The things they carried blog prompt 3

1.)  I think that the alter personality created at war is vital in sustaining your sanity and maintaining your composure, as well as not compromising your morals by transforming them and bending them.  I think that soldiers in The Things They Carried know each other less than in a real war.  I think that in a real war people would strive to know the soldier they are fighting alongside.  I do not think that a soldier can carry over their personality from home onto the battlefield.  They just do not combine on every level.  Creating a separate new personality is required because they are being reborn in a sense into a new world.  Through adaptation these soldiers become new people. 

2.) I think that O'Brien had a couple of messages he was trying to portray when he introduced Fossie's girlfriend Marry Anne into the story.  First, I think he was trying to depict that there were no rules out in Vietnam and anything goes.  Secondly, I think she represented the transformation of an individual in Vietnam, specifically the loss of innocence for soldiers there.  This is shown by how she first arrives and is very lady like and worldly.  Her clothing is city made, she wears make up, and talks daintily.  As time goes on she begins to change and become more hardened and curious.  She stops dressing as formally, she goes on nightly outings with Green Beret's, and becomes cold and callous towards Fossie.  Things permanently change and she will never recover from that just as soldiers cannot recover from what they become in Vietnam.

3.)  I believe that O'Brien was telling stories about the things that actually happened to him with falsified details, characters, events.  I think that he did this in order to make us feel what he actually felt as well as his men.  If O'Brien were to just say that one of his buddies was sad that would give the reader many different ideas and levels onto which the sadness would be based.  However, if O'Brien said that this buddy cried for days straight, burned his bed to ashes, and then hung himself we would understand the amount of grief he had even though this story was not true.  The disadvantage is that someone realizes that these stories are not true and so they disregard their content.  The advantage is of course that the readers understand how the soldiers are feeling in detail.  I think that because the stories seem so real it does not take away from the novel but adds to it because I can understand how the men feel.

Questions:

1.) What is the significance of the water buffalo and puppy being killed?

2.) What do you think will happen to Fossie after the war?

3.) How do you feel about Luetentant Cross's leading ability?

4.) Why was Norman Bowker so preoccupied with retrieving the picture of his girlfriend from the swamp?

5.) Who was really to blame for Kiowa's death?

The Great Gatsby: What does it all mean?

      
Throughout the novel, the Great Gatsby there is a lot of wanting but not being able to attain the thing being wanted.  This yearning for something is also considered the American Dream, or the pursuit of happiness and is very prominent in the book because ever character has some desire, and also the driving force of myself and my fellow Americans. 
       
        For one example of a character in the novel that has a desire it is obviously Mr.Gatsby, who wants to be with Daisy but she is married to Tom so she is unattainable. Mr.Gatsby tries desperately to get together with her and does but it is short lived and destroyed by Tom and obviously Jay Gatsby's death.  "So I walked away and left him standing there in the moonlight-watching over nothing".  Nick said that and it means that nothing will happen between Gatsby and Daisy.  I relate to his predicament because I once wanted to date a girl but she was dating another guy.  We both liked each other but her boyfriend was controlling.  Finally, when she broke up with him and we were going to date, her father was sent to a new base for the military and she left. 

        Another example of someone trying to achieve something and not being able to is Wilson wanting to leave with Myrtle because he knew she was having an affair with someone.  Before they were going to leave she was killed by Daisy in Gatsby's car which is very unfortunate.  "'Auto hit her. Ins'antly killed"' was what the policeman said to Tom when he arrived at the scene.  I can relate to this because when I got a new game for my Xbox 360 I loved it.  I played it all the time and nothing else.  I was about to download the game to my hard drive so I wouldn't lose it and it would run faster.  That very day before I did, my friend came over to play it.  He accidently kicked my Xbox while the game was running and this resulted in the disk being terribly scratched beyond repair.  I havn not been able to play the game since then.  In this case my friend represented Daisy, and his foot was the car. 

     All in all, I related to the characters of the Great Gatsby much more than I expected.  They were in different ways but still quite more meaningful to me than it may seem to others.  Desire without satisfaction was ramped throughout the novel and in my life as well as most Americans.  The characters in the book tried desperately to achieve something and could not, as I have done the same and we all had the same outcome or consequences.  Theirs may have been more severe but the resemblance remains, that we all wanted something and could not obtain it.

The Great Gatsby: Symbolism in Chapters 1-4

            I think that the Great Gatsby is the most interesting character and idea in chapters one through four.  The most obvious reason he is, is because of the mystery that surrounds him and his facade.  Throughout the first couple of chapters little is known about Gatsby, and it seems there are myths and rumors hiding the truth of his origins and acquisition of vast wealth.  Also, Gatsby hints to some "sad thing" that happened to him and I am eager to find out just what that is.  Some symbolisim that related very well to the connection between his image and real self is when the man in his library tells Nick to replace the book because removing one brick could make the whole library collapse.  This relates to the Gatsby because the library represents his image and if one flaw is exposed, or one lie is uncovered then his whole facade could come crashing down.  What also intrests me about the Gatsby is even though he seems to have weaknesses and wholes in his plan I believe its all part of his scheme.  I wonder what his plans with Nick are sense he seems to be treating him special and has no real other friends.  If he really only is being friends with Nick in order to get to Daisy then I think thats why he looked embarresed and left quickly when shaking hands with Tom.  Another symbol that Gatsby embodies is the "glue" that connects the East and West egg.  He has East egg people at his parties but is very wealthy himself.  I feel that he is the american dream and the people that come to his parties are pursuing happiness. 

The Great Gatsby: Characters in chapter 1

Nick is a young educated man who fought in world war 1, people are always telling him secrets. 
                                 "I’m inclined to reserve all judgments, a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me and also made me the victim of not a few veteran bores"


Daisy is a beautiful socialite and her husband cheats on her
                                "For a moment the last sunshine fell with romantic affection upon her glowing face;".

 Tom is her husband and he cheats on her, he is strong, handsome, sexist, rascist, and a socialite as well
                               "he seemed to fill those glistening boots until he strained the top lacing, and could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder moved under his thin coat. It was a body capable of enormous leverage — a cruel body.. "

 Jordan, is Daisy's friend and eased droped on the phone call between Tom and his mistress
'“Don’t talk. I want to hear what happens.”'

So far, I think the novel is intresting and I like the description the author uses however im confused as to wether he is Nick or not.  I thought I remember talking in class about how the narrator was talking in first person but not actually that person. I like the writing style of the author and am not bothered by his description of other men.  One symbol in the novel is light, or sun and it is usually related with Daisy.  Another is water, and it is described around where Nick lives.

Poetry Outloud

        Nightmare Flight, by Paul Curtis is a poem that I can relate to on a very deep level.  His poem discusses death, and the reaction from society to it.  Death is a frightening thing to the individual, of course becuase it is death.  But to society the death of another is more of a nuisance, or a reminder that everyone will go one way or another.  Literally, Curtise's poem is correct, in saying the masks on planes are only their to muffle the screams, the oxygen is to calm the people down and is merely for fighting panic.  Figuratively, the poem refers to society's view of death.  Which is the nuisance, hence Curtis's line saying: "They're only their to muffle the screams."
     I intend to convery the poem, by begining in a leaning stance with my head down.  From their I willl say my first line, than I willl look up and say my next line, then the third, then I will say half of the fourth, pause, and say the rest.  I will finish with my heaad down again.  I also intend to speak quietly to potray the frightening unknown factor of death.  I will speed my speech up in the middle of the poem, but finish sowly.  As if im cotemplating what I am saying.  I will use little gestures to symbolize the low energy of the poem and death.  Also the depresssion the author is trying to get across in his poem, a kind of hopeless death. 

Poetry Out Loud Questions

1.  The speaker of "She Walks in Beauty" is a man who is writing about beauty, a romantic, hopeless.
2. The audience for the speaker is perhaps the void, he is writing to sooth his own soul with no real audience
3. The speaker writes of her when she is walking and gives him a glance
4. The time is day because he describes the rays of sun upon her face
5. The setting is outdoors, in the city
6. The speaker is talking of this women's beauty, inner and outer.
7. The speaker is watching this women or recalling from memory, her beauty and relating it to nature
8.  The central idea of the poem is: This women is unearthly beautiful yet full of nature
9. The imagry is often relating to nature, or the heavens
10. One simile is: she walks in beauty like the night
11. The speaker alludes her to the heavens
12. The tone of the poem is yearning, it is created by the author writing about how beautful she is and then comparing her to heaven and nature, which are both things that give men happiness
13. In the first stanza the speaker is comparing her to the heavens, in the second nature down on earth, and in the last, a mind that is at peace with all down below
14. The poet was trying to express some of his emotions, and record her beauty into words.
15.This poem makes me think of all the beautiful women I have seen that have been out of my league and have wanted to right poetry about just to make myself feel better.

Nature/self-reliance

One point that I dissagree with is the fact that Emerson said to be an individual is the best way to go and one should not conform to society.  I believe that there are two types of individuals.  One, individaul A is the true individual, not conforming to society and not striving to be an individual.  The other is individaul B, the person who wants to be an individaul and conforms to society. 
Another point I disagree with is simmilar, Emerson says that too be a man you must be a non-conformist.  I believe that to be society's definition of a man, meaning strong, responsible, hard worker, and free of emotion, is of course conforming.  However to be Emerson's definition of a man, protective, self-reliant, is to be a true man and not trying to be a man.  Between the two points both can be pursued by society but to be a true individual or man you must just become and not strive to be it otherwise it is not a natural transformation and is conforming to society.