Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Exploration 6: Chas Jones

     The story that has meant the most to me so far is in the chapter Enemies. The story is about Lee Strunk and Dave Jensen getting into a fight about a missing jackknife. In the fight Dave Jensen broke Lee Strunks nose and he had to be "choppered to the rear." He returned two days later and things were awkward between them until Dave Jensen broke his own nose and asked Lee Strunk if they were even. After that they were best friends again. This reminds me a lot of me and my brother. We would always fight over the most pointless stuff and wouldn't speak to each other for a day and then the next day we were best buds again. This is also why I believe I connect to Lee Strunk the best out of all the characters. This is because I am the younger brother in my family and he is like Dave Jensens little brother. They didn't always trust each other but they could count on each other when they really needed too.
     A specific convention of narrative that I want to point out is in the chapter The Man I Killed. The detail that Tim Obrien goes into to describe goes into describing the dead body of the person he killed in unbelievable. The sense details are terrific especially how he makes it so we can imagine the body in our head. This also shows how much veterans think bout the men they killed and how it almost haunts them.
     A passage that struck me is in the chapter On The Rainy River. We all know that this is the chapter that Tim OBrien receives his draft notice and then goes to Canada but then decides after all to go to war. The part that struck me is his reasoning for going to war. Tim OBrien says, "My conscience told me to run, but some irrational and powerful force was resisting, like a weight pushing me toward the war. What it came down to, stupidly, was a sense of shame. Hot, stupid shame. I did not want people to think badly of me." This struck me because this shows what other people think of you has on people. I know I'm the same way and I am willing to bet that everyone, even the most secure people, have to care about what other people think about them. Tim OBrien even concedes that it is a stupid and "irrational" reason but he can't help it. Even though everything inside of him was telling him "NO", he didn't run because the thought of people judging him was to powerful.

3 comments:

  1. I also thought that the visual details Tim uses to describe the dead body really allowed the reader to visualize the body. But I think by including that there was a butterfly on the man's chin along with the more gruesome details symbolizes like the dead man's soul leaving the body.

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  2. I completely agree with you when you say that you relate most to Dave Jensen. Anyone that has a sibling knows what it feels like to have constant arguments and then be best friends the next day, even though you said that you were never going to talk to them ever again, because you were so mad at them. In today's society everyone is worried about what others are doing and what they are thinking without this people would probably wouldn't be so self conscious and society would probably be more self sufficient.

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  3. I completely agree with you when you say that you relate most to Dave Jensen. Anyone that has a sibling knows what it feels like to have constant arguments and then be best friends the next day, even though you said that you were never going to talk to them ever again, because you were so mad at them. In today's society everyone is worried about what others are doing and what they are thinking without this people would probably wouldn't be so self conscious and society would probably be more self sufficient.

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