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.
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Very interesting summary of the story. I felt the emotion you were trying to convey about the main characters and your summary peaked my interest in reading this story. I wonder if putting in an except from the story wouldnt give readers the chance to make there own analysis of O'Brien's talents as a writer.
ReplyDeleteI also was satisfied with your insight into Jim's character and Martha. It will be interesting to see where you are going when you present the next story. See you in class.