away by the men.
The next section brings the reader back to Martha. The text is so descriptive it automatically formats images in my mind. I could see the photographs, I could feel the wear of them, the color starting to fade, lines forming where it gets folded. I saw Martha leaning against a brick wall. I could see Martha in the middle of an intense volleyball game. The mention of Bonnie and Clyde reminded me of the death scene, full of gunshots and violence and wondered how it relates to the whole story.
In the next section, the narrator points out the Jim carried "The responsibility for the lives of his men." At this point, I predicted that this meant their would be a failure on his part. That it was too much for him to carry.
When it is revealed that Fat, the medic carried M&M's, I pictured a wounded solider being fed colorful candy to alleviate his pain. I also predicted there would be wounds were so painful that nothing could fix them, whether it was mental or physical.
Kiowa description of Ted's death on page 606 was extremely visual, especially when it was directly contrasted to what it looks like in the "movies." I pictured a human body falling, like a rock or sandbag falling from a high elevation. The repetition of the story made me predict that Ted's death will effect the whole platoon.
The first paragraph of this story draws the reader into Lieutenant Jim Cross' character and his imagination. The description of these scenes are highly visual, which lead me to picture Martha. I could see Martha sitting in her college classrooms, her reading and writing the letters to Jim. I pictured her slowly and carefully licking the envelope's seal.
The next paragraph introduced the reader to more characters and what they carried. This made me think of what I would carry with me, what I would deem a "necessity" and how it would vary with the characters in the story. I also related characters to people I know, Henry Dobbins reminded me of my friend Gerard because is a big guy who loves dessert. Dave Jensen reminded me of my boyfriend, since he values cleanliness. Ted Lavender reminded me of my friend Joe I. since they are both paranoid and rely on drugs to medicate their emotions. Norman Bowker reminded me of myself, because I would want a diary with me. Those were only some of the connections I made with the characters.
When the narrator discusses the weight of items, I added it up and tried to picture/feel what carrying that amount of weight, all the time, would be like. It would be exhausting. I also pictured Ted Lavender being wrapped in a poncho and carried away by the men.
The next section brings the reader back to Martha. The text is so descriptive it automatically formats images in my mind. I could see the photographs, I could feel the wear of them, the color starting to fade, lines forming where it gets folded. I saw Martha leaning against a brick wall. I could see Martha in the middle of an intense volleyball game. The mention of Bonnie and Clyde reminded me of the death scene, full of gunshots and violence and wondered how it relates to the whole story.
In the next section, the narrator points out the Jim carried "The responsibility for the lives of his men." At this point, I predicted that this meant their would be a failure on his part. That it was too much for him to carry.
When it is revealed that Fat, the medic carried M&M's, I pictured a wounded solider being fed colorful candy to alleviate his pain. I also predicted there would be wounds were so painful that nothing could fix them, whether it was mental or physical.
Kiowa description of Ted's death on page 606 was extremely visual, especially when it was directly contrasted to what it looks like in the "movies." I pictured a human body falling, like a rock or sandbag falling from a high elevation. The repetition of the story made me predict that Ted's death will effect the whole platoon.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Literacy Autobiography
When I was a toddler, I wasn't allowed to watch much television. However, I was encouraged to watch Sesame Street. It became my favorite show (followed by Barney). I remember watching the colorful letters pop up on screen alongside a puppet and even accompanied by a song like"C is for Cookie..." This child's television show encouraged me to know my alphabet. I would walk around the house singing the songs and finding objects that started with different letters.
My parents soon realized that I had a good understanding of language, so they registered me for a placement test of a advanced program in elementary school. I don't remember the actual test, but I'll never forget the results. I failed. My pre-school friends all passed and were off to their fancy programs in their schools. My parents were devastated, I felt like I let them down. That's when they began the more formal at-home education.
Since I could read above my level my parents assumed my mathematical skills were below par. They also believed that males were better at mathematical skills and females were better at verbal skills. Everyday I was trained in math. By the time I was 7, I knew the 12 times tables. By the time I was in 4th grade and subject to state testing, my balance had completely shifted. My math scores were nearly perfect, however my verbal scores were just okay. I began to hate reading, since I thought I wasn't good at it. My dad had to bribe me to read books. Since I had became obsessed with popular music, we made a deal that for every book I read, he bought me one CD.
The bribery worked well for a few years, but I never really appreciated literature until I was in high school. My first English teacher was able to show me works that I was actually interested in, like ancient mythology. I also began turning to the Internet to further research and read articles about subjects I was interested in, like music and mythology.
I started reading books and magazines willingly. My dad signed me up for TIME and Rolling Stone magazines. I also began reading books like Go Ask Alice, that I could relate to. I also didn't feel any pressure attached to reading outside of school. I especially liked to read when I was traveling, it helped pass time even better than listening to my CD player. After a few college classes, I started to always carry a book with me.
My parents soon realized that I had a good understanding of language, so they registered me for a placement test of a advanced program in elementary school. I don't remember the actual test, but I'll never forget the results. I failed. My pre-school friends all passed and were off to their fancy programs in their schools. My parents were devastated, I felt like I let them down. That's when they began the more formal at-home education.
Since I could read above my level my parents assumed my mathematical skills were below par. They also believed that males were better at mathematical skills and females were better at verbal skills. Everyday I was trained in math. By the time I was 7, I knew the 12 times tables. By the time I was in 4th grade and subject to state testing, my balance had completely shifted. My math scores were nearly perfect, however my verbal scores were just okay. I began to hate reading, since I thought I wasn't good at it. My dad had to bribe me to read books. Since I had became obsessed with popular music, we made a deal that for every book I read, he bought me one CD.
The bribery worked well for a few years, but I never really appreciated literature until I was in high school. My first English teacher was able to show me works that I was actually interested in, like ancient mythology. I also began turning to the Internet to further research and read articles about subjects I was interested in, like music and mythology.
I started reading books and magazines willingly. My dad signed me up for TIME and Rolling Stone magazines. I also began reading books like Go Ask Alice, that I could relate to. I also didn't feel any pressure attached to reading outside of school. I especially liked to read when I was traveling, it helped pass time even better than listening to my CD player. After a few college classes, I started to always carry a book with me.
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