Please choose one of the following prompts and post a response. You do not need to retype the question(s) or state which prompt you have chosen. These things will be obvious to us as we read. Also, you don't have to answer the prompt exactly. The prompts are meant to help you, not constrict you. If you want to go your own way, that's fine (as long as it's well-done). You can either write an original post or post a comment to someone else's post (with the exception of this one; don't comment on the prompts). Just make sure you meet the minimum length requirements. Finally, please think about, and come prepared to discuss, all of the prompts, even the ones you do not choose to write about. This will make our class discussions more rewarding.
1. On page 11, near the top, we read, “Imagination was a killer.” What do you think O’Brien means by this?
2. Pick out three things that you think are symbols, and explain what you think they are symbols of/for.
3. At the top of page 25, after Jimmy Cross burns the letters from Martha, we read this sentence: “He understood.” What does Jimmy Cross understand at this point? Interpret this sentence.
4. Why do you think Kiowa needs to keep telling the story of Lavender’s death? Is there something significant about the way he tells it?
5. Discuss O’Brien’s use of repetition. What images or incidents are told more than once? What effect does this have on you as you read? Why do you think O’Brien does this?
6. When we get to “Love” on page 27, there is a distinct shift in the point of view of the narrative. Discuss what it is that changes at this point and the effect those changes have on you as a reader.
7. On page 32, O’Brien writes, “as I write about these things, the remembering is turned into a kind of rehappening,” and on page 36, he writes, “What sticks to memory, often, are those little fragments that have no beginning and no end.” How does O’Brien try to capture the way memory works with his writing? Point out some of the specific things he does.
8. Interpret page 38.
Thanks. Make sure to get your responses up before Thursday's class.
-Daniel
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In reading the first 38 pages of "The Things They Carried" one of the most brilliant literary devices that stuck out to me was the authors use of repetition. In the first chapter "The Things They Carried" most every new paragraph or idea begins or ends with some form of the phrase 'the things they carried'. It then goes on to list not only the physical things that are carried but the emotional burdens that are carried as well.
ReplyDeleteAnother repetition that is used is 'Ted Lavender, who was scared'. This sets up Lavenders character especially when the author later talks about how all the men are afraid, afraid of being cowards so the common knowledge that Ted Lavender was scared becomes significant especially with his tranquilizers and his death.
Jimmy Cross's loved for Martha is mentioned many times because its something he carries and later comes in to tie in with Lavender's death. Her virginity is mentioned nearly every time she is. Perhaps this is significant because Jimmy loves her to such an extreme love and wished her to be as innocent and mysterious as he believes her. His love for her and her lack of love back is a recurring motif as a thing he carries.
Reading the story of Lavender and the way Kiowa reacted made me have a flash-back moment.
ReplyDeleteAbout three months ago I had a very dear friend pass away. He wasn't hit by a car, he didn't die of cancer, he didn't die in action, he had made the decision to take his own life. My reaction was very similar to that of Kiowa; I was absolutely shocked. "He tried not to think about Ted Lavender, but then he was thinking how fast it was, no drama, down and dead, and how it was hard to feel anything except surprise."(pg 18) Similar to Kiowa, I wasn't expecting anything, and then one day I got a phone call saying that this friend had passed on. I was without any emotions for a long time. All that kept running through my head was, "Nathan's dead."
Later I thought about why I reacted the way I reacted. Why had I felt numb instead grief, instead of mourning? Why had I had what I thought an abnormal reaction? A thought crossed my mind that answered my questions for me: his death made death real to me.
That sounds almost crazy, but how often do we think of death? Of dying? Of ourselves dying? I think why Lavender's death really hit Kiowa was because it made his own death very real and very possible. People don't generally think of dying; they hear about it everyday, but it isn't a reality until it's forced upon someone, until someone really tastes it.
Kiowa didn't really think about life as a real, tangible thing until he watched Lavender's life taken suddenly without warning doing something we do everyday. It was a real wake up call to Kiowa that anybody can die at any moment and without warning.