Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Exploration 6: The Things They Carried. Travis Baum

        The one story that really caught my attention and related to my life in a way is "Friends".in the chapter before friends,"Enemies" (Dave Jensen) and (Lee Strunk) absolutely hated each other and they got in a fist fight. In the story "Friends" the two became somewhat of best buds, "Over the next month they often teamed up on ambushes. they covered each other on patrol, shared a foxhole, took turns pulling guard at night". I can relate to this because i have two best friends who before we really knew one another we didn't get along, now ever since 8th grade we have been best friends. its funny how people don't like each other until you give them a chance.
    The character i connect to most is Norman Bowker in the story "Speaking of Courage". In the story he just wanted to tell anyone he could about his time in Vietnam he drove around this big 7 mile loop just thinking about what he would say and conversations him and whoever (mostly his dad) would have. By the end of the book he finds someone that had nothing better to do than to listen to what he has to say. Norman said ""how'd you like to hear about---" he stopped and shook his head."Hear what, man?" Nothing."" I can relate somewhat to him because i don't talk about things that i probably should, I like to keep everything to myself. That was something he wanted to talk about all day.
     Something i took from my active reading is Tim O'Brien's intensive imagery. "The shit was in his nose and eyes. there were flairs and mortar rounds, and the stink was everywhere, it was inside him, in his lungs, and he could no longer tolerate it. Not here, he thought. Not like this. He released Kiowa's boot and watched it slide away" (page 143). This really made me feel like i was there watching this happen.
    A passage that i had marked while i was reading is in the story "Spin". "I remember one boy with a plastic leg. I remember how he hopped over to Azar and asked for a chocolate bar. GI number one, the kid said, and Azar laughed and handed over the chocolate. When the boy hopped away, Azar clucked his tongue and said, wars a bitch. He shook his head sadly"(page 30). This made me realize how sad it is that innocent children were being killed and injured in a war they didn't have a part of.

3 comments:

  1. I relate to Norman Bowker as well. I tend to think about things a lot in my head and when I get the chance to talk about them, I'd much prefer to just keep it to myself. I also can relate to him in how he makes up conversations in my head. Several times I have caught myself thinking about how a conversation would go if I did talk about something I wanted to talk about, and like him, it usually ends in me just keeping everything to myself.

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  2. I was very affected by Norman Bowker's story as well. I have always had a ton of sympathy and respect for Vietnam veterans and his story made me respect them even more. It is horrible how the war can change their lives forever, with how people treat them and how they spend their time. It is really sad hearing about his depression and suicide, but it makes me admire all of the veterans who have to deal with the same problems everyday.

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  3. I was very affected by Norman Bowker's story as well. I have always had a ton of sympathy and respect for Vietnam veterans and his story made me respect them even more. It is horrible how the war can change their lives forever, with how people treat them and how they spend their time. It is really sad hearing about his depression and suicide, but it makes me admire all of the veterans who have to deal with the same problems everyday.

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