Plot


The story I would chose to adapt would be You're Ugly Too. I enjoyed this story well enough but found myself wishing that, at the end when she almost pushed Earl off the roof, she had actually done it. It may sound macabre, but it seems so much more fitting for a character like Zoe (a bit of a whackjob) to fall in love with the guy after she pushes him off the ledge. I could just see her thinking to herself, "Wow, that could have been something special. I really did like him." Of course, this would make the story a bit more like a Rose for Emily than one is comfortable to think about, but it would certainly make for a more interesting storyline.

Point of View

I would have loved to have read this story in first-person with Zoe telling the story. We only really get a small glimpse into the distorted and sarcastic mind of the woman. A deeper look into her view on life might be a bit scarring but would also serve to give the stroy a different kind of edge. Also, this would add a more personal touch to the narrative. Maybe a look into Zoe's world would help the reader identify with Zoe. The third-person narrative does nothing to explain Zoe's eccentricities.

Characterization

While the character of Zoe is certainly interesting in the short story, adding the ending I proposed at the beginning of this blog post would quadruple her interest. To fall in love with a dead man would put Zoe on a whole other level of weird, but her quirkiness is what I found endearing. Emily from A Rose for Emily definitely had a sympathy factor because her odd nature came from a lack of proper parenting. Again, the characterization of Zoe would change dramatically in that she would become a more sympathetic character. She is not really a sympthetic character in You're Ugly, Too other than when she makes up a fake boyfriend. It would also open up the possibility to feed off of that plot twist and delve deeper into her mind as she goes through the process of falling in love with Earl after he dies.

Setting

I cannot really see the setting changing very much. Of course, as the movie expanded, she would likely stay in the city as that is where Earl lived. This would lead to her being forced to give up her job and find one in the city. She might also move in with her sister to be nearer to Earl, which would bring up an entirely different set of issues. The city life would likely influence Zoe in a number of ways. She would likely become more bitter, as I have heard the city has a tendency to do to people. She may also become less crazy because the hustle and bustle of the city has little patience for eccentricities like those of Zoe.

Theme

The theme of the work would change drastically with the addition I proposed earlier. It would become more about unrequited love and sympathy as opposed to the embracing of one's oddities. The theme of unrequited love is quite popular in literature, but it is rarely unrequited due to the death of one half of the equation. There would naturally be an underlying theme of staying true to oneself due to the simple fact that she is in love with a dead man. This is rarely accepted in modern times, but it certainly makes for an enticing story. Maybe, later on in the story, she could even find a nice live man to settle down with. Or she could do something totally crazy in an attempt to join him in death. I'm not insane, I promise.

Film and Short Story Review

Plot

The plotlines for Field of Dreams and Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa are largely the same, at least up until the part the short story left off. I'd imagine that's because we got the short version and there is more to the short story. That was the idea I got from trying to get further information online. There were small differences, like the fact that Ray went to Berkeley in the movie, while he went to the University of Iowa in the short story. Also, in the written version, Ray fell in love with Iowa almost immediately and was more than happy to become a farmer because of his love for the land. In the film, he was wary about becoming a farmer and didn't truly fall in love with Iowa until it became his gateway to meeting his baseball hero. In the story, Annie, Ray's wife goes along with his plan to build the baseball field immediately because she knows it is what he needs to do to be happy, but in the movie form, she asks, "Are you actually thinking of doing this?". Here and throughout the movie, she is somewhat the voice of reason when Ray's dreams get far fetched. So much more storyline goes into the movie, obviously since it has to fill a certain amount of time, so, in the movie, Ray has an issue with his father, but this does not happen in the written form. Similarities are quite clear. Ray builds the field because he hears a voice say, "If you build it, he will come." Then, after it is built, Shoeless Joe pops up in the night and asks if he and his friends can come back the next day.

Point of View

In the film version, there is no narrator. The story is told exactly as it is happening because it is self-explanatory. The short story, on the other hand, requires a narrator. Still, in the film, Ray hears the voice many times. In a small way, the voice could be a type of narrator because he moves the story along and gives Ray hints as to what to do next. This could have taken place in the story, but we read a short piece, so I'm not totally sure. There is a difference in the voice's persistence. Ray doesn't understand the voice initially in the movie. He questions his sanity for awhile, but eventually understands after a short catharsis. In the short story, Ray understands immediately what he is to do.

Characterization

The characterization in the two pieces is similar, but not the same. The main difference I saw was in Annie. She was definitely more headstrong in the movie. She did not blindly support every decision Ray made because she wanted him to be happy. She really took the family's finances into consideration when Ray didn't. Also, in the short story, I got this sense that Shoeless Joe was somewhat confident. I mean, he was a professional baseball player. What reason did he have to be tentative around Ray? In the movie, I thought he seemed almost nervous or scared when he first came into the picture on the field that first night. Mainly, this is just a difference in perception, but there is something to it.

Setting

In the first paragraph, I mentioned a difference in the main character's feelings toward the setting. Realistically, the setting in both works is the same. Both take place in rural Iowa. In the movie, Ray travels far from Iowa on his goosechase. Again, this is likely because the story was cut short. Little things, like the bleachers, are different. It may sound odd, but they were definitely bigger in the movie than they were described in the short story.

Theme

The theme of the two works is essentially the same. The idea is that dedication to a goal wins out over the impossibility of that goal. Also, there is a focus on love. Ray, in both pieces, loves baseball, and he loves his family. Because of that love, he does things that most would consider crazy, like building a non-lucrative baseball field on an expensive piece of farmland or becoming a farmer with little to no farming know-how. Still, love wins out and everyone wins in the end. Ray meets his dad again to play catch. The family finds a new way to make money and avoid giving up the farm, and it's all happy.

The Baby Without a Name

In Popular Mechanics by Raymond Carver, the most illuminating line of the whole story is the last. "In this manner, the issue was decided." This could really be interpreted in a few ways. One could read this and take it as the parents killing the baby because they physically tore him in half during the struggle. Most who read this took it this way from what I observed. Still, it could be interpreted that one parent, likely the father from the description, gained possession of the baby. The issue decided is who will get the baby after the father leaves. Instead of being mature about the decision, the parents decided to give in to their rage with eachother and put the baby's life in danger. Neither of them should have been caretakers for anything living and breathing.

Pretty Much Pathos

In The Drunkard by Frank O'Connor, the story is not purely humorous. While this aspect is the main focus, there are certainly aspects of pathos intertwined. The pathos can be seen when the narrator tells of why the boy's mother did not want the father drinking. A family going through financial problems and cannot afford to have the working parent miss one day of work pulls at the heartstrings. Then, if one considers that the father misses work on a rare occassion because he has a drinking problem in which he can't stop drinking until he is completely drunk, one can see the pathos clearly here. While the humor of th story is in the forefront, it is not the only important aspect of the story.

You're Ugly, As Well

The sources of humor in this short story cirlce around Zoe's eccentric personality. If she had not been a different personality-type, the story would have been pretty dull. A little humor was found in other parts, like Earl's costume, but those were few and far between. The humor comes from Zoe's distortion of of life more than the realities of life. She sees things in an interesting way, which makes the story more interesting. She doesn't see things like other people. When she acts as though she is going to throw him over the ledge at the party, she sees it as a funny joke, while Earl saw it as a threat to his life. It was pretty humorous.

You Thought You Were Getting a Car?... Ohhhh

Lottery: any happening or process that is or appears to be determined by chance. This definition clearly fits the happenings in the story, but the common idea of what a lottery is involves money. With the title of the piece by Shirley Jackson being Lottery, one can reasonably expect one or more of the characters to win some grand prize. This, sadly, is not the case. Instead of having Ed McMahon show up on their doorstep with ballons and an obscenely large check, the people of the small town receive a shockingly intimidating welcome. The sight of hundreds of aggressive townsfolk advancing upon you quickly, rocks in hand, would be scary enough to probably make me pass out. So, the title is misleading because it leads the reader to believe that the prize at the end of the lottery will be one of a celebratory nature, not death.

Short Story - Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa

Plot

The plot of this story is fairly slow in comparison to the length of the piece. A lot of time is spent discussing Shoeless Joe's past of climbing the ranks of baseball, his scandalous downfall, and the fallout from that dirty deed. Still, it is kept interesting because, throughout the work, the author, W.P. Kinsella, ties Shoeless Joe's story to the personal story of the main character, Ray Kinsella. Even though the story is set up to be about a man and his relationship with a baseball field (watering it, protecting it, nurturing it), it ends up being much more about the man's relationship to baseball and the effect one man had on that relationship. " 'I loved the game... I'd have played for food money. I'd have played for free and worked for food. It was the game, the parks, the smells, the sounds.'(519) " Here, Shoeless Joe is describing his love of baseball, which is really what the plot of the story ultimately reveals.

Point of View

This short story is told from the point of view of Ray Kinsella. It is a first-person narrative, which contributes a lot to the storyline. "As he spoke, I instantly envisioned the finished product I knew I was being asked to conceive (511)." Ray Kinsella is an Iowa farmer, a family man, and a baseball fanatic. By W.P. Kinsella putting him in the narrative position, it gives the audience a deeper look into the mental workings of Ray. If it were told by another person in the story, one of the mior characters, one would never really know why Ray is building the field or talking to what is arguably a ghost on seemingly randomly built baseball field. The only other way to know why he does these things would be to for the narrator to ask him, which would take away from the bare bones of the story.

Characterization

In this story in particular, there are far more minor characters than there are major, as it is in most good stories. Ray and Shoeless Joe are the leading characters. Ray can really be characterized by his passions in life - family and baseball. He is really not too concerned with much else. " 'Consider it done,' I say, hardly thinking of the time, the money, the backbreaking labor it entails (521)." Ray was never too interested in a career. He originally moved to Iowa to follow one of his passions - his wife. Ray is very similar, but he is driven by one single thing - baseball. " 'Years and years later, I'd wake in the night with the smell of the ballpark in my nostrils and the cool of the grass on my feet. The thrill of the grass...'(518) " At one time, Shoeless Joe had been motivated by money, which led him to make the biggest mistake of his life. From that point on, he dedicated it tobaseball. I struggle with the idea that Shoeless Joe really came to Iowa to see some dinky field that a man made up based off of some sketchy apparition, so I consider him to be exactly that in this story - an apparition, but he is super meaningful nonetheless. He makes Ray realize his dream of creating a great ballpark, thereby moving the story along.

Setting

The setting of rural Iowa for the story is perfect. When one thinks of Iowa, they think farms and potatoes, so this is where the true baseball-lovers typically preside. These are raw, real men, out in the fields, working with their hands. So, by having a farmer from Iowa have this passion for baseball and its "fallen angel", the story is believable. Also, as a side note, Iowa would have plenty of free land for a baseball field to be built upon. "...but I fell in love with Iowa. Fell in love with the land, the people, with the sky, the cornfields and Annie (516)." Ray remarks a few times on the high-quality dirt that comes from the Iowa ground, so it would be perfect for the grass that would have to be put down and the care that would have to go into creating the field.

Theme

The main theme of this story is passion. If there is an abundance of one thing, it is this. Ray feels passion for his family, his state, and the game of baseball. "I watch Annie looking out. She is soft as a butterfly, Annie is, with an evil grin and a tongue that travels at the speed of light (516)." In every word of description Ray uses for his wife and daughter, there is affection. Even when pointing out her evil grin, he makes it sound as if he enjoys her evil side. To him, she can do no wrong. It is similar with Shoeles Joe. He threw a baseball game, which one would think to be a detrimental blow to a baseball fanatic like Ray, but his passion for Shoeless Joe overrode everything, and, in his mind, Joe was the victim of a greedy world.

A Mini American Revolution

In the short story Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield, Miss Brill is French. This plays an important role in the story. Miss Brill is an Englishwoman living in France. The French and English are notorious for not getting along, whether it be on the battlefield or in the search for cultural supremacy. So, a French woman living in England would likely already run into cultural issues. The added bonus that she is looney doesn't help her case, either. I think Mansfield makes Miss Brill French because it serves to further detach her from her surroundings. She goes on about all the young people around her, usually in love, but there she sits, old and alone. She clearly doesn't fit in as it is. The added ethnic difference stands to emphasize Miss Brill's elephant -in- the -room existence.

And The Golden Rule Backfires

In the short story Once Upon a Time by Nadine Gordimer, it is quite clear that the story within the story is to be a fairytale type of story. This is apparent from the beginning with the repetition of the phrase, "Once upon a time", and the telling of everything they "loved very much" in a laundry list style. The story begins with a man and wife who love eachother and have no problems (unrealistic). Then, the little boy is mentioned and, once again, he is loved very much. Then, he loves the cat and dog very much. Listing the cliches in order like that and using elementary words gives the story that fairytale effect. This atmosphere relates to the theme in the sense that the childlike and naive outlook the parents have toward the problem of the invading poor people is carried over into their attempt to prevent these poor people from becoming a problem for them. They set up a monsterous contraption to scare off any wrongdoers, but what they end up causing is far from innocent. The death of their son is a stab of harsh reality to a sheltered, uptight couple of parents.

Crazy as a Fox? Bat? No, More Like a Pheonix

In A Worn Path by Eudora Welty, one might be led to believe that Pheonix's grandson is dead. When Pheonix goes to the store to get the medicine for her grandson, the nurse says, "Yes. Swallowed lye. When was it?-January-two, three years ago-?" If someone swallows lye, it is dangerous but can be treated with the exact medicine the grandmother went to the store to ask for. It certainly would not take two or three years to go away, so it begs the question where is the grandson now and why has he not gotten better? I believe it is in the cone of reality to say that Pheonix going to get the medicine for her dead grandson is a defense mechanism. She wants to act as though he is safe and sound at home patiently waiting for his medicine, but that is not the reality. Maybe something happened, like the grandmother couldn't get to the store fast enough to save her grandson and by going every week to fetch the medicine, it is her own personal penance. Because she blames herself for the death of her grandson, she can't face the reality of his death and would rather live in the world in her head where he is still around.

Eveline Autistic? Let's see...

In the short story Eveline by James Joyce, Eveline's life full of hard, monotonous work seems so desirable to her when she is faced with leaving it because it is familiar. Familiarity is something that human nature naturally tends toward. This trait is seen keenly in the autistic. They are dependent upon their routine and its constant nature. I am not at all implying that Eveline is autistic. I'de say that would be far from the cone of reason, but it does speak to the tendencies of humans. Obviously, it is not just familiarity that drives Eveline to abort her escape mission. She emphasizes the promise she made to her mother to look after the children before she died. Any child is naturally going to want to fulfill a promise they make to their dying mother, especially when it directly affects the lives of those she loves.

Wall Street Charity

In the story Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville, the subtitle "A Story of Wallstreet" is representative of what the story is even truly about. When this story was being written, Wall Street was just becoming a financial centerpoint in the United States. The materialistic and greedy nature of society at the time was likely what prompted Melville to write a story like this in the first place. It is widely believed that, on Wall Street, money comes first and humanity takes a backseat. This theory could be related to this work. In the story, the lawyer initially is dumbfounded by Bartleby's response to his requests, so he says nothing to him about it, but, later, he begins to feel as though he is only putting up with Bartleby's shinanigans out of charity. As the story moves along, the lawyer grows more and more agitated with Bartleby's behavior and asks him to leave because his presence is making his clients uncomfortable. In this case, the business won out over the lawyers best intentions to provide a charitable service to Bartleby, much like it does on Wall Street.

If You Really Knew Me...

Frank undergoes a dynamic change in the course of Hunters in the Snow. At first, he seems to be the stereotypical man. He makes fun of his friend because of his weight. Even in the setting (hunting), it is clear that he is meant to be a guy's guy. Then, we see another side of Frank. He reveals his emotional problems he's having with another woman that is not his wife. He expresses his concern about his children if he does leave his wife. When he plays a very sympathetic role toward Tub, the change seems to be a full 360. At the beginning, I never would have expected him to have any kind of emotional side, but he reveals that change in view toward Tub during the stressful events in the story. These changes do seem to be permanent, and they can be seen clearly in the line, "Tub, ...what happened back there, I should have been more sympathetic... You were going through a lot." Here, he shows that the events that occurred just a few minutes ago shed a new light on his and Tub's situation, and that he realizes that he was wrong in the way he treated Tub.

Sympathy in the Snow

The character in Hunters in the Snow the character that is the most sympathetic is Tub. From the beginning, he is the one who the other two ridicule for holding them back. Then he proceeds to make little mistakes, like missing the deer and forgetting the directions. Then, of course, there is the shooting of Kenny. Because it is made clear that Tub did it in what he saw as self-defense, little blame is really put on Tub. Then, when Frank gives him a hard time about his diet and how fat he is, the reader can't help but feel sympathy for him. The least sympathetic, ironically, is Kenny. We really don't learn much about him and his personal struggles. All we really see is his emotional breakdown about the deer, so we don't know enough about him to have a real connection with his character. Against all odds, I felt sympathy for Frank in the fact that he really did feel bad about being so mean to Tub about his weight. This sympathy is increased with is reaction to Tub's admittance that he really doesn't have a gland problem. Frank is surprisingly understanding. The name Tub does play a part in the reader's feelings toward him. By being called Tub, one understands that it is a ritualistic thing for the other two to make fun of him for his weight.

Quilts Need Everyday Use

In Everyday Use by Alice Walker, the mother's refusal to let Dee have the quilts indicates a permanent change of character. When Dee does finally leave, it seems as if she is relieved. She immediately sits and has some snuff with Maggie, which is a fairly nonchalant action after dealing with that drama. In addition, it was abundantly clear throughout the telling of the story that Dee's mother could not fully accept the name change her daughter went through. She persistently puts one of the names in parenthesis as if the reader would not understand who she was talking about. She had never stood up for Maggoe the way she did about the quilts likely because of the way Dee acted. She came home talking about their African roots and how she "married" some random guy with a complicated name. No mother would be understanding of that kind of drastic character change, and the mother felt as though Dee did not truly understand their culture; she simply acted as if she did because of others' influence on her, while Maggie had been home with her, experiencing the legacy the quilts held.

Interpreter of Maladies

To me, Mrs. Das requesting, then losing, Mr. Kapasi's address is symbolic. It symbolizes her gaining his affections, then losing them. At first, he is infatuated with her because of the obvious marital problems and what he sees as flirting on her part. This goes on for a while after she requests the address and he is fantasizing about the great conversations they will have. Then, she divulges more to him than he is ready to hear. The Indian culture is strict in the way they see the role of a wife and the life she is allowed and not allowed to live. Culturally, it is seen as disgraceful, as it is here, as well, I suppose, to have an affair while married. Because Mrs. Das admits to doing this, he loses a lot of respect for her, but also loses his infatuation with her. At the end of the story when the wind takes the address, it is symbolic of Mrs. Das also losing Mr. Kapasi's affections and respect at the same time.

Ghost Story?- Possibly

In many ways, I can see how Faulkner could see this as a ghost story. It is told in hindsight after Emily's death, so she's dead the whole time. Still, it is so unlike any other ghost story I've ever read. For the most part, ghost stories are about what happens to the person (or spirit) after they have died. They usually go into detail about why the person's spirit is trapped between the world of the dead and our world, but that is usually a fairly small part of the story because the author usually focuses on what the ghost has to go through and what the people who are being haunted by the ghost have to experience before the ghost has that aha! moment and goes forward to the other side. Stereotypically, these ghost stories are about a lost love or a grudge held that the ghost has to let go of to leave the place in-between, but this story has none of that. I suppose Emily's spirit is alive in the story as the narrator tells it and the reader knows that she is dead but does not know why or how it happened and does not know why the death was such a scandal. Also, the addition of another dead person at the end makes it seem even more like a ghost story than it initially did when the town burden (aka Emily) had passed away.

A Rose for Emily

There are significant advantages in telling this particular story in first-person plural. When the narrator explains that the townperson as a whole feel one specific way, the author, William Faulkner, gives credability to the narrator. He puts him or her in a place where they have experienced the feelings and the whispers that have spread due to the presence of this old woman. Also, the narrator being basically the wider opinion of the town gives the story more of a gossip-esque feel. It is just like a typical small town where everyone knows everyone and knows all their business, like the story about how Emily managed to not pay taxes even once. On top of that, it seems as though every detail we are given is through some person telling the narrator about it. Like the arsenic story in which the narrator was not even there. Someone who had been there told him or her the story. In another way, the first-person plural point of view adds suspense because there ar eno complete details that the narrator gives the reader. Everything he or she knows comes from the talk of the town and what goes on outside the walls of the mysterious house. It is not until the funeral takes place and the townspeople venture into the house do they see the body of Homer Barron and the body indentation with a single strand of iron-gray hair.

How I Met My Husband

Edie is most definitely a sympathetic character. By being "the hired girl", the author, Alice Munro, puts Edie in a subordinate role. Her purpose at the house is that of a nanny, so she tends to the children, fixes dinner, and cleans the house and the clothes and things like that. Obviously, Edie's life is not glamorous and this puts her in the sympathetic role. Also, Munro puts her far from her family on a farm nothing like the one she lives on, which is actually used as a farm and not as a statement piece. Edie expresses her awe at having running water, which now seems so standard. Even at the end, the author gives us more reason to feel sorry for Edie when she sits by the mailbox day after day and no letter arrives, and she realizes that she was just another girl along the way for Chris. On top of that, the mother she works for is cold and does not play the motherly role that a girl of 15 needs. With all of these things put together, Munro paints a naive, somewhat lost picture of Edie that endears the reader to her particular situation.

Labels Schmabels.

For the poem "Elegy for My Father, Who Is Not Dead", the categories of "optimistic" and "pessimistic" do fail to describe the poem. The speaker sees life as this grand adventure, which could be labelled optimistic. at the same time, he is questioning his dad for welcoming death and stating his refusal to die. This could be labelled "pessimistic". So, these labels are too confining for a poem of this nature. On the pessimistic side, the speaker says, " He's ready. I am not. I can't just say good-bye as cheerfully as if he were embarking on a trip...". The speaker sees his father's cheerful attitude toward death as preposterous. On the optimistic side, the speaker says, "...a new desire building up, an itch to see fresh new worlds." This is an optimistic view in the sense that he is describing death as a gateway to new experiences and new worlds. As is the case with most things in life, these labels are whack.

Dream Weaver

In the poem "Elegy for My Father, Who is Not Dead" by Andrew Hudgins, the speaker is basically expressing his father's will to die. His father knows he wil die soon and is open to it. The son has no intention of dying soon and could not be more closed to the idea of death. I think this could stem from the simple factor of age. His father knows he has lived a full life. He obviously had a child and raised that child to be a man. When someone has done everything they set out to do, they usually begin to feel like there is nothing left to do. Sometimes this is abitter feeling of worthlessness and other times, it is a satisfied feeling of surrender. The latter seems to be the case in this poem. Still, the son cannot let go of his dad because he does not see how he can be that open to death because he is still young and has dreams to fulfill. This poem is simply a case of a generation gap.

Lonely Stanzas for a Lonelier Heart

The form of the villanelle is so appropriate for Wendy Cope's poem "Lonely Hearts" because it makes the separate personal ads that much more distinct. If they had all run together, it would have been difficult for the reader to distinguish which person wanted what. Also, the separation of the stanzas made the poem seem lengthier. This helps the reader better understand that so many people with different needs and attractions all wanted the same basic thing, which is love. Also, the repetition of the same last line drove home the theme of the universal search for love. The rhyme scheme of a villanelle also helps the flow of the poem and the flow from ad to ad. Even with the title of the poem, the reader gets the feel that the writers of the ads feel alone and are looking for a way to end that loneliness. With the stark separation of the individual stanzas, it cements the idea of loneliness because the individual stanzas are all so far from eachother.

Can Anybody Find Me Somebody To Love?

In the poem "Lonely Hearts" by Wendy Cope, the most stark difference in the different personal ads was the sexual orientation. They seemed so scattered that it was a bit hard to follow. It took some thinking to discover that each stanza was a different person's ad, but once that was figured out, it became truly interesting. People these days make a big deal out of the gay and bisexual communities, but this poem is a perfect example of why all this talk about gay marriage and other related topics is ridiculous. Even though all these people were of different orientations, they all wanted the same thing : companionship. Anyways, back to the question. The point of the poem is that, even though these people are all looking for different things, like a biker and a Jewish woman, and many have different sexual orientations, they all are just looking for someone to share their lives with,

A Poem Strongly Resembling Psycho

In the poem "Edward" (written anonymously), a conversation is playing out between a son and his mother. The son killed his father. There is also mentioning of him killing various animals, but those seem to be symbolic. Stil, he's going on a trip, so maybe he killed them for food. Either way, it's somewhat irrelevant. The boy killed his father. He likely killed his father mainly because his mother talked him onto it. This is hinted at in the line, "The curse of hell from me shall ye bear, Such counsels you gave to me, O." He is saying that his mother told him to kill his father, so she is also to blame for his death and will go to hell alongside her son. To guess at why the son killed his father would go outside the cone of *insert term used in class that I cannot remember here*, but it must have been a domestic issue, such as alcoholism, cheating, etc.

Rambling - There is No Feasible Reason

In the poem next of course god america i by e.e. cummings, there is very little punctuation. We all know this; it is no mystery. Now, the mystery lies in why there is a lack of punctuation. The theory that the speaker is in the midst of a drunken rant is preposterous. The end of the poem clearly identifies this as a speech made by a politician or other recognized representative. The only reason the speaker would take a drink of water after this rant was if it were being made publicly. Not too many respectable politicians would show up to a speech or public address intoxicated, so I think that can be ruled out. Also, there is a theory that the man was nervous and his words started to ramble together in a barely comprehensible mess, which could hold some merit if the politician were new to the game or running for his/her first election, but odds are that, if someone is running for an office, they have been in the spotlight a time or two.

And I Repeat: Ignorance is Bliss

The material in the poem APO 96225 by Larry Rottmann can easily be compared to the attitudes of the public toward the war in Vietnam. Really, no one knew what was happening in Vietnam. The only real way to figure out was to do as the mother in this poem did and ask. Clearly, this was not an effective process to go through if the mother is not really prepared to hear the truth. This also related to the American public at the time. They all wanted to know what was happening. News coverage was abundant, although hardly reliable. Propoganda was not created in the war against terror. Sadly, it has had its roots in the U.S. from the get-go. In my opinion, if the American public had known what was happening in Vietnam, the only way soldiers would have fought was compulsory service, which eventually became the case for the most part. The American public wasn't prepared for the truth, just as the parents in the poem were unprepared.

The Test of Time

Ozymandias is characterized as a tyrant. I knew this before reading the questions because of the diction Bysshe helley uses in her poem Ozymandias. "And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read." One also reads on to find that he proclaimed the greatness of his empire only to be surrounded in moden day by ruin. While these details speak for themselves regarding the character of Ozymandias, it is very obvious that these traits can also be attributed to every person. While we are alive, we believe that the things we do will matter in the long run and that the marks we leave will be eternal, but nothing could be more false. Sure, when we die, we will be remembered. For a while, at least. but what happens when those who knew us die? And their sons and daughters die? All that is left to commemorate one's life is a headstone. And what does a headstone really say about us?

Who Plays With Barbie Dolls Anymore?

The girl in Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy is depicted in a sense that contrast the title of the poem itself. Almost every detail Piercy includes shows this contrast. For example, "...tested intelligent, possessed strong arms and back, abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity." Basically, this girl possesses many traits that are typical in men. Society's view of a standard girl is pretty to look at, yet not as delightful to listen to, weak and mild so as to let the men protect them, meek, and clueless when it comes to manual skills. This girl's traits were atypical of a stereotypical girl. Because of her insecurity in who she is as a woman, she commits suicide after classmated and peers tell her she has a big nose and fat legs. The Barbie dolls I had growing up were thin-torsoed with perfectly sculpted features. This is simply an unrealistic vantage point for women to have to view themselves through, which is the overall point of the poem.

Valentine's - A Lonely Day For Cat Ladies Everywhere

In Margaret Atwood's poem "February", the speaker says, "it's love that does us in". This seems paradoxical in the sense that the popular view of love is that it is almost necessary to sustain life. Still, in this poem, I believe the speaker is confused as to what love is. She talks about STDs and things of that nature that do not define love. Love is not equivalent to sex, so the word "love" in this sense cannot be taken literally. She is also apparently very bitter at the prospect of being "valentineless" during Valentine's. This is natural, but she seems especially depressed by the thought. And again, the source of her agony is a direct correlation to the number of cats she keeps at her house.

Star Light, Star Bright

In John Keats' Bright Star, the speaker wishes to be unlike the star only in the sense that he does not want to be lonely. "Not in lone splendor hung aloft the night." Here, the speaker is saying that stars are beautiful and marvelled at, but they are out in space all by themselves. He does not want to be by himself. He wants to be lying in bed with his love for the rest of his days. The speaker wants to be "steadfast" in the sense that he is supposedly lying with his love while the poem is happening and wants to stay with his love forever. He is also saying that, even though "earth's human shores" and "new soft fallen mask"(snow) are beautiful, they are nothing compared to his lover. He would rather stay with his lover forever and gaze at her than be alone up in the sky, only appearing at night.

I'll Follow You Into The Dark

My associations with the poem February by Margaret Atwood at similar. I would not say I totally agree with all the things she mentions because they are very depressing. I definitely do not see winter as a time of despair. I do, on the other hand, agree that winter is a time of "growing" people. The general population loses interest in remaining in shape because "bathing suit season" is no longer an issue. Also, the loss of sunlight makes people feel depressed and too schlumpy to go to the gym. This is natural and I understand this feeling completely. I strongly disagree with anything the author mentions about cats. Somehow, her obsession with them is entirely creepy. And she wonders why she's a lonely old cat lady. It might have something to do with lying on her bed, eating fat, but who am I to judge?

5, 4, 3, 2...Understanding

In Langston Hughes' poem, Dream Deferred, the topic of the poem is in the title, so that is no great mystery. The real window into the mind of the writer comes with the revelation that he was a black man in a time of racial strife in America. The poem begins to not necessarily take on a new meaning, but become more specific in its motive. African Americans at the time likely saw many dreams deferred. When one considers the hard times they went through with slavery, segregation, the Civil Rights movement, and other related subjects, it is difficult to imagine a dream becoming recognized by someone of a different skin color at the time. To me, this poem seems to be a sort of letter to himself. He is essentially asking himself what he will do with all the dreams that could not be fulfilled because the color of his skin. One might say that this is reading too much into the poem, but it really makes perfect sense. Hughes, at the end of the poem, asks if the dreams will explode. This is symbolic because that is exactly what was happening to the Civil Rights Movement. It was exploding to a scale no one thought it could reach and people of every color were becoming concerned and involved.

Live Above the Influence

In I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed by Emily Dickinson, the entire poem is an extended metaphor comparing alcoholic intoxication to nature. "Reeling-thro endless summer days...," gives the reader the sense that the endless summer days give the speaker a kind of intoxication like that of the alcoholic variety. The word reeling has a connotation of inexplicable bliss. "Inebriate of Air" spells out the way nature and her surroundings make her feel. She wants to "drink the more" when she catches a glimpse of a butterfly. These little things in nature are what make her feel alive and like she can do anything, much like alcohol does. The speaker even says the Rhine, a river, yields an alcohol, which is completely factually incorect. Still, it is a pretty strong visual considering the speaker wants to express her "addiction" to her drug of choice - nature!

Ignorance is Bliss

In the poem Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden, the narrator obviously is speaking about his father. Almost automatically when dealing with poetry, this sends out an alert to my brain to look for religious connections. Needless to say, the connections flowed with this piece. The beginning of the poem details all the things the father did for the family with zero gratitude in return. Similarly, God does all kinds of things for us and is the reason for our existence, yet we hardly find time to thank him for all he has done. A little later, the narrator addresses the "chronic angers of the house". This also fits the religious connection. I know personally that one big motivator for prayer is the fear of hell. The narrator arises to dress because he fears his father's anger. Christians fear God's anger with us and rise in prayer to avoid that anger. In the line "what did I know of love's austere and lonely offices?", the narrator is basically saying he knows little about love. This is similar to my feelings regarding my faith because I feel that it is not my place to question God's motives or actions because I could not understand them if they were explained. I am in no place to question God's authority or love because I am ignorant to the ways of the kind of love God gives.

Barrels Full of Empty Dreams

Trying to make some kind of important connection to real life with the poem After Apple Picking by Robert frost proves to be a challenge. It is entirely possible that there is not a deeper meaning to the poem, but I simply refuse to believe that, so I am making one. I feel as though this poem could be symbolic of the process of life. At the beginning the narrator is explaining that he feels tired of apple picking due to the length of time he had been doing it and that there was an empty barrel beside him that he had not yet gotten to filling. I think this could represent the feeling of getting old. Older people often feel tired and as though they have not accomplished all they had set out to do. This is where the empty barrel comes in. The narrator had fully intended to use the barrel for the apples, but had gotten caught up with all the other barrels that he tired before he could fit it in. Similarly, aging people make "bucket lists" on which they write all the things they hope to do before they die. Very rarely are all the tasks completed and I believe this is where the poem starts off. It then progresses to address sleep. Sleep is notoriously representative of death, which is a natural part of the progression of life, following the theme I mentioned earlier on in this blog post.

Brain Funerals Are The Worst

In Emily Dickinson's poem, I Felt A Funeral In My Brain, I got a sense that the funeral was symbolic of her descent into insanity. The mentioning of "sense breaking through" implies a lack of sense early on in the poem. Then, at the end, the author says she finishes knowing. This is kind of a mysterious line, but by looking at the series of events in her spiral, it makes sense. She eventually came to know that she was unstable and that was okay, but knowing seemed to be a relief in some way. Simply the use of a funeral as the setting for the poem is symbolic of her process being one of the death of a part of herself. She struggled at the beginning to find reason. It was clear in the reading that she had tried, but throughout the pace of the poem, the narrator gives up the facade and comes to accept her fate.

Mind-Forged Manacles

In line 8 of the poem London, Blake aimed to use imagery to assist the reader in his overall point. The "mind-forged manacles" are not literally manacles. They are restraints in the sense that the mind cannot escape the weakness and woe the narrator sees in the faces of the people along the Thames. The minds of the people are locked into one setting. That setting could be regret, sadness, weariness, or any other suffocating emotion, but the manacles are not literal. The phrase is intended to be figurative. War could be the source of of London's problems simply based on the line depicting a soldier's blood on the palace walls. While this is not literal either, it certainly represents the sacrifices of the peasants and lowly for those of the upper-class, which is common in war.

Visual Images

In the poem London by William Blake, the images are critical. They give the reader a sense of destitute suffering, as is shown in the line, "In every infants cry of fear,...". The word "cry" is used many times, which is really pretty self-explanatory. Crying symbolizes sadness, loss, and/or an unfulfilled need. The visual of soldiers' blood running down palace walls is also deep and symbolic. It really makes the reader picture the scene and put the puzzle pieces together regarding the deeper meaning of the poem, which is the poor of London suffering for the privileges of the rich. I also like the mentioning of marks of weakness. I believe this adds a human aspect to the piece as weakness is a common human attribute, especially in poetry.

Perrine? Who Knows

So, I found myself disagreeing with numerous things in this piece. It's not that I think he is ignorant or a poor teacher. I just think the majority of the things he instructs readers to do are more a matter of opinion. For a reader to come upon a book with no preconceptions is unheard of. It's delightful in thoery but simply unrealistic. For example, when a reader decided to delve into a classic, they know beforehand that it is a classic. This reasonably influences them to look for deeper meanings and try to like it based on the rave reviews it has received. I also disagree with his observation that good readers do not read books to gain factual knowledge. I know that with reading many novels about war or other related topics, I learn plenty. Reading a war novel in Mrs. Helbing's class about the Civil War was what truly gave me a deep understanding of the motivations and causes of the war. I do agree with the statement that rereading is key. One can always catch extra detail when reading a piece for a second, third, or even fourth time. Similarly, when I first viewed Zoolander, I missed out on a lot of the brilliant humor. One must see Owen Wilson in action several times to truly understand why he is the best character ever created. This is why I pay no mind to those who discredit the movie. They have likely only seen it once and have not fully experienced it.

It Ain't All Unicorns and Gumdrops

" 'Isn't it pretty to think so?' (pg 251)"

This quote is Jake's response to Brett saying what a good time they could have had together. His reaction really satisfies me personally because I feel he finally comes to grips with their situation. It just never worked out. It was a nice thing to think about, but Brett is much too fickle with her love to make something permanently work. I think, by the end, Jake realizes this and gives up the charade. It's kind of like the Disney princess movies. Everyone wants a fairytale like that, but it's just not realistic. Romance, whether it be literary romance or movie genre romance, can't be perfect in real life and that is likely why Brett searched for it so much. She couldn't find it perfectly and wouldn't give up trying until she felt her life was straight out of a fairytale. That is why she seemed to have a new love interest on every page and that is truly the reason both the characters end up alone.

Logistics Schmolistics

"As a roller came I dove, swam out under water, and came to the surface with all the chill gone (pg 238)."

In real life, one would not be able to take months off work. That is what is perplexing about this novel. All five of these people that go on this trip are gone for a number of weeks. Not only that, but they literally spend all their money on hotels and alcohol. At least two of the travellers (Mike and Brett) had no money to start out with. I've been raised to work hard and let the hard work pay for the fun. I think that is how most people see it, but, for this group, the fun always came first. Jake took an extra week just to read and swim in San Sebastian. Logistically, the finances don't really make much sense, but I guess that is what is so great about fiction. Logistics really don't matter.

Don't Look a Gift Bull in the Ear

"He leaned up against the barrera and gave the ear to Brett (pg 224)."

All I can think when I'm reading this is how gross this is. It really reminds me of when a cat is out playing in the yard and it kills a bird and brings it to its owner as a gift. The idea is obscene and yet it's flattering that the cat would bring you a gift. You dispose of it as soon as possible, but the cat feels fulfilled in its purpose and you think "Oh, how....sweet." Granted, Brett actually seemed excited to receive her ears, but, honestly she's a woman. How excited could she have been? Today in America, I don't believe bullfighting could really ever take off for many reasons. The "sport" itself is greusome and promotes killing animals for an audience's enjoyment. Michael Vick knows how unpopular that is with the government, not to mention the NFL. All in all, I'm glad it hasn't taken off anywhere near my residence. The idea of an ear for a gift is sketchy business.

What's Love Got To Do-Got To Do With It?

" 'Brett's got a bull-fighter,' Mike said. 'But her Jew has gone away.'(pg 215)"

In this entire novel, it seems as if everyone loves everyone. No one stays on one significant other for very long. This is likely partly due to the amount of alcohol consumed throughout the book's entirety, but it strikes me as odd. Brett has been married, is getting a divorce only to get married to Mike right after, but she relly loves Jake, but then she falls in love with Romero. Who knows who else she's fallen in love with besides them. Also, Robert is married at the befinning, then moves on to Frances until he gets tired of her and falls for Brett, but then it is assumed that he went back to Frances. In the end, it leads me to question the definition of "love" in this book. Do any of the characters know what it rally means? I don't think so. I believe they know all about infatuation, which we see when Brett cannot take her eyes off of Romero and Robert can't be away from Brett. Really, it is somewhat like today in the sense that the word love is flung around like a dirty mop.

Me Scared? Never.

This incident actually took place at the San Fermin bull run ^^^.

" 'A cornada right through the back. For fun-you understand' (pg 201)."

This set of pages, along with most of the book, is about bullfighting. I understand "the running of the bulls" just about as much as this man does. Why hundreds of people would gather to risk their lives by running down a tiny street being chased by bulls willingly is far beyond my comprehension. It is supposed to be fun, but considering that people get hurt and even killed all the time for doing it would erase a lot of the fun factor for me I think. I suppose it's kind of like swimming with sharks. People do it willingly just to be able to say they did it. It's a shame that some don't get to say they did it even after they did because the bull kills them. The man in this story had a family to support and a farm to run, but he risked it to be chased by a bull...of his own free will. It seems kind of selfish to me, but I've always been a pretty rational person.

Silly American

" 'Tell him that bulls have no balls,' Mike shouted. He was drunk (pg 179)."

This line is truly amusing to me. If one compares the humor of an average teenage boy to this line, the resemblance is shocking. It makes it that much more amusing when one considers that this is a grown, drunk man. More amusing still is who he is speaking to. He is saying this to a bullfighter who is in or near teenage range and who would have likely not found it funny if he could have understood it. Later, Romero says it is not right for a bullfighter to know English. The more I read on about Mike's drunken antics, the clearer this reasoning becomes. No one wants to be associated with anyone who acts like this, even if it is only in language. If I were Spanish and I heard a crazy American speaking like this, I would be ashamed to know English as well.

Antagonist

" 'I thought he was going to be sick. You weren't bored, were you, Robert?' (pg 169)"

Mike could be sen as an antagonist here. Several times, he teases Robert rather cruelly about an assortment of things. Earlier in the novel, he gets on Robert for having a thing for Brett even though, at this point, it is safe to say that they all seem to share that in common. Here, he is gives Robert a hard time for a statement he had made earlier on in the novel. Robert had said he was afraid he would be bored during the bullfights and everyone there had held it against him. Realistically, no one really likes Robert, but it is just one of those things no one is supposed to say. It is like the well-hidden elephant in the room. Mike basically says everything the rest of the group is thinking but too polite to say. Hemingway adds Mike to the story to add drama. Mike's teasing brings out a bad side of Robert that is somewhat like his old self. He really doesn't say anything or stand up for himself, much like he never stood up for himself with Frances.

Ambiguity

" 'I must get a bath.' (pg 163)"

For some reason, Brett repeats this line on a regular basis. Sometimes, it is in different words, but the message remains the same. This is ambiguous because you could take it as Brett being consientious of her hygiene. I personally take it as she feels dirty. This leads back to my other theory of Brett beng a prostitute. That "profession" would make anyone feel dirty and the sketchily-worded phrases she uses make me feel more and more certain that she is a "woman of the night". It is made quite clear that this life decision has no effect on the friendships she has with the men in the book, but one must consider that they are also men. They may even be past clients that she particularly got along with. Either way, she plays an important part in the novel in the sense that it seems to be her relationship with the two main men in the book that is driving a wedge between them. They both blindly love her despite all the men she claims to be in love with.

Aphorism

"That was morality; things that made you disgusted afterward. No, that must be immorality (pg 152)."

With the novel progressing, a lot of these seem to be popping up. I almost feel like this is a novel of self-discovery for Jake and Robert. Robert is learning to be his own man and not get used the way he tended to at the start of the novel. Jake is learning all sorts of little things like the aforementioned truth. I have found that the majority of books we read in class are coming-of-age types of books, so it makes sense that these truths would be presenting themselves well throughout the novel. Hemingway adds aphorisms because that is the purpose this book serves. It is meant to teach little life lessons all while entertaining the reader with lavish stories of bullfights and fruitful fishing. Although, I will say I find it a bit odd that these men are just experiencing these truths because they do seem to be of an advanced age in the book.

First Person Point of View

"I started off walking with Brett, but Robert Cohn came up and joined her on the other side (pg 141)."

The choice Hemingway made to put Jake in the narrative position befuddles me. I'm not totally sure why Robert Cohn is not the narrator. It seems like the natural transition what with basically the entire exposition focused on him and his college days and relationships. The only reason I can think to have Jake as the narrator is to contrast his character with that of Robert cohn. The progression of their relationship could be better told through Jake's point of view. I do agree with Hemingway's decision to write the novel with a first person narrative. The inner workings of Jake's mind make the story more interesting, which I greatly appreciate.

When I Was a Kid.....

"It was a beech wood and the trees were very old. Their roots bulked above the ground and the branches were twisted (pg 122)."

The detail in this novel is almost suffocating. I think the great detail in this book stems from the fact that it was written in the 20s. Older books contain a lot of detail and I have my own theory as to why this is. I believe that newer books are more action and dialogue based because the modern youth does not want to read. With video games, computer programs, and television, people, especially youth, would rather see the movie version of a book than actually read the book. Technology has inspired a lazy, spoiled generation that has no interest in books. In the time this book was written, there wasn't really as much to do. Children played more and likely read more for lack of better things to do. I will admit I am the perect example of the modern teenager. All of the detail in this book bores me somewhat because it isn't exciting. It's great literature, but it doesn't make me jump or want to read on due to a delicious cliffhanger.

Allusion

" 'My son go west with this face and grow up with the country.' (pg 108)"

This quote is an allusion to a controversial phrase used alongside Manifest Destiny. The origin of this phrase has not been agreed upon by historians, but its connection to Manifest Destiny is undeniable. Some say it derived from an editiorial in the New York Tribune in which Horace Greeley wrote, "Washington is not a place to live in. The rents are high, the food is bad, the dust is disgusting and the morals are deplorable. Go West, young man, go West and grow up with the country." Still, others say it came from a book called Hints Toward Reform by the same man. Either way, I don't really see what difference it makes considering he probably wrote similar statements in both seeing as they came from the same man. Anyway, this allusion was recorded to add a humorous effect to the piece. A man comparing his face to the working of Manifest Destiny is a humorous idea.

A Little More Human

"...I was kneeling with my forehead on the wood in front of me, and was thinking of myself as praying, I was a little ashamed, and regretted that I was such a rotten Catholic,...(pg 103)"

As a Catholic myself, this quote really resonates with me. I think we've all been there, in church, thinking of everything except God. This shows me a very human side of Jake. He is thinking about himself praying instead of actually praying. The irony of it is also pretty amusing. Sometimes, when we feel so many things are happening in our own lives, it is hard to focus on the things that really matter. The addition of this detail about Jake makes him seem more real and helps the reader truly imagine themselves in his position and empathize with the situation.

Imagery

"It got dark and we could feel the country hot and sandy and dark outside of the window...(pg 94)."

In this quote, not only is sight mentioned, but touch, as well. Hemingway wants to make sure we are experiencing what it feels like to travel through Europe. The senses identified vary in this piece almost as much as the setting. Imagery is a common ground in all literary works, but one experiences them differently and in varying amounts in all works, even ones written by the same author. Imagery is used to fulfill many different ends and, therefore, cannot be limited to one explanation as to why it appears in literature. Here, the imagery is used to make the trip feel more realistic. To simply say the group is travelling by train is a distant idea to most modern readers. Trains are rarely used due to the existence of cars, buses, ships, and other much more efficient means of travel. The landscape and experiencesof Europe are also foreign to the average American; therefore, explanation is essential.

A Brotherhood Misunderstood

In these twelve pages (pages 71-82), Jake runs into an old friend, Bill. They have a conversation in which the word "nigger" is used quite often.

" 'Loaned the nigger some clothes and went around with him to try to get his money.' (pg 77)"

The author uses this term because it was acceptable at the time, but it truly shows a stark contrast to modern times. I, along with many others, consider the word outdated and vulgur. Still, in many communities, especially the rap community, it is acceptable to take away the "er" and replace it with an "a". It is supposedly a term of endearment or brotherhood. I find this to be rediculous considering the origin of the term is demeaning. It represented the ownership the white slaveowners had over their "livestock", or the black slaves they bought and sold freely. So, yes, I do have a problem, personally, with the term. It does not represent brotherhood, rather it stands for oppression.

Hyperbole

" 'You haven't any values. You're dead, that's all.'(pg 67)"

In this scene, Brett is arguing with the count regarding love and its effect on the emotions. Brett saying he has no values and is therefore dead is obviously an exaggeration. The author uses this to frame Brett as what I call an "all-in" character. It's like when one plays poker and, for many people, they only give as much as they want others to see. They hold other chips, or emotions, back. Brett, on the other hand, puts her chips all in. She says what she thinks and she thinks what she says. Sometimes in the latter's order. It's kind of like there is no gray area. She sees things strictly in black and white.

Rhetorical Question

" 'You'll stay here, won't you Robert?'(pg 53)."

In this scene, Frances is upset because she believes Robert is no longer interested in her. This turns out to be true. The rhetorical question serves a specific purpose in this situation. In the exposition, the author alludes to the type of control Frances has over Robert. It is clearly seen here, for she is basically telling him to stay and not follow Jake and herself to the cafe when they go to talk privately. Throughout the novel, she uses a very passive-aggressive tactic while speaking to Robert. It is abundantly clear that she "wears the pants" in that relationship and she seems all too proud to be in that position. So, the author uses the rhetorical question to demonstrate the way in which she belit les Robert and treats him almost more like a pet than a partner. I also see this particular part as the author's way of showing that Robert is truely growing by basically shipping Frances off and deciding he wants to live his own life, free of his owner.

Diction

As I am beginning to read this novel, one thing I consistently come back to is diction. Honestly, I understand very little of it. To say that I am frustrated would be an immense understatement, but that is not for lack of trying.

" 'Letter to-day.' (pg 37)"

Clearly the character, Brett, is saying that she received a letter from the person being mentioned at the time (Mike). I just found this to be a great example of the diction in the book being one that is certainly not alive and well today. Not only are letters almost completely obsolete with the creation of e-mail, texting, and other digital masterpieces, but "to-day" actually threw me off for a few seconds. Looking at it now it is clear that it meant that day, but, when I get in my reading groove, the slightest disturbance throws me off. Suffice it to say that I have not effectively gotten into a groove at all during my reading of this novel. It seems like every word is from a dead language that I am simply not accustomed to seeing. Of course I expected a little difficulty what with the author of the work being Hemingway, but I seriously gave myself too much credit. Still, it is somewhat of a breath of fresh air to actually have to think about something of value. It is summer after all. I suppose to Hemingway, this diction really isn't all that farfetched.

Innuendo? Or Innuendon't?

In this group of pages (pg 22-34), I'm just a wee bit perplexed.

" 'What's the matter? You sick?'
'Yes.'
'Everybody's sick. I'm sick, too.' (pg 23)."

I'm not totally sure if this is accurate, but it appears that they are talking about some sort of STD. Maybe that is my "modern mind" at work, but they aren't kissing because of some sickness. That seems a little sketchy to me, so I'm going to pretend it is for sure some sort of STD.

Aside from the obvious effect this has on the novel (shows a sign of the times that they may not even know what this sickness is for lack of technology), it got me thinking about sexuality throughout time. I'm going to keep this appropriate and hope no one is too umcomfortable in the reading of this piece. STDs have been an issue for a lot longer than some could even fathom, but, if you listened to almost anyone speaking on the current generation, they act as if something ignited and it is only now becoming an issue. This is simply not true. In fact, fashion semi-revolved around STDs in the 1920s-30s. Women wore long dresses with long sleeves and extended necks to cover chancres brought about by the disease. I'm not going to carry on about STDs throughout history for obvious reasons, but it just goes to show how truly small our grasp is of America. Issues that arise now have been and will always be issues. They did not magically appear due to a "bad batch" of kids.

The Exposition of an End

And so begins the next book of the AP English saga: The Sun Also Rises

" I never met any one of his class who remembered him. They did not even remember that he was middleweight boxing champion." (pg 11)

It is quite obvious to anyone with a brain that the author uses the exposition to introduce the reader to a number of things: the plot, characters, and whatever else he or she deems necessary. I would like to discuss my theory as to why the author describes the main character in the way he does.

For example, in the quote above, Robert Cohn is portrayed as a sort of nobody. To say that no one remembers you when you went to school with them for four years is really quite insulting. Still, I believe the point of describing his situation in this way is to set the reader up for the kind of character he will become. For being the main character, Cohn really is rarely mentioned in the early stages of the novel, which actually puts most of its focus on the narrator, Jake. So, by describing the character as a nobody, I am led to believe that that is who he will be throughout the rest of the novel. He will likely be rarely mentioned and unremarkable in character.

Save the Best For Last

" '...It's up on a library shelf, so you're safe and everything, but the book hasn't been checked out for a long, long time...' (pg 245)"

This is by far my favorite quote of the entire book. The idea that death is like an eternally closed book fascinates me. I suppose it is because it is impossible to know what death is really like, but this seems to be the most intelligent take on it I've every heard. The idea is reasonable enough. Of course, there is no way to really know what death is like. Nearly every week there is a new person saying they have had a near-death experience and this is what it's like. I turn the television off any time I see these shows. It feel it is disrespectful to use death to turn a profit, but these people have it down to a science. Whether or not these people have had a near-death experience or not is really not important, but musings on death interest me a great deal. This might sound macabre, but I don't intend it to. The idea of death itself isn't the good part. It's what happens after. You can call it religion, you can call it anything you want, but no one can really know until it happens. That's the good part.

Cool as a Cucumber

" 'Gimme five,' he said. 'A real honor.' (pg 226)"

I am mainly citing this quote because I don't understand the motivation behind it. On one hand, the men seem respectful when they approach the dead body of this old Vietnamese man. They shake hands and are careful not to disturb the body to detrimentally. So, they could be just a little bit crazy and really believe that, by treating this man as if he isn't dead, he really isn't. On the other hand, they could be disrespecting him and relishing their victory over him. The entire thing confuses me, but I figure talking to a dead man and giving him his own can of sliced oranges makes them all a little crazy either way. I also find it odd that the men have this reaction. Well, all but O'Brien. He is freaking out, but the rest are cool as cucumbers. A reasonable mind would guess that this is their way of easing their guilt to feel as though they did not actually kill this man, but, in the mind of a soldier, no one can know for sure.

Colloquialism

" 'Shit, man,' he said. 'Don't you got music?' (pg 210)."

With this particular quote, colloquialism is particularly relevant. The majority of soldiers, especially at that time when the draft right out of high school was especially prominent, were not college-educated. The dialogue in this novel reflects this perfectly. Also, the language of soldiers is infamously peppered with inappropriates. Again, this quote serves this observation exactly. Still, being around people who speak in this manner certainly does not help. This is, of course, a generalization that can be proven false in many circumstances, but, then again, so can most generalizations. I believe the language of a soldier is racy and crude mainly due to the fact that there is no one around whom they would like to impress. You will notice that whenever a woman is around a veteran or anyone of the sort, they become respectful and use proper language. This is of little importance, but I found it interesting. The author added this colloquialism to make the story more realistic. Having these men walk around with perfect grammar would make the story unbelievable and sketchy at best.

Et Tu Brute?

" ' I hate to say this, man, but you're out of touch. Jorgenson - he's with us now.' (pg 197)"

Back in my freshman year, I had Mrs. Miles for my English teacher. She, to this day, is one of the best teachers I've ever had, and I will never forget half the things she taught me that year. Over the course of the second semester, I believe, we read Julius Caesar. My memory on the classic is a little sketchy, but I do remember that, initially, the people of Rome love Caesar. They see him as a god, but toward the end, the love shifts to a few different people, including Mark Antony. The people are fickle. It is a human flaw that can't be traced to a gene or any kind of DNA. Anyways, the story of Caesar immediately popped into my head when reading this part because the men of the platoon are fickle in regard to who is "in" and who is "out". This is understandable considering they have to trust the men they are with with their lives, but still. O'Brien really had not been on the other side of the fence for very long before they considered him an outsider and I found it an interesting look into the human nature that becomes so visible in wartime situations.

K Mart Ain't No Santa

" 'So when can we go?' (pg 182)".

In this part of the novel, O'Brien takes his daughter to Vietnam as a birthday gift. All the while, she puts on a brave face and enjoys the trip, but when the duo arrive at the swamp that killed Kiowa, Kathleen isn't so keen on the view and really just wants to leave. When I'm reading this, the only thought going through my head is how often this exact scene (give or take the location) has played out in my own life. On family vacations, if I'm not absolutely riveted by the view or the happenings, I'm always the first to ask when I will be put out of my misery. This may sound immature, but I'm the baby, so I always get away with it. This also made me realize how something simple can be of so much value to one person, but really just be another poop swamp to the other. Kathleen lacks so much appreciation for her surroundings because her father has protected her from the reality of it all. It kind of reminds me of Santa Claus. The child's parents lie to the child and tell him or her that Santa brought the gifts. The parents know that they will be loosing the appreciation the child is now so graciously giving to Santa, but it is to protect the child from the grim reality that the gift came from the K Mart down the street.

Allusion

"You could blame the munitions makers or Karl Marx or a trick of fate or an old man in Omaha who forgot to vote (Pg 177)."

In this quote, O'Brien is reflecting on all the people one could blame for the war in Vietnam. He makes an allusion to Karl Marx, the "creator" of Communism. The Vietnam War was a movement in the name of the theory of containment. The United States' chief goal was to halt the spread of Communism to neighboring countries, which was a valid issue considering there was a term specifically for this spread into neighboring countries called Domino Effect. One could argue that if it weren't for the creator of Communism, the Vietnam War to contain Communism would have never been fought. O'Brien likely adds this allusion because he knows the majority of readers will understand it. It provides a deeper insight into the thinking of a soldier in the war. They needed someone to blame and who better than the man that started it all? To be fair, Marx had never wanted Communism to become violent or war-inciting. He simply wanted the Catholic church to stop abusing its powers with such things as the selling of indulgences and greed within the church.

A Tide in the Lighthearted Affairs of Men

" 'Like those old cowboy movies. One more redskin bites the dirt.' (pg 165)"

There is an old adage: You can't have enough of a good thing. This is the case with such things as chocolate, exercise, or comedies, but what about bad things? When is there enough of that? While reading this novel in its entirety, I got the feeling that the abundance of death that these soldiers lived through led them to have an unsettlingly dismal appreciation for it. Any normal person uses various terms for "dead". One might use "passed away" or "left us", but these soldiers are using terms like "bit the dirt". I suppose many of them did not find this as disrespectful as they did playful. I also understand that viewing the number of deaths that they had forces one to go into a protective state and try to make death a lighthearted affair as opposed to a depressing one, but I find it disconcerting that there is often no respect for the deaths of the "Charlie" in this novel. I suppose it is a reality that one can do nothing about.

Dynamic Character

Norman Bowker is truly a dynamic character.

"He could not talk about it and never would (pg 153)."

Clearly, Bowker's experiences in Vietnam changed him fundamentally. He became cynical toward others only for the simple fact that he felt they could never understand him. He shut himself off to new things, feeling as though something had died in him in Vietnam. In the novel, he clearly states that he feels as though something died in him in war, which is certainly one of the biggest changes a human being can go through. At the beginning of the novel, one receives Bowker as a normal young man forced to fight in a war he didn't really understand and likely wanted little part of. At this point in the novel, he is depicted as a man whose will to live and experience all that he can is irrevocably diminished. He spends whole days driving around a lake, mentally asking random people if they would like to hear how he almost won a Silver Star. These are not the actions of a twenty-some year-old man at the peak of his life. These are the actions of a man who'd given up.

When Is It Enough?

" 'Want to hear about the Silver Star I almost won?' Norman Bowker whispered, but none of the workmen looked up (pg 144)."

This entire chapter is devoted to the troubles Norman Bowker experienced after returning home from the war. He had to go back to a small town full of people completely unaware of what he had been through or even the world around them. No one had seen the number of killings he had seen or become as almost zombie-like to it as he had. He felt alone, as though no one could understand him. And that much is true. No one would have been able to comprehend the things he'd lived through, so his loneliness was substantially justified. He also had not stopped feeling guilt for not being able to save Kiowa or bring home a medal to show his father. This, of course, brings me back to the theme I have mentioned once before. The shame he feels at failing to earn the Silver Star is so overwhelming that he shuts himself off to the world and can hardly tell the story to anyone. And, still, a question keeps ringing in my head: "Shouldn't serving one's country be enough?"

Motivation

In this chunk of the novel (pgs 120 to 132), the author tells of the man he killed. Whether or not this piece is factual or not is seemingly irrelevant, as is the case with all of the stories in this novel.

" 'We all had him zeroed. A good kill-weapon, ammunition, everything.' (pg 129)"

This speaking sequence is not that of Tim, but of Kiowa. Still, it shows a motivation that must have entered O'Brien's head when making the split-second decision to kill the man. Even though the kill was one that could have saved many American lives down the road, O'Brien felt terrible about it because the man had been just walking down the path. He had not made a move to kill a single one of them because he was presumably unaware of their existence. Realistically, there was not much motivation when it came to killing the man. O'Brien states that he acted on instinct. The only real motivation he had to kill the man was the training he endured to prepare him for this exact occurance, and he did exactly as the Army would have liked him to. Still, it is phenomenally clear that, if O'Brien could have gone back and not killed that man, regardless of the fact that his comrades would have likely done it anyway, he would not have done it. His motivation, in this instance, is weak.

Personification Personified!

"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 117)."

Obviously, the country of America is not physically big and strong, nor does it have a roll of fat to be jiggled. The author knows that any semi-educated reader will know this. Because of this, the literary tool that is personification proves to be extremely useful. To create an image, one must use words that aid the nervous system in physically experiencing what the author intends it to. While this might sound impossible, it has been scientifically proven through a method much like that of Pavlov's Dogs that the mere indication of something enjoyable can send our senses into a tizzy. Authors take full advantage of this fact. Giving America real, commonman traits serves the purpose of endearing the reader to Henry Dobbins. The author wants you to be able to relate to Dobbins, linking him to the country that we, as Americans, take so much pride in.

Foreshadowing

As with most novels, foreshadowing plays a key role in this book. Giving the reader a taste of what's to come tantalizes them and leaves them on the edge of their seat, begging for more.

"There's the scary part. I promise you, this girl will most definitely learn (pg 97)."

Arriving in Vietnam in a blissfully ignorant daze, Mark Fossie's girlfriend Mary Anne is completely blind to the dangers of the place. Needless to say, she learns pretty quickly to not play around , but Eddie Diamond's foreshadowing words were right on the mark. O'Brien uses foreshadowing for exactly the aforementioned reasons. Reading that the young woman is going to learn from her mistake makes the reader want to read on and learn just how the author's (or one of his soldier buddy's) imaginative mind will teach the girl a lesson. This may seem sick and twisted, but it is human and an author certainly knows how to indulge our inquisitive minds.

Theme

In The Things They Carried, I find that the main thing these soldiers carried was shame. Whether or not they carried constant shame or simply the overhanging goal of preventing it, a theme throughout the novel is most certainly shame.

"The embarrassment must've turned a screw in his head... He switched on a flashlight, woke up the young captain, and told him he had a monster toothache... The dentist couldn't find any problem, but Lemon kept insisting, so the man...yanked out a perfectly good tooth (pg 88)."

When a man has a professional tear out a healthy tooth to save his pride, someone has gone overboard. While this is true, this story is one of dozens in this novel depicting men doing things most would not do for the sole purpose of protecting their ego. O'Brien says many times that he went to war to protect his family from embarrassment, putting his pride before his very life. The main question I am persistently asking myself throughout the course of this novel is, "Would I do the same?", but all I seem to be coming up with is no. I believe this is majorly attributed to the fact that women and men seem to be from completely different planets (not to bring back the old adage). Is the need to protect one's pride strictly a male attribute or is innately human?

Style

Every writer has their preferences. Some like to write fantasy, dreaming up things they could never experience. Others, like O'Brien, write from a place of experience.

"This one wakes me up (pg 82)".

Throughout the novel, the author interrupts the story to add in opinions and personal touches. He uses this specific sentence to prepare the reader for a story he feels is especially unsettling. The story proves to be just that, but one could argue that the reader would feel equally unsettled without the author's verbal interlude. While this could be argued, one must look at the piece as a whole and understand that the entire novel is the author's way of letting the world into his own personal microcosm. The author writes as much for himself as he does for his audience. In many ways, I believe this enriches the stories and the piece would not be the same without it.

Insane in the Membrane

Typicallly, a man or woman will go off to war and come back affected. The level at which these people are affected varies, but it is highly unlikely that a person will return unchanged.

"One afternoon he began firing his weapon into the air, yelling Strunk's name, just firing and yelling, and it didn't stop until he'd rattled off an entire magazine of ammunition (pg 63)."

This past school year, I did a project on PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder) in psychology class. Ever since, I've been fascinated with the toll a war can take on a returning serviceman. You hear stories of people becoming mute and others of people just having a difficult time functioning normally after their return. I find myself reading this novel and asking myself how a person could ever come back from such an experience and not suffer some kind of PTSD. In this particular story, Dave Jensen is so paranoid that Lee Strunk will seek revenge that he goes on a crazy rampage, firing his gun off in the air. Soon after, he uses a gun to break his own nose. These are not the actions of a person unaffected by his experience in the wartorn nation of Vietnam. The paranoia Jensen displays is a sure sign of PTSD. Still, I can't imagine how one would escape war without a certain level of paranoia, for every second, there was a "Charlie" looking to kill a few American soldiers.

Symbol

(I am aware that there are no alligators in the lake the two men were fishing in. I just like the picture. ^^^)

With this series of twelve pages (pgs 48 to 60), I found numerous literary tools and had a hard time deciding which to use for this particular blog. By now, I'm sure you have figured out that I decided on symbol(ism). Really, this only comes into play one time in these pages, but, when I read this line, it packed quite a punch.

" 'Ain't biting,' he said (pg 60)."

While this is an extremely short quote, it holds a great deal of meaning concerning the young O'Brien's perplexing situation. Despite its brevity, this quote is clearly alluding to the fact that "Timmy" is not taking him up on his unspoken offer to drop him off at the Canadian border. If O'Brien had chosen to jump out of the small fishing boat and swim to the Canadian shore, he would be relieved of his militarial duty, so to speak. Still, the author is all too aware that the decision to jump would also be one of shame, and to bring shame on himself and his family is apparently a fate worse than death. Yes, the old man is also stating that the fish he is so carelessly and innocently going after are not taking his bait that particular day, but the deeper meaning is as transparent as newly shammied glass.

Imagery

Within pages 36 to 48, imagery abounds. Realistically, the entire book is full of it. Whether O'Brien is describing the poop field Kiowa dies in or the field many years after when he pays a visit to the site to reminisce with his naive daughter, O'Brien's main goal, as he states multiple times, is to force the audience to understand and appreciate many of the things he experienced in his time as a soldier.

"The damp, fungal scent of an empty body bag.
A quarter moon rising over the nighttime paddies.
A field of elephant grass weighted with wind, bowing under the stir of a helicopter's blades... (pg 37)."

This one passage continues on in amazingly detailed imagery, but I'm sure you get the picture from what's there. The whole idea of imagery is mainly to transport the reader to the current scene of te novel. While I'm sure this explanation would suffice with this novel, I feel there is much more to O'Brien's literal lists of imagery than simply that. With this particular author, the entire book takes on an extremely personal role. Having lived through possibly a few of the things described in the novel, the book surely means a lot to him, but this also brings up a question that has puzzled me throughout the beginning of this book: exactly what has the author experienced and what is total and utter fiction?