Week 12 Open Post

I'm a little confused on the whole Vietnam war thing, or any war for that matter. War freaking pisses me off, because it is stupid and not necessary. At times you might think the only thing left to do is attack, but it never gets you anywhere. What has going over into Iraq gotten anybody? We can't even get ourselves out because we are to busy establishing a new government after we destroyed the old one. It is not our duty to decide how other nations should run their country. If they are screaming for help then perhaps we should try to do something in a way that doesn't promote the loss of lives. I can understand how the notion for war comes to mind, because hell after 9/11 I wanted to kick some butt, but it doesn't prove anything. Everybody knows that the U.S.A is the most powerful country in the world. And in the 9/11 situation I think the best thing to do would have been to get on the news and make those people feel guilty. I believe everybody is born with a sense of what is right and wrong. Those people who crashed those planes believed they were dieing for a purpose, but If you talk logically things just have to click in your head. My mom's best tool is not to ground me or take anything away, because she knows that people will do what they want, but to instill what is right in the world and let me make my own decisions. When i mess up her disappointment in me is what tears me up inside. I know a lot of things that I have discussed here may not be the truth, but it's just how I feel. I also know everything is a lot deeper than I made it seem, but what isn't in life, and it is up to us to try to make some sort of sense out of things.

week 12 assigned post

There are many important literary elements found in the novel In Country by Bobbie Ann Mason that are important to the novel’s theme. In my opinion, the major theme is escaping reality. Throughout the entire book, all characters are always drinking alcohol, watching TV, smoking cigarettes or marijuana, consuming branded products, or in the case of Emmett, ignoring his pimples. All of these actions are means of escaping reality. Emmett ignores completely his pimples and his heartburns completely saying that they are normal and have nothing to do with Agent Orange (27, 30-31). But his niece Sam knows better, and keeps insisting that those are side effects of the Agent Orange that was sprayed during the Vietnam War…even though Emmett says that they were told to go inside when the Agent Orange was being sprayed outside. At the same time, he also escapes his own life by watching TV, specially the hit show M*A*S*H, which is about the Vietnam War. Emmett has no job or anything, and he keeps dodging that reality ball of having to put his life together, by being drunk or high all the time. Sam also keeps escaping her own reality of having to choose in what university to go by also drinking, watching TV and smoking with her uncle. And throughout the entire novel, they are lost in this brand consumer society trying to shift their thoughts of real life into something else.

Week 12- Closed

I have never been to Kentucky and to be honest am not sure why I would go. Kentucky makes me think of Whiskey and well to be honest not much else. I decided to broaden my Kentucky knowledge and find out who some famous Kentuckians are. Muhammed Ali the famous boxer tops the lists, which is equally matched by Robert Penn Warren and president Abraham Lincoln. So maybe I am mistaken and Kentucky does in fact have a lot to offer. Kentucky however, is a major element in my eyes to understanding In Country. I feel Kentucky as a whole enables the reader to get a stronger insight into many American towns and suffering war veterans around the country that live in small towns and are often forgotten. An Underlying theme in In Country is the suffering of war veterans once back in America; we see a prime example of this in Emmett who fought in Vietnam. The town people of Hopewell look at Emmett as crazy and separated themselves from Emmet and his family once he flew the Vietcong flag with his hippy friends. Across America, soldiers are returning to their states and towns in particular with fresh views on society and the feeling of an outsider. I felt that Bobbie Ann Mason does a great job in portraying to the reader what many war veterans go through when returning “home”. I have noticed that the majority of books only dwell on soldiers at war or leaving for war, but many do not indulge into the war vet’s life after war and the effects it has on the families around them. Kentucky in my eyes was important to understanding ‘In Country” as it enabled the reader to remember that across America soldiers are returning from war and feeling this sense of distance from there past. One of my favorite moments is when Sam is talking to Lonnie and states her view on the war and gives the insight from a war veteran’s family member. “You might ask my opinion first. The ones who don’t get killed come back with their lives messed up, and then they make everybody miserable.” (71) I enjoyed In Country as it was thoroughly honest and put many thoughts that people have into words.

Week 12 closed topic

I think that isolation and assimilation are portion of the themes in this book. Emmitt comes home from war and feels out of place and a bit isolated because his home and he have both changes. Sam throughout this novel is trying to assimilate into what and how Emmitt feels. She actually seems to be searching for isolation. When they are traveling she makes a comment about not being able to get lost in America but that she wishes she could. She wanted to be somewhere where no one could find her just like Emmitt was somewhere he couldn't be found. Just like in Tim O' Brien's "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong" Sam is wanting and trying to become part for the war and the experience. While Emmit struggles to assimilate back into society Sam is trying to assimilate out.

Week 12- Open Topic

Over the weekend, I made a terrible life decision. On Saturday night my friend Ross and I decided to go to the cinema. After browsing the film selection, we narrowed our list down to Drillbit Taylor starring Owen Wilson, Superhero movie and 21. All of which are as bad as the other, at least it was not Catwoman staring Halle Berry, which may possibly be the worst film of all time. After a 30 second debate, we decided to go and watch Drilbert Taylor as we honestly believed Owen Wilson would bring some humor to the story. We saw the film at The Movie Tavern on Hulen and I can honestly say that if I decided to watch the film at any other cinema, I would of hated the film, yet my friends Ross and Miller light made it somewhat enjoyable. While on the topic of films, I thought I would bring forth the topic of War films. Earlier in the semester Dr. Berger and I had a brief conversation over what are the greatest war films of all time, I stated my love for Francis Ford Coppola and his lengthy film “Apocalypse Now”. I truly believe that the struggles Coppola went through in order to make this film, are represented in the aesthetic beauty and feeling behind the film. If you ever get a chance, I would highly recommend Apocalypse now, yet if you really have the time, take a look at Hearts of Darkness, the documentary following Apocalypse now and understand how Coppola nearly ruined his career, marriage and life in making this war time thriller. After searching through numerous websites of the top ranked war films, it came to my attention that there are three films regularly regarded as the top dog of war films. Apocalypse now found its place to number one on AOL’s top list, while others suggest Steven Spielberg’s black and white classic, Schindlers lists. A true story about a man named Oskar Schindler who puts his life on the line to save over 1000 Polish Jews from their death in the holocaust. A remarkably and emotional story that will require a large box of tissues for viewing. The other top contender found on websites is Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan staring Tom Hanks as Captain John H Miller. Hanks leads a group of men uncertain of war into a WWII thriller, where they are in search of a brother who is missing and needs to be returned home. Everyone has a different perspective on “the greatest” war film. Below I have composed my top 5 war films of all time, if you get a chance, check them out. In the meantime, do you have a top 3 or even 5? If Rambo is in your top 5, please do not fill out the list; your opinion is not needed.

1. Apocalypse Now (1979)
2. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
3. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
4. The Great Escape (1963)
5. Platoon (1986)

Week 12 - Open Topic

In gathering information on post traumatic stress disorder for the upcoming literary project, I ran across some rather disturbing, or at the very least, unsettling statistics. According to Psych-Central, over half of the male Vietnam War veterans, and an almost equal percentage of female veterans, suffer from some form of post traumatic stress disorder. Of those who suffer from the disorder, 31% of males and 27% percent of females cope with the disorder for the remainders of their lives. The symptoms are divided into three basic categories: re-experiencing, avoidance, and increased arousal. These veterans are dealing with intrusive memories that may be accompanied by physical or mental discomfort, recurring dreams that disrupt their sleeping patterns, or even the sensation that they are physically experiencing the trauma of combat though they are many miles removed from the environment. They may avoid memory triggers or even mentally block these memories from their consciousness altogether. Often they feel disconnected from society, including their loved ones, and experience a decreased desire to participate in activities they used to enjoy. Some have experienced difficulties concentrating, paranoid behaviors, and irritable outbursts. In short, these veterans return home with a similar physical appearance, but a completely changed personality. This makes it difficult for their loved ones to relate to them and even more difficult for them to reciprocate. They are left with feelings of isolation on top of their terror, which leads some to turn to alcohol (39.2%) or drugs (5.7%). Then what do we do to help them when they return home? Put them on medication of course! They are prescribed either benzodiazepines, also known as habit-forming mild tranquilizers, or antidepressants, or both if it is a really stubborn case of anxiety. This way we can mask their symptoms in order to integrate them smoothly into a society that is also very medicated.

Week 12 Open Post

One of the things that I noticed in the novel is how Sam has no female model to follow. She does have her mother, but she doesn’t live with her, and she is kind of abandoned by her. Her mother has her separate life with her new husband, leaving Sam alone with Emmett. I believe that having a female role model in your life is very important. But Sam lives alone with her uncle Emmett, and is always surrounded by Emmett’s friends, or her boyfriend Lonnie. She has no one to tell her to do or not do something.
I think that this is why she is smoking pot and getting high, getting a little drunk with her uncle, and sleeping with her boyfriend whenever she pleases.
Sam kind of looks up to Emmett, and that is fine that he is her role model… but I also think that it is important to look up to someone of your same sex. In this book, her character might as well be a boy and it would not make a difference because of the way she acts.

Week 12 open topic

Talking about Vietnam for the past few weeks, I keep thinking about those who fled to Canada or tried to get out of the draft. I remember the only time I ever talked about Vietnam, it was in 6th grade. We had to do a project on WWII and I had to interview my grandpa. After the interview, I was curious as to who else in my family went to war. I learned that my uncle was in the military, but he was the only other one, other than my grandpa. I asked my dad why he never went to war, and that's when my mom told me about the Vietnam war and how my dad was going to have to go, except that he was in school. When I asked my dad about the war, he said that was one of the main reasons he went straight to college was because if he quit school, he would have been drafted and had to go to war. My mom always told me that my dad probably would have died over there, or he would have been different when he came back. I never understood why she said that, but I now know. The Vietnam war changed people, and not for the best. People who came back from Vietnam had many psychological problems and some physical problems as well. My dad has always been a "softy"...war would not have been good for him. He's not the kind of guy who would enjoy being at war or would be able to sleep through the night after war. He has a heavy concious, so war would not be good for him. I don't really care why he didn't go to war, I'm just glad that he didn't...my dad wouldn't be the same he is today.

Week 12 Open Topic

This is the first literature class that I have been in that the students have been encouraged to communicate amongst themselves and share and discuss their own ideas,interpretations and view on the text read in class. I wanted to take this opportunity to share how the books and stories we have read and studied have impacted me. I am a person who generally enjoys reading but has a difficult time reading things assigned. I have had no issues reading the assigned text for this class. I think that the reason for this is that it has really opened my eyes and sparked my interest. My father has an addiction to the history channel and he is partial to documentaries on War, Vietnam/WWI and II. He has always encouraged me to watch them with him to learn but I just could not get into them. I had no interest at all because I didn't feel that I could identify in any way shape or form to what was being discussed. After reading the text in class mostly "The Things They Carried" and "Missing" I have a new found respect and interest in what happened and the different points of view held. "How to Tell a True War Story" really drove into me the reality of the things that happened over there and what has followed to soldiers home. Though many of the stories told by O'Brien seemed very unreal they ate away at me and made me feel. I felt that internal torment when the baby water buffalo was slowly killed, not just pain for the buffalo for why the situation occurred. "Missing" was an excellent follow up to "The Things They Carried" because I saw hope in it. After reading it I realized that even though war is awful and does affect everything in a negative way that things do happen for a reason and that there's a light at the end of the tunnel. The main characters assimilation into his new family and his happiness in his daughter would have never occurred if he had not gone to war. Though he felt slightly alienated in the end what I took away from that story was hope. I have thoroughly enjoyed the texts we have read and hearing what my group members think about them as well. You all have given me insight into things I would not have originally noticed. Thank you!

Week 12 closed topic

This story was about a girl on the quest to find out who she truly is. Her whole life she has known that her dad died in Vietnam, and thus had never met him. She also knows that her uncle, Emmett, went to Vietnam and he survived. She is very protective over her uncle, always telling him to go get tested for Agent Orange because of his health problems. She talks to a picture of her father, trying to make him more personable, and less of a picture. At one point, she goes to visit her grandma and grandpa to talk about her father. There, she finds a diary he kept during the war. When she reads this, she becomes disgusted with her father, and at one point says she hates him. She decides to visit the War Memorial, where she finally figures out who she is. It is important to understand who Sam is in order to see why this is important.


At the end, Sam is going through the directory of those who lost their lives. She finds a version of her name, Sam Alan Hughes, and is touched by it. "Her heart pounding, she rushes to panel 14E, and after racing her eyes over the string of names for a moment, she locates her own name....She touches her own name. How odd it feels..." (244-245). Throughout the story, Sam has taken for granted that she is alive. I think at this point in the story, she values her life more and the fact that had her dad not died, she wouldn't have been who she is today.

Week 12 Closed Post

I want talk about a theme that I call connection. And it's not just the connection that people have that fought in the war, but more of a connection that everything has to everything. As I've been reading I have been getting better at noticing things that were put there as a hint about the underlying meaning. A specific example I want to mention is the part were Emmett fills his glass with Pepsi without adding any ice. When I read that I thought, "what the hell did he write that for?" So I underlined it and to my surprise it came up again except this time it was Sam poured her a glass of Pepsi with no ice. That's when I thought there is got to be some connection there. When Sam talks about things that she does it's always me and Emmett do this and that. It's like a set schedule, and she tries more and more to be apart of what Emmett does. Sam sometimes will go to McDonald's with him, or to the Vietnam reunion dance. Emmett and Sam watch a lot of war movies like M*A*S*H that just fuel Sam's wonderment about the Vietnam War. By imitating things that Emmett does and hanging out with all his old war buddies she is molding herself to be able to have more of a feeling of what it was like to be in Nam. She is fascinated with it and is almost all she can talk about. Sam is always asking question's about her dad and things that went on while Emmett was there. Her passion to know the war has fueled a weapon that I fear has pushed her to the edge of insanity. She states how she gets vivid images of the war like a Vietnamese mom caring her dead baby around and lots of others. Sam's never been there, but from all the information she has gathered, she is building a connection that her brain recognizes as real. You kind of see this connection in "The Things they Carried," specifically chapter "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong." It is in this story you see similarities between the guys girlfriend that came over to Vietnam and Sam in "In Country." In her case she is surrounded in the element and becomes consumed in it, and starts going out on night missions and other things. She also wore a necklace of ears that was also mentioned in "In Country." Sometimes war is just to much for the mind to handle and it molds itself to be able to cope with whats going on around you. From an outside perspective you most likely are viewed as a crazy person, but from the inside your right as rain. I believe everything is connected in life and this shows throughout all the novels we have read. The war not only effects the individual there but the families of sons of war who have either lost them to the enemy or have suffered the pain that comes with PTSD and other wounds.

Week 10 Closed Topic

I have waited for a long time to post my closed topic because I wanted to see what most of you were going to write about, I did not want to be redundant and for ya'll to read and try and conjure a comment response to something it seems you may have just read or commented on. I would like to talk about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I thought that everyone was going to write about it because it had been discussed so much in class so I had planned to write on Agent Orange. Since it hasn't been discussed here yet I feel it is due a few words. When Sam, Emmett and Lonnie are at Cawood's pond Emmett and Lonnie go for a walk and when they come back Emmett is disoriented and shaken. "he just got spooked....It wasn't anything" (38). This is PTSD at it's best. It has been depicted in the story well. Out of nowhere Emmett is back in Vietnam hiding. I had a grandfather that in the middle of the night during storms would crawl around the house on his belly. He never talked about but my grandmother would tell us stories. When I was a child I laughed at them thinking he was just being silly, but now I feel guilty for laughing. Many men who come back from war not just Vietnam experience this mental illness. They will jump at loud noises, not recognize family members and the symptoms go on and on. I have found two websites the first here just gives a few numbers from wars http://ptsd.about.com/od/prevalence/a/MilitaryPTSD.htm. This second has all the information you could ever want on PTSD and how it effects it's victims and how people try to overcome it.http://www.ncptsd.va.gov/ncmain/index.jsp

Week 10 - Closed Topic

I have found the theme of veterans integrating back into the American society one of the broadest reaching theme in all the war literature we have read so far. This seems to be one of the biggest challenges these men face, even bigger than facing the enemy. In this novel, In Country, Bobbie Ann Mason portrays Emmett as a character who never quite made it all the way back into society. He lived with his sister, couldn’t hold a job, and now wears skirts and only hangs out with other veterans. But wait, wearing skirts is a new facet to this integration disability. Emmett walks into the room, wearing a “long, thin Indian-print skirt with elephants and peacocks on it” (26). Sam explains to everyone that he is mocking Klinger’s behavior on M*A*S*H (27). I decided to investigate this odd behavior a little more closely. Klinger is a “wounded” soldier who fakes being of unstable mind in order to be granted a Section 8 discharge by the military. He dresses in women’s clothes and does unusual behaviors in order to make everyone believe that he is crazy, just so he can go back home to America. A Section 8 discharge was considered an undesirable discharge because it translated into the fact that the army found the soldier to be mentally unfit for active duty based on evidence of mental instability. This means, when these soldiers came back to the states, everywhere they tried to get a job and begin earning a living knew they had been discharged from the army because they were “crazy,” and if you aren’t good enough for battle, you probably aren’t good enough for anything else either. It’s amazing the drastic measures these soldiers would endure just to leave the Vietnam War.

week 10 open topic

I have jumped ahead in the reading, and so I don't want to go into too much detail in the book because I don't want to be the girl who ruins the story....but I do want to talk about a part of the book that comes later. Sam "runs away" to Cawood's Pond and camps out as if she is trying to be a soldier. Emmett, being the good uncle, finds her the next morning. They are talking about why she ran she ran away, and Emmett tells her a story about when he ran away because his daddy gave him a whipping. He says, "I ran to the creek and stayed there till it got dark, and while I was there I thought I was getting revenge, for some reason. It's childish, to go run off into the wilderness to get revenge. It's the most typical thing in the world" (221). Sam replies to that by saying, "That explains it then...That's what you were doing in Vietnam. That explains what the whole country was doing over there. The least little threat and America's got to put on its cowboy boots and stomp around and show somebody a thing or two"(221). I remember a few posts back when we were reading "The Things They Carried", and I said something about how the US didn't need to get involved in the war. This just goes to show that there's another person (though fiction) who agrees with me. I don't know exactly what we were trying to get revenge for, but I can see how we were threatened. One of our ships, the US Tonkin got blown up, and that caused a threat to the US...but a small threat, and like Sam said, we have our cowboy boots on, and we are stomping around to show them who's "boss". I almost wish I could laugh...but I know it would be innapropriate.

Week 10- Closed

In Country by Bobbie Ann Mason is in many ways a continuation of the suffering on war veterans we have seen prevalent in the semesters reading so far. For the first time we have been asked to give our thoughts and curiosity into the crimes and pain delivered by the United states army onto the Vietnams country, people and US soldiers camped out in battle. The US Army in using the powerful weed killer Agent Orange, not only destroyed crops, and jungle but innocent citizens and soldier’s lives. In using a girl who has lost her father to the war, Bobbie Mason introduces the reader to a new perspective on the effects of Agent Orange. We learn of Agent Orange and its effects in chapter nine “Agent Orange could also act on the immune system, causing it to collapse over a periods of time” (68). Sam in many ways acts just like another reader, curious of the effects of Agent Orange and the lack of care taken by the US Army. Personally, In Country has made me look with even more disgust of the actions taken by the US army. I find as a reader you can often get num to the tragedies of the war and the effects it had on the soldiers by reading and talking about it so much. In Country has made me stop and look again at the horrific occurrences of death and Agent Orange. In wanting to gain a stronger understanding of Agent Orange and its effects, I researched Agent Orange at where it gave me a stronger insight into the “weed killer”. “Agent Orange in particular was laced with dioxins - extremely toxic to humans. Dioxins accumulate in the body to cause cancers. Anyone eating or drinking in contaminated areas then receives an even higher dose”. However I feel that you are only able to gain a stronger understanding of the effects of Agent Orange by the images that have been released. I found this BBC post useful as it gave an honest look into the harm that Agent Orange caused and the effects that are still being found due to the horrid toxins sprayed by the US army in Vietnam. In researching Agent Orange, it became a huge worry to me about how a war in today’s society would be fought. Many countries that have no mercy for innocent civilians would without hesitation use toxins to have a society suffer.

Week 10 - Open Topic

Since M*A*S*H plays such a prominent role in the novel, In Country, I decided to do a little bit of research on it. I have never been interested enough to actually watch an episode because I always thought it was just an old comedy; however, I learned that its producers were very innovative for their time. They created a show that not only criticized the war in Vietnam, but also mimicked the chaotic lifestyle of the war and evolved as the war finally came to a close. The show is set in South Korea, on a military hospital base. The injured soldiers arrive by helicopter, are bandaged up or operated on, and then sent home or back to the front lines. One technical note that was highlighted was the manner in which the directors filmed the show as if the camera was a higher being looking down on the lives of the characters and their place in the war. They used long film shots and followed action shots with camera instead of breaking it up into smaller segments. “In this way, M*A*S*H seemed to be asserting the central fact of war, that individual human being are caught in the tangled mesh of other lives and their struggle must be to retain some sense of humanity and compassion. This approach was grounded in Altman’s film style and enabled M*A*S*H to manipulate its multiple story lines and its mixture of comedy and drama with techniques that matched the complex, absurd tragedy of war itself,” Jeff Shire. The characters were also very well developed. Interestingly, there is a contrast between two different types of medical workers: the skirt-chasing, gin-guzzling Dr. McIntyre and Dr. Peirce, and the straight-laced, uptight Dr. Burns and Nurse Houlihon. I imagine this is representative of real life in the war, where there are those who are serious about being there and others who cope with the horrific situation by not taking life too seriously. These characters did evolve over time, and as the war ended, many of the skirt-chasers became a little more respectful of women and the militants toned down their abrasiveness. The show began to focus more on the characterization of the soldiers these veterans of Vietnam were relating to instead of situations the characters were experiencing. The show was sensitive to the fact that the veterans were all coming home and attempting to integrate back into society. They were most likely focusing on themselves and trying to redefine their place in society, so to see the characters on M*A*S*H redefining themselves was probably very therapeutic.

Week 10 - Open Topic

Over the last nine weeks I have been raving about how much I hate war. Today I am asking you all for your forgiveness, for I have found a few things that are positive from war. Aside from the stories of torture, financial burdens, blood, sufferings, and lives full of misery, there really are a few great things that war has given us. First and foremost, camouflage or camo as the fashion world describes it. Camo has become the new black for teenage boys, only the other day did I see a high school student proudly wearing his camo shorts and matching camo backpack, how cool. Shops such as Abercrombie and Fitch and American Eagle have picked up on the camo trend and turned there entire summer short collection into a combat zone. I once tried a pair of camo shorts on due to my girlfriends recommendation but looked in the mirror and thought I looked like a giant leaf. Maybe camo just is not my color, or maybe I tried on the wrong shade of tree, I will try the camo trend again as deep down I do like the look. Next on my list of war goodies is dog tags. While waiting for my girlfriend the other day in the mall, I strolled around the men's jewelry section and came across a pair of dog tags for a enormous 300 dollars. Are dog tags cool and if so why did I not receive the memo? Designer dog tags are the new cool thing and I just can not see myself asking for a pair of Gucci dog tags. Aside from my confusion over this trend they seem to be doing well and popping up in every designer showcase. Last but not least is video games. The other day I was around my friends house and within 45 minuets I had bombed five countries and been labeled "Jack the communist". The trend of imagining your are leading your army into battle and fighting 5,000 troops single handily is the new cool thing and yet again I did not know it was "sweet" to do so. So its fair to say War is great, it has given me a sense of fashion, a way to look more manly and what I should be doing in my free time. Oh War how I love you.

Jack- Open to come

Hi Everyone. I am having a nightmare of a day and am currently stuck in a studio recording a tv show. I ran away to the bathroom and jumped on the computer. My post will be a little late, hope thats ok. Thanks. Jack
No later than 9, I promise

Week 10 Open Post

After the first couple of pages of the novel “In Country”, you can notice how the American consumer society is emphasized. In the first page only, seven trade marks are mentioned, from cigarettes to gas stations to food restaurants. In the rest of the book the author specifies what brand of soda a character is drinking or what specific TV show they are watching.
I think it is amazing how society has become a commercial and consumer society. Everything is about what brand of food you are eating, where you are eating, what you are watching, and what you are consuming. The author says “He smokes Kents” (3), instead of just saying that someone is having a smoke. Also, instead of just mentioning a cap, she says “Sam spotted Emmett’s Pepsi cap (75). She specifies the brand. This shows how brands are so important to people now. Maybe she writes this way so that the reader can relate to what they are consuming, or maybe it is just her way of writing. Still it makes you think how today’s society is such a commercial one.

Week 10 Assignel Post

One of the main issues that I saw recurring in the novel “In Country” by Bobbie Ann Mason, was Agent Orange. I had never heard of Agent Orange until this class. I looked it up in Google and found a very good website that talks about Agent Orange for Veterans, (http://www1.va.gov/agentorange/) especially those who fought in Vietnam.
Agent Orange is a herbicide that was used during the Vietnam War to kill unwanted plant life or to remove leaves from trees, which served as cover for the enemy. This way, the US could have more visibility. This is a very dangerous herbicide because of the effects that it has on people. Studies have shown that exposure to this chemical indicates an increase risk of cancer and genetic defects, and now all Vietnam Veterans are very concerned with their health after the war.
I believe that it is horrible to know that the US used a chemical that harmed its own army. To think that they didn’t stop to test the chemical for side effects or to see what other effects it had other than killing plants. I have now seen many images of people who have been exposed to Agent Orange, and children born with defects because of this chemical and they are absolutely shocking and hard to believe that the US could spray this chemical like rain all over Vietnam without knowing what it actually did.
In the novel, Sam Hughes’ uncle and father both served in Vietnam, and her father actually died there. In Part One, Chapter 1, Sam mentions that her uncle Emmett is a large man “of thirty-five with pimples on his face” (6). Later in the novel she says to a man called Pete that Emmet has Agent Orange because of his pimples on his face (47). Sam then keeps insisting that Emmett has Agent Orange later in the book (56 and 60), even though Emmett keeps saying that it is only acne.
Here you can see one of the many side effects that Agent Orange has on people who were exposed to them.

Week 10 Open Topic

I wanted to talk to you today a little about Agent Orange. The product was developed in the 1940's what was never seriously tested until the 1960's. The purpose for this chemical was to extract the enemy of its cover by destroying dense terrain and defoliating trees where the enemy could hide. This seemed like a great strategy during the Vietnam War due to the type of tropical plants that grew in the area that the Viet Cong soldiers used to camouflage themselves into the earth. It gets it's name from the orange band that was used to mark the drums that contained this poisonous material. Over 19 million gallons were dispersed throughout South Vietnam during the war. It was not until after the war that they found a chemical bi-product known as TCDD that proved to be harmful to man. When I read the book "In Country" the stories about how Emmett and thousands of others like him try to deny the effects of the product simply because they believe there is nothing they can do about it. To my knowledge the government has tried to cover up the fact that agent orange was even used in the war in the fact that it would turn it into a biological warfare. The governments resistance to acknowledge veterans poisoned bodies and denying them any kind of reparation for what has been done to them is what sickens me. It seems like just one big cover up, just like many others by the government. In the book it talks about how many of the veterans have tried to seek treatment but lack the government funding to receive full medical benefit. Even the Dr.s have heard about it so much that they laugh in the faces of their patients and send them away with nothing more than a bar of soap in Emmet's case. Even after it was proved to have deadly side effects that could even be passed down through the blood causing serious birth defects the government still denies its responsibility to these veterans. The government has to grown up and pay for its actions.

Week 10 Open Topic

Addiction is not an overwhelming or reoccurring theme that in present in "In Country" or any of our other readings this semester however I wanted to discuss it. Emmett smokes non stop on this road trip they are taking. This just reminded me of how many men have come home from war addicted to illegal drugs and/or drugs used to treat their wounds.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/507021
The above website discusses a study of veteran heroin addicts and their treatment.
This study found that Vietnam vets were more likely to have started using while in the service to ease their fears of the war. Veterans from other wars noted that their drug use usually began after the war at home in recovery.
Not only did these men come home battling drug addictions but alcoholism as well. While this was less common among Vietnam vets than others I do have a personal experience. My boyfriends father fought in Vietnam and came home a raging alcoholic. Andrew (my boyfriend) had told me about all the issues at home and struggles his father faced. His father had to spend a month in rehab while Andrew was in high school and that was a major changing point for his entire family. It is difficult for me to listen to certain stories about his childhood and how his parents acted knowing them as I do now. Seeing who they are now and hearing these stories really makes me realize that war severely changes people. No matter how they try and fight it it changes people and can affect their entire families.

Week 10 closed topic

Throughout this story, Sam keeps bringing up Agent Orange. I have heard about Agent Orange, but I didn't know exactly what it was until I did some research on it. Agent Orange is a herbicide that destroys the trees and shrubery in an area. This was important for the Vietnam war because most of the fighting was done in the jungle where it was hard to see from above. This herbicide would kill the shrubery so that the airplanes could see from above. It wasn't thought to be harmful to people until they did some reserach and found out that it causes serious diseases which could be fatal. The decontaminated part of Agent Orange is called TCDD, or dioxin, which led to the fatal diseases. Agent Orange is something that hadn't been fully examined when this story takes place. We now know after years of research that Agent Orange causes many diseases.

Sam is very concerned with Emmett's health because of all the research she has done about Agent Orange. She is convinced that Emmett is suffering from it. "'Be serious,' said Sam. 'You've got Agent Orange. Those pimples are exactly how they described them on the news.' Agent Orange terrified her" (31). Along with the dime sized pimples, Emmett has been suffering from pains in his head and he has gas, which Sam thinks could be a type of metabolic disturbance because Agent Orange could mess with the immune system (68). After Emmett finally agrees to see a doctor about his symptoms, he still doesn't believe it could be Agent Orange. Sam isn't convinced still; she knows that it's going to take a lot to convince Emmett that he needs to take it seriously. At one point, Emmett makes a smartalic remark about what the doctor said. He says that the doctor told him "he'd seen a lot of vets with all kinds of complaints...they wanted to blame everything from a sore toe to a fever blister on Agent Orange" (75).

Emmett isn't taking this seriously as of right now. I would only hope that as I read on he takes more initiative and tries to figure out whether he is suffering from a by product of this herbicide. Emmett may not have serious noticiable effects, but it is something that every veteran who fought in Vietnam and every citizen in Vietnam needs to worry about. The picture on the left is of a Vietnamese woman who suffers from Agent Orange. Agent Orange is affecting even the third generation of those who were exposed to the herbicide. Agent Orange is a serious topic when dealing with the Vietnam war which shouldn't be taken lightly. Hundreds of thousands of people are effected by the aftermath of the herbicide, causing serious life threatening diseases and deformaties.

WEEKS 8 & 9 SUMMARY

Really impressive stuff in these two weeks :) Lots of really strong individual contributions and great discussions; also some really interesting things going on with the visuals that people are contributing, especially in light of the discussion of photos and media and all that. Clearly a group who understands the power of the image!

WEEK 9 OPEN TOPIC

I can see that the media is a big topic this week… As I have said in many of my posts, it is amazing how one picture can mean many things, but people only see one of those meanings, they can only see the worst. As it happened to the man from “Missing”, he was just minding his own business, smoking a cigarette, when someone took his picture. And now he is seen as MIA and suffering. No body can stop and think that maybe he lives there because he wants to, maybe he has now his own family who he loves, maybe he wanted to escape from his previous life and he is happy now. But instead the picture shows the worst of him.
That is what the media does, like for celebrities who have their pictures taken in a bad day or in a bad pose, and the media can make a giant gossip (false) story about them. Some poor celebrity could be hugging an old friend in the middle of the city and the media can portray it as this celebrity having an affair. Pictures can never be believed for what they appear to be, until the one in the picture can explain what was really going on.

Week 9 Open Post

After reading the responses to my assigned blog, and the other explications of "Missing" I really got to thinking about how and why I interpreted the dragon mask portion of the story. At first when I read it, much like others, I had a difficult time getting past the feelings of isolation and abandonment. These have been reoccurring themes throughout all of our readings and to some extend were expected in this read as well. The love the character had for his daughter was different to me though. In the end of the story when he states that his daughter brings everything together I was left with a bit of a sense of hope and even a little fulfillment. When I read the story for the second time the dragon mask and his daughter with her Anglican features disappearing beneath stuck out like a sore thumb. When he described all of this I found the hope that I had been looking for in the story. I really did not want to walk away from it with a negative feeling and I didn't have to, because the author laid it out on a silver platter for me in that section of the text.

After reading and interpreting it I am left with the comfort in knowing that life truly is about who you are inside and the people you surround yourself with. Our past is always going to be there but it is part of why we are who we are to day and why we are where we are today.

Week 9 Open Post

Hearing this story missing kind of makes me wonder how many American's stayed over there with the Vietmanese. I know Mr. Butler story is a different case were he was abused at his home and has been yearning for a family that cares for each other and shares the most strongest bond between individuals... Love. Then I also wonder how many are actually prisoners, and if they are what actually happened to them. Did they torture them to death. Or did they turn them into slaves, and are still out there right now working for them. Or did they let them go after the war was over. From what I gather the vietmanese are very nice people so I really can't imagine them commiting torturous activities on the American soldiers.

On a different note I was kind of wondering how many American soldiers knew what they were doing was wrong. Somwhere along the line in this war a soldier had to be involved or saw something that was not ethical, and did they act on it. Most of them I would assume would not. Especially in the war fought in "A Farewell to Arms." In this war if you didn't act the way the captain wanted you to you were shot. The military to me in this sense kind of resembles the government. A entity that gets to much power is bound to take advantage of it. A perfect example for you is the police. You might have had an experience were they have helped you or saved your life, but for the most part they are out there to make money for the city and often abuse there power. I believe this is what a lot of people, and especially people in command do in war. They forget about ethics at times were they don't really have to think, and at that moment all their flaws are exposed.

hey I got called into work and I will post later tonight

I was struggling with exactly what to write about this week in the open topic, so I began sifting through the pictures on my camera and computer. I tried to define exactly why I had taken each picture and decided I was attempting to create a physical representation of the emotion surging through me at that moment, or at the least the emotion I was hoping to feel. I can always see the emotion in my own smile when I review the pictures later. It is always blatantly evident when I was only faking it, going through the motions of having a good time. When I am in control of the photographs being taken of me, it is impossible to fake the meaning behind the picture. However, I believe that media has tainted this once truthful art by robbing their subjects of that control. They take a picture of an event or celebrity and attach whatever caption their heart desires. This is, after all, America and everyone has the constitutional right to freedom of the press, but we have to ask if this is the morally right thing to do. In the case of “Missing”, the media portrays Butler as missing in action, a prisoner of war being held captive and tortured by the evil communists. But, in reality, Butler had never felt more centered and found than in that moment the picture was taken. That misrepresentation must be the most frustrating experience in the world. You always hear young stars and starlettes complain about the loss of privacy and lies that begin appearing on newstands. The paparazzi invades their personal space and rewrites their personal life. It is such a shame that such practices are culturally acceptable in our country. What gives us the right to invent or exploit the lives of others? Britney Spears is one example of a celebrity dealing with serious emotional problems, and the paparazzi simply potentiate those problems. I am by no means supporting Britney's actions, but merely commenting on the injustice of the current status quo of media reporting.

Week 9 open topic

In the story "Missing", Butler seems to have an identity crisis. Throughout his story, he always refers to his blonde hair. That seems to be a problem for him. I can remember growing up having the same identity problem. I am the first born out of a set of triplets, and all my life I have had an identity crisis, much like Butler. I seemed to be the "odd ball" out of the other two children. I have the blonde hair and they both had brown hair. My sister has dark brown and my brother has light brown, but nonetheless, it was darker than mine, and my and my dad have brown hair too. I was the one that stuck out in family pictures because of my bright blonde hair. When I was growing up, my sister and brother would always team up against me, which added to my identity crisis. I was hardly referred to as Ashley, but as one of the triplets, Ryan's sister, Erin's sister, and so forth. I was stuck in a place where I didn't know who I was. It's sad, but up until I went to college, I didn't have my own identity. Now that I am in college, though, I have an identity, and because not many people at TCU know my brother or sister, I am Ashley, not Erin's sister, or Ryan's sister, and especially not one of the triplets. Butler's identity crisis is a little deeper than mine, though. He has traveled to a completely different world, where he doesn't fit in, not only because of his hair color. He finds a way, though, to be accepted. All he needs to do is to quit worrying about his hair color. It makes him unique in his own special way.

Week 9 Post ("Missing" -Explicate)

I would like to explicate the first couple of paragraphs of the story “Missing” by Robert Olen Butler that are important to the theme of escape, escape from the war and killing and in a way, life. Here, this Veteran is describing a picture that was taken of him in a field and how he feels about it. He is mad because he thinks that if someone sees that picture, they will probably think that he is a lost soldier, or missing in action, or being held by the communists. He says “There are lots of them come these days, I’m told, the GIs, and it makes things hard for me, worrying about keeping out of their sight. I got nothing to do with them, and that’s why the photo pissed me off”. He doesn’t want to be found, he doesn’t want anybody to come for him and take him away from his new family and his new life. This is important because you can see how one single picture worries him, he is too far away in the picture to be recognized, but still he worries.
Later in the story he describes how his life back home wasn’t that good at all. How all he likes to remember is his porch and maple trees, no sound and no one around. He has escaped this life and this picture that appeared in the newspaper has brought him memories of his old life, the life that he no longer wants and doesn’t want to go back, or taken back to.
This whole scene is important to one of the many theme form the story, escaping reality.

Week 9 closed topic - "Missing" Explication

While alienation and isolation are key overall themes in "Missing" I found that the more uplifting and important theme is that of acceptance and assimilation. I would like to discuss how the things said about his daughter bring this to realization. We know from the first paragraph when discussing his blonder than blond hair that this character feels some sort of isolation in his new home because of where he came from and his past. We see his first fixation on how this will effect his daughter when he describes her hair " it has this color that belongs to no one else here, not my wife, not me". Then just a few paragraphs later he says " I could see Hoa's face for a moment there, caught full in the sunlight, and in this light parts of her body that she had because of me seemed very clear, the highness of her brow, the half expressed roundness of the lids of her eyes, the length of her nose, the wideness of her mouth, her hair neither dark, nor light. And I had a twist of sadness for her, as if she had gotten from me imperfect cells". We see here that he fears feelings of isolation for his daughter. We see that he has great guilt for attaching his past to her. His daughter carries all of the Anglican features that muddy her per Vietnamese features, however on sentence in this story turns everything around, it takes us from isolation to acceptance and assimilation. " She lifted the dragon high with both hands and raised it over her, and she slowly brought it down: her hair, her brow disappeared into the dragon, her eyes and her nose and her mouth, my daughter' face disappeared into great bright eyes, flared nostrils, cheeks of blood red and a brow of green". I took the dragon to symbolize the village and the families in it. The dragon swallows all of those Anglican features that he gave her and she plays with the children and they laugh. Just as his daughter brow, hair, mouth and nose became the dragon he has "become" a member of this village, HIS village. The statement he later makes "all brought together by my child" once again reinforces that like his child and her features he and his are a part of the family in this village.

Week 9 "Missing" Explication

I wanted to talk about the scene where he is leaning against the star apple tree smoking a cigarette when the picture is taking. He talks about how the sun "crouches over him like a mama-san with her fleet flat going nowhere." Even up in the highlands he quotes that the sun is still there, and that the sun has blonded his hair even more than before. When i hear this I think that he was expecting to be able to fit in with his new family in Vietnam. He was hopeing that his hair would have turned black like his wifes. So it's upsetting to him that all the time he has spent learning and adapting to the culture that the sun still blondes his hair even more exploiting that no matter how hard he tries he will never be exactly like them. He still holds his American past and nothing can change that. I think it is funny how he kind of makes it into a humerous kind of deal about how it looks like he is waving to the camera crying for help when infact it is the total opposite. It kind of makes him nervous about what they say about him being "missing." Because he is not missing he is found. He has found his new life with these wonderful people who were told to be his enemies. The only enemies he knew was his family that he had left behind. These people were kind, family oriented people. The family that he had been longing to be apart of for ever since he was a young boy.

Week 9 Closed Topic- Explication

I know the main theme of "Missing" is one of isolation and alienation, but at the same time, I believe that Butler has overcome some of those feelings. He talks a lot about his outward appearance and how that's not one of his "new home", but then he also talks a lot about the village being his village. The main point that made me think this was when he said "I'm not missing. I'm here". Many people in America think he's one of those who are MIA in Vietnam, but in actuality, he has been found, in a culture that accepts him and allows him to be himself. We know by reading this story that he had a troublesome childhood, with the abuse his family endured, but when he came to Vietnam, he"found" himself. He says, "the USA Today has got me on the run, waving pitifully across a field at a photographer to put the word out to the world, but they don't wonder why I'm apparently not smart enough to walk on across that field and say, Take me back to my momma and my papa...who are living ruined lives in America because I'm missing in action". In that statement, I realized that he is not missing as everyone thinks he is; he has finally found himself. He may be isolated from the Vietnam culture physically, but he has become Vietnamese in his heart. Living in Vietnam, he has found a new life and his life in America is his other life. "And I thought of this place in Vietnam where I lay and how it grows coffee and it grows tobacco, and in that other life there was a time in the morning when I could slip out of the house and there was no one around but me and I knew that one day I would escape, and inside they drank coffee and smoked cigarettes and read the newspaper". Butler may be isolated from the community physically, but I believe that he has been accepted and has found the "real" him. He is no longer an American, but a Vietnamese, all except for his appearance.

Week 9- Explicate "Missing"

I decided to focus on the theme of isolation, which I not only found prevalent in Robert Olen’s “Missing” but in the overall theme of the course. A few examples of isolation from previous readings would be, Henry is Lyman Lamartine’s ‘Red Convertible”, Krebs from the story ‘Soldiers Home” and the soldiers from Tim O’Brien’s book “The Things They Carried”. Henry returned from war a new man; he was unable to live his life in a regular society. The war had ruined his heart and soul and had left him isolated from a world away from war. Krebs’s return from war found himself isolated from emotions. He did not care anymore about life or his family, which his mother found emotional straining. The groups of young soldiers from “The Things They Carried” were each isolated from the things they loved the most, for some it was isolation from girlfriends and for others it was religion. Isolation has been a constant focus throughout the semester and none has been more common than that of the American soldier in Robert Olen’s story “Missing”. We learn of the soldier’s isolation and alienation from the life he is living in Vietnam. His blond hair and white skin causes him to have great sensitivity and isolation from the tribe he now lives with. He feels isolated from the dark skin and dark hair that the local’s posses, and states that he has given all the bad American traits to his daughter. The soldier discusses his daughter’s American traits, which he feels has caused isolation to her from the tribe. We see an example of this isolation in a description by the soldier, “My daughter is tall now, her body changing from a girl to a woman, and her hair is the brown of the dried tobacco, not black but the color of what we grow and prepare here”. Isolation is a theme that been constant throughout the semester, and yet again in Robert Olen’s “Missing” we were introduced to the similarities of isolation and alimentation.

Week 9- Open Topic

At the age of 18, I spent the summer in the African country of Namibia, hiking through the sand dunes and exploring a world full of poverty and desperation. For a week of my travels, we spent the days hiking Fish river canyon a beautiful and tiring adventure. Aside from the natural beauty we came across, I will always remember the one piece of advice our guide gave to us at the start of our hike. He told my group that there was no need to bring a camera, as the beauty that we could come across would tell its own story and that a still image would not do it justice. At the time, I thought that the guide was completely crazy; as I could not understand why taking pictures would dampen nature’s beauty. Upon arriving back to England, I sat down with my parents to share my pictures. I remember opening up the picture booklet and explaining to my parents the beauty of each picture, only to be frustrated that I could not get across what I had seen. The guide was right, what I had seen could not be replicated by a picture and would never give justice to the beauty of the canyon. This story was brought to the front of my memory today in class while we were discussion the importance of the picture taken by the Italian photographer in the story The Missing. A picture can tell a story, yet without actually being there, a picture can let the imagination run loose on the true meaning of the picture. After hearing the discussion in class today, it led me to wonder how many images of war may be misunderstood and analyzed in the wrong manner due to the lack of intelligence used when understanding the images. When glancing at a picture of war and seeing men with there heads down and marching behind one another, the first thought would be that these men are fed up and ready to come home. The truth of the picture may be however that these men are playing a game of heads down thumbs up and are all thoroughly enjoying there time at war. In many cases, a picture can tell a story, but as Dr. Berger mentioned in class, why do we not as intelligent students ask complex questions about the pictures to help us gain a stronger understand about the truth of the image. This role of asking complex questions can also be used in today’s society when skimming through pictures posted on the friend database Facebook or Myspace. Confusion, jealously, anger, and depression can all occur from over analyzing a picture posted on Facebook regarding an encounter that happened the night before. A close friend may see an image of her best friend out to dinner the night before with her old boyfriend. This image could anger the friend yet in truth the best friend may be out to help the friendship between the two. A picture is not just a still image but also a story, have you ever been caught out with a misunderstanding of a picture?

Week 9 Post - "Missing" Explication

One theme I have been following throughout each of our readings is the irreversible change the Vietnam War has evoked in its participants. Each individual has experienced a different alteration in their physical appearance or personality, but a commonality among many has been the escape from a previous version of themselves. They allowed the country and the war to redefine who they are. In “Missing,” Butler goes to such as extremes of escapism that he actually builds a whole new family and fully integrates into the Vietnamese culture. He marries into a family and brings a new life into the world that is a mixture of his past-self and redefined-self. His daughter, just like his blonde hair, is a constant visual reminder that he will always be an outsider even though he has made a home in Vietnam. He feels remorse for bestowing his American features on her “as if she had gotten from me imperfect cells that had made…a weak heart.” He believes that he has forced his foreign physical features on her as well as his emotional weaknesses. All these years since he deserted the US army in Vietnam, he has been hiding from his past, but is now faced with memories of his original home upon appearing in the newspaper. Memories are a vulnerability. Butler speaks of his encounters and assimilation into the Vietnamese culture fondly, a hope for his future. The family is the central concern. However, when he speaks of his American past, he only mentions characteristics of the landscape and environment, no human or family interactions. He fears mentally entering the “great bland jaws of that house” because he has such a heavy sense of alienation. He was unable to relate to his original family, yet he is physically incapable of fully assimilating into his new family because of the color of his skin and hair. Essentially, he is a man running from one home to another without any successful sense of belonging. So many men and women suffered from this lost sense of self as veterans returning home. Even if they came home to family that was previously unified, their self-image had been altered so significantly by the war, they were essentially a complete stranger in their own homes. The man in the wheel chair comes to mind. He left for war a man in love with a wonderful woman, but came back a man whom she could no longer love. This war had such a significant impact on the lives of so many.

Week 8 Topic (Vietnam lit)

After reading Literature of the Vietnam War and Tim O’Brien’s “How to tell a true war story”, I concluded that Vietnam literature, as O’Brien says “it’s difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen” (71) and “of course, a true war story is never about war” (85). For example, O’Brien’s story “The Dentist,” is a story about Curt Lemon. How when a dentist came to the Rocket Pocket to check the soldier’s teeth and do minor work on them. This story does not talk about the war, about who is fighting against who, it is talking about a man who is afraid to go to the dentist, about a man facing his fears, about a man trying to prove that he is not a coward and not afraid of facing the dentist at the end.
Vietnam war literature is about soldiers’ fears, experiences, and life changing moments. It is all about how living in war, not about war itself, but how living during war changes people. Vietnam war literature is about real facts mixing up with the imagination.

Week 8- Closed Topic

Tim O’Brien states in his book The Things They Carried “Above all, a true war story is never about war” (85). We hear of the gruesome effects of war, but never about the brutality of the war itself. Tim O’Brien however introduces the reader into a world of war, full of fighting and brutal battles yet not one of these battles is fought against the enemy, but in fact against themselves personally. We learn of the trials and tribulations the soldiers had to go through and the personal battles that occur to these soldiers due to the effects of the war. Yet, I do agree that the brutality of the war has a large affect on the soldiers emotional lives, I feel there is another word that sums up Vietnam literature: Love. The Things They Carried is about a troop full of young men who are in love, in love with religion, girls, writing, safety but most of all each other. It has come to my surprise that a soldier in Vietnam literature who is full of blood and danger is on the inside full of love. War stories and in specific Vietnam literature never describes the gun battles or the horrific killings that occur, but the personal pain the soldiers have to go through in order to survive. We read of Jimmy in The Things They Carried, about a young man who continuously daydreamed about his love and often forgot about the war and his troops. We learned of Dave Jensen who was unable to kill his friend Lee Strunk while he was in a dying state because of his love for Strunk. We learned of Kiowa and his love for religion and kindness. In my eyes, the underlying component of Vietnam literature is love. Love for girlfriends, religion, belongings, each other and the will to get home. Kurt Vonnegut describes the concept of war beautifully “There is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre”. I could not agree with him anymore, an author is able to glorify and make war interesting but to describe war as intelligent is impossible. How would you describe killing innocent people as intelligent? How would you describe sending soldiers into battle as intelligent? Many leaders and in fact soldiers will contradict this point and in fact say that war is intelligent, it is intelligent as it controls corrupt government, takes out communist leaders and gives there country stature and power. War is a continuous battle with no ending. A country may be victorious but the pain and nightmares that the soldiers posses will last forever.

Week 8 open topic

I honestly don't know what to think about this story anymore. After reading "How to Tell a True War Story", I was analyzing every story after it thinking about what parts of the story were true and which parts weren't. I got to the chapter called "Good Form", and O'Brien comes out and says that he pretty much made up every story. He says, "It's time to be blunt. I'm forty-three years old, true, and I'm a writer now, and a long time ago I walked through Quang Nga Province as a foot soldier. Almost everything else is invented" (179). He goes on to say that he wants us to feel what he was feeling and he wants us to "know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth" (179). I started to believe that everything in this book was the truth; after all, it was about his life, so I thought. After reading this story, though, I had to rethink these stories. I had to remind myself that this is an Intro to FICTION class, not non-fiction. Though I want to believe that these stories are real, I have to remember that this is not an autobiography. O'Brien did a good job at making me feel like he felt in his stories. I felt as if I was right there next to him in this war. That was his biggest mission of this book, and for me he succeeded. O'Brien states, "What stories can do, I guess, is make things present. I can look at things I never looked at. I can attach faces to grief and love and pity and God. I can be brave. I can make myself feel again" (180). In recreating these stories, O'Brien was able to relive Vietnam the way that he never really did. He never saw that dead man that he says he killed. He's "left with faceless responsibility and faceless grief" (180) after the war. In his stories, he can make himself brave and a good soldier as opposed to the man who was afraid to look, like he really was. In no way am I saying that O'Brien was a coward, he was just a young twenty something year old who didn't want to look at the dead. While everyone else shook hand with the dead, O'Brien didn't. "I didn't go near the body. I didn't even look at it except by accident. For the rest of the day there was that sickness inside me, but it wasn't the old man's corpse so much, it was that awesome act of greeting the dead" (226). O'Brien was uncomfortable with being friendly to the dead; he was new to the war and he had no sense of humor for these kinds of things. O'Brien did learn how to use words to make things not so bad, though. "It's easier to cope with a kicked bucket than a corpse; if it isn't human it doesn't matter much if it's dead. And so a VC nurse, fried by napalm, was a crispy critter. A Vietnamese baby, which lay nearby, was a roasted peanut. 'Just a crunchie munchie,' Rat Kiley said" (238-239). O'Brien made up stories to keep the dead alive. "The thing about a story is that you dream it as you tell it, hoping that others might then dream along with you, and in this way memory and imagination and language combine to make spritis in the head. There is an allusion of aliveness" (230). I still don't know how much of this book is true. I would like to think that there is some sort of truth in it all, but I guess the only one who will ever know is O'Brien, and of course his fellow soldiers. As for me, I feel like an idiot after reading these stories thinking they were all true.

Week 8 Topic (Open)

Wow. That was my response to the “Hearts and Minds” Documentary we watched in class. I always knew that war was gruesome, it was about killing and bombing…but I never really thought about the true reality of war. The more we read, see, and learn about war in class, the more I start absolutely hating it. I’m sorry if I offend anybody, but anybody who is pro-war…is a really sick person. As I mentioned in a previous blog, what is the difference between a criminal killing someone, and a soldier killing someone in war? Each have their own reasons for doing it, it still doesn’t make it right or good.
This documentary was one of the most shocking films, if not the most shocking, that I have every seen. It is unbelievable what goes on in war. There is one scene from the documentary that I can’t seem to get out of my head. It wasn’t any of the horrible scenes where Vietnamese were being beaten, killed, or burnt, but instead it was one specific part where the camera is filming soldiers shooting at everything in their way. The perspective of the camera makes the viewer feel like if one where right there…at least that was how it made me feel. Like if it was only a video game. I couldn’t seem to understand, and I don’t think I ever will, how soldiers can just shoot everything in their way, no mercy.
I can’t even imagine how someone who was in war can live afterwards with all of those war memories inside. I don’t really know where I was going here with this… but after seeing what the Vietnam War was like in the documentary, if Tim O’Brien is anti-war, it must have been really tough writing his book The Things They Carried, and having to re-live everything all over again. Maybe he didn’t write this book divided in stories on purpose, maybe that is the only way he could have write it. Maybe he just couldn’t bear remembering everything all at once and could only think of short moments at once.

Week 8 Assigned Topic

In the article we read, the author states, "These first-person narratives usually tell anti-heroic stories which assert the moral ambiguity of...involvement...and deflate notions of patriotism or glory sometimes associated with war". I think this best tells the definition of a true war story. A true war story isn't going to talk about the patriotism and glory of the war; it's going to talk about the day-to-day activities of the soldiers and most of the time how unsure they are about the war and the things happening in the war. This goes along with Tim O'Brien's definition when he says, "A true war story is never about war. It's about sunlight. It's about the special way that dawn spreads out on a river...It's about love and memory. It's about sorrow. It's about sisters who never write back and people who never listen" (85). Though war stories talk about war, it is not really about war. There are other aspects to the story other than the war itself. O'Brien also says that "a true war is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing the things men have always done" (68). A true war story isn't going to make war acceptable or make it unacceptable; a true war story is only going to tell the facts (from the narrator's perspective) without trying to sway the reader one way or the other. "If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie" (68-69). A true war story has no real point except to understand the narrator's feelings and perspectives of the war.

In the story "Ambush", O'Brien is talking about the man that he threw a grenade at which blew him up. Throughout the whole story, there is no moral to the story; O'Brien doesn't tell the reader whether it was justified or not to kill this man, only that he did, and he can't do anything about it. He tends to think about this boy a lot, but knows that there is nothing he can do about the past. At that time, something about him made O'Brien decide to throw the grenade. No where in the story does O'Brien justify his killing. This story was just another story that came into O'Brien's head. There was no moral and it wasn't about the actual war; it was about this kid and the whole situation of his death.

Week 8 Assigned Topic

According to O’Brien, a true war story: is never moral, is always uncomfortable, can never be believed, but makes the stomach believe (68-78). Above all, a true war story is never about war (85). All the stories told by O’Brien are glimpses into the daily life of a soldier in Vietnam while in-country and upon returning home, yet none are about actual battles within the war. The combination of the monotonous and the unexpected occurrences of Vietnam are responsible for the emotional scar these men bare to this day, therefore, when they tell their stories, they strive towards the goal of creating that experience on paper. The purpose of Vietnam literature is to elicit the same emotions and experiences the soldiers had in the mind of the reader. In order to be true to the sentiments of the soldiers, the story of Vietnam must be told in just the manner described by O’Brien. What became the mundane in the context of the war, such as ambushes in the jungle that resulted in gruesome deaths, must presented in such a commonplace manner in order to “make the stomach [of the reader] believe” that such horrific images are possible. To see a man disintegrate into tiny pieces with the help of a grenade is an unsettling spectacle no matter the circumstances, but these men were forced to experience this sight on a regular basis. Many have utilized the art of story-telling to cope with these images in attempts to find some meaning within the Vietnam War. O’Brien became famous for writing his fictitious novels a few years after the end of the war. One of the most vibrant images O’Brien creates is the “star-shaped hole” in ‘The Man I Killed’ (124). We are later told that the story is fictitious, but O’Brien continues to return to this image through several other stories. The guilt he feels as he stands in disbelief of his attack on this civilian soldier is representative of most Vietnam literature. I imagine it is a storey as uncomfortable to tell as it is to hear. The death of this soldier carries no particular meaning or moral; it is simply an example of the killing habit formed by the war. It is difficult to believe, yet through O’Brien’s detailed description of the deformed body, your stomach senses that this was entirely possible in the context of the war.

Week 8 Open Topic

Tim O’Brien spends a great deal of time rehashing the details of Kiowa’s death in the latrine. This was an event impacted many of the soldiers’ lives including Norman Bowker and Mitchell Sanders. Kiowa is depicted as a great man, a devout Christian, and loyal comrade, yet he did not die bravely in battle, but was swallowed by the soil of Vietnam in his sleep. This is another example of the new found treacheries of the Vietnam War, dangerous situations never before seen in previous wars. The countryside is so unknown, that the US troops seem to fighting the land and terrain as much as they are fighting the enemy. I can only imagine how difficult it must be on the soldiers physically and emotionally to never get a break from the war; the constant awareness of their surroundings would be exhausting. The days must have run together and seemed to never end. In “Field Trip”, O’Brien, during his return trip to Vietnam with his daughter, says, “Twenty years. A lot like yesterday, a lot like never. In a way, maybe, I’d gone under with Kiowa, and now after two decades I’d finally worked my way out” (187). Perhaps, O’Brien feels as if his soul died of mental exhaustion the night that Kiowa drowned in the sewage. The mind can only withstand so much distress, when it will finally shut off, shield itself from the unhealthy situation. Finally, upon a second visit to the site where his soul was lost, he is able to gain perspective on his involvement in the war. O’Brien does not honor us with a detailed description of his perspective, but I am inclined to believe that his swim in the muck is symbolic of a baptism. With his rebirth, he is now able to see the field for what it is, a small latrine used by the native Vietnamese, instead of the over-powering terrain that swallowed his friend and sense of self twenty years ago.

Week 7 Topic (Open)

One of the many stories from Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried that really made me think, was “How to tell a true war story”. This story is exactly about how it is named, it is about telling a true war story. He basically describes what a true war story is, he says how it is now moral, nor does it have an ending, or that a true war story has to make your stomach believe. But actually it wasn’t the whole story that made me wonder, it was just the one quote that says “And in the end, of course, a true war story is never about war” (85). How can a WAR story, not be about war at all? Its ironic…but true. All of these stories are never about war, they are all about feelings, moments, and anecdotes that someone lived in war. they are not about the good guys and the bad guys, and the reasons about war, or about the political leaders. They all are about what a soldier went through during war; they all tell a soldier's everyday life in war. I had never though about it at all, but it is true. You can see it in the entire book, in all of Tim O’Brien’s stories, they are all small recollections of moments that Tim lived, and they are not about war at all.

Week 7 Open Topic

The Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong was a particularly interesting story within Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried. At face value, the story is about a young girl who visits her boyfriend in Vietnam and progressively becomes more and more fascinated with the entire experience of the war. However, I believe the transformation of Mary Anne is also symbolic of the transformation that many of the soldiers in Vietnam underwent. She steps off the plane, wearing her pink sweater and white culottes as if she is stepping off the bus into her first day of high school (90). This is very similar to the boys going off to war; they are far from home and not ready to leave behind their safety blankets. I imagine they look just as innocent and inexperienced as she did, overwhelmed by the unfamiliarity of their current situation. However, as humans are made to do, they evolve, learn the land, learn the sounds of the war, and begin embracing the experience of fighting. Mary Anne, in particular, takes interest in her surroundings, extremely curious about every nuance of the war and the countryside. She visits the village, learns how to use the weapons, and eventually goes on an ambush with the Greenies (98). This parallels the hunger for fighting that some of the soldiers develop, even though there are those who are still very ready to go back home. These natural warriors, however, don’t seem to care why they are fighting, they have simply learned that the rules of the game are kill the enemy, no further questions asked. I believe this is the point of no return, the point at which the human soul has been so significantly transformed that it can no longer return to the normalcy of the previous lifestyle. O’Brien illustrates this concept through they breakdown of Mary Anne’s relationship with Mark. He asks her to marry him, plans to send her back home to wait for him, and then she escapes because she is not capable of recapturing her former self (103-105, 112). This is a very interesting way to present an explanation of the reasons it is so difficult for some soldiers to reintegrate into society. They are at a severe evolutionary disadvantage because they are trained to fight like machines and then expected to simply slip back into their normal lives. This is yet another example of a hardship of war. “You come over clean and you get dirty and then afterward it’s never the same” (114).