Two Sides of Being Brave

In response to the chapter, On The Rainy River in The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

Q: “...you don’t make war without knowing why” (O’Brien 40). What is the meaning of this quote considering the time and setting of this story? What does this quote tell you about the narrator?

A: This story was set during the Vietnam War and was mainly placed in Vietnam. Some background about the war is that America sent troops to Southern Vietnam to protect against Northern Vietnam to stop the spread of Communism. However, the southern people did not ask for America's help and as a matter of didn’t even want it to begin with. Men were drafted and soldiers were placed in the middle of Vietnam fighting an enemy with no description. The men in the war didn’t know who or what they were up against, but the only thing they did know was to kill the communist vietnamese. America had no connections with Vietnam. There were no treaties or connections that existed between the two countries and America was sending their men out there to die and for what? Fun? The narrator, being drafted, questioned why. He understood that there was a war, but “...the American war in Vietnam seemed to me wrong. Certain blood was being shed for uncertain reasons. I saw no unity of purpose…” (O’Brien 40). Obviously the man is educated and know politically what was going on, but it was clear that he isn’t one to fight. Because of his reluctance to join the war and see the reason for fighting, I am able to infer that he is a strong minded man, but not very stable as a person.

Q: “I would not swim away from my hometown and my country and my life. I would not be brave” (O’Brien 57). In this situation during that moment, why is running away from the war being brave versus fighting in the war? Why not?

A: Tim O’Brien was put in a very difficult situation that lead to two different lives. He had to choose between fighting a war that went against his morals, or run away from his life and be free of war. Both options being totally life changing, they both also took immense amount of courage. The two choices that he had to chose from was either death with glory or life with shame. Running away from life and starting a whole new life isn’t something that most people can easily jump into and do. Essentially, Tim would leave all that he had behind him if he ran away; his family, friends, job, future lover, and hometown. Also, if he did leave he would be seen as coward and to know that that would happen and doing so anyways requires a lot of courage.

Comfort In Deadly Distractions

In response to The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

Distraction comes with a cost. It is used for comfort or relief. Distraction takes away complete focus, leaving a person completely vulnerable. However, distraction can lead to destruction and will mislead the mind.

Tim O'Brien, the author of The Things They Carried, explains the fictional yet realistic reality of being a soldier in the Vietnam War. Each man that treks along the paddies of Vietnam carries a collection of weapons, supplies, etc. but most importantly they carry fear. The death sentence waiting to happen when in war. Each man holds the weight of death above them, fearing the brutality of war and what it could do to them. They needed a safe haven, something to keep them grounded and shield off the deathly vibes. They needed distractions.

A group of young, vulnerable men are placed in a foreign country that is a total war zone and the only thought that haunts them is death. Spending each day in an unknown world that belongs to the enemy isn’t exactly the most comforting way to spend your life, so as a result of that each soldier carries the common feeling of fear. The stories that the author has explained so far in the book has no action. There is no actual war that is present. No enemies have been named, seen, or mentioned but just knowing that there are people out there that are set to kill them keeps the men on edge and frightened. To conciliate the literal life-threatening thought of dying, each member of the team had specific objects or people to boost their confidence. For example, Lieutenant Cross had his love for a maiden named Martha as a reason to survive and Ted Lavender had marijuana to keep him calm and relaxed. Ironically though, in the fields of war, those distractions will lead them to the one thing they are using them to avoid: death.

When tensions are high and bodies are tired of constantly being on high alert, taking a little break and losing focus seems like the best option, but it’s not. Two men, so far, have died because of distractions. The war was so intense and fearing death can be tiresome so there are times where they had to be vulnerable. Like when a man survived the possibility of dying, “The men laughed. They all felt great relief. Lee Strunk made a funny ghost sound...when he went Ahhooooo, right then Ted Lavender was shot in the head on his way back from peeing” (O’Brien 12). Just simply going to the bathroom and letting his guard down for those .2 seconds killed him. The brief happiness and jokes that were being thrown around, blocking out the thought of dying, left one man vulnerable and dead. The other man was Curt Lemon. He was a man that denied the seriousness of war to distract him from its morbidity. On the field, “Lemon and Rat Kiley started goofing. They didn’t understand about the spookiness. They were giggling, playing a silly game they’d invented. There was a noise, I suppose, which must’ve been the detonator…” (O’Brien 69-70). His death was also unexpected and occurred at a point of vulnerability. He didn’t want to accept the reality of what happens to soldiers during war and his shenanigans to avoid it ended up being his downfall. In war, there was no hiding from death.

War Changed Her

In response to the chapter Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong in The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

Mary Anne Bell arrived to the Vietnam camp as “A tall, big-boned blonde...seventeen years old, fresh out of Cleveland Heights Senior High...bubbly personality, a happy smile” (O’Brien 93,95). The way that I saw Mary Anne was like an infant. She entered a place of death and war as pretty much a clean slate. Her pure soul stood out to the men in the camp, not just because the fact that she was a woman, but because she had life. Her body and mind were still alive and collected in a single entity, but after spending a while there she started to change. Her body, soul, and mind were separating and conforming to her surrounding. She ventured to places unknown and “It was nearly three weeks before she returned. But in a sense she never returned. Not entirely, not all of her” (O’Brien 105). That purity was now soiled. Her mind no longer the mind of a prissy high school girl, but now of a soldier who has experienced war. She arrived for love, but stayed for war. The relationships she had with the others changed as she started finding herself with the outsiders...the animals. She needed to be free and experience the other side; the wild side of war in Vietnam.

Her transition in becoming a whole new person could have several different meanings a reasons, but I believe it was because of needing to prove herself. The chapter Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong was solely based on a woman going to war. It wasn’t completely about the love relationship with her boyfriend, but what had become of her after her time with him in that setting. Several times while Rat Kiley was telling the story, he would make comments that, “‘She wasn’t dumb,’ he’d snap. ‘I never said that’” (O’Brien 97). His passion for Mary Anne’s strength when telling the story made it bluntly obvious that he was serious. Her transformation was not just a surprise to the soldiers but also a symbol; a symbol of humanity and innocence snapping during the war.

Soldiers head to war to defend their country and as they enter war as boy, they leave as not just a man, but a dead man. Mary Anne Bell, as explained earlier, arrived at the camp clean and pure but in the end she was gone mind, body, and all. Her character was the definition of a static character and because of her gender it presented an even greater message that even women can change. The author used Mary Anne to sort of exaggerate and physical show the change that happens to soldiers. The soldiers understood that message because “What happened to her, Rat said, was what happened to all of them. You come over clean and you get dirty and then afterward it’s never the same” (O’ Brien 114). She did get dirty and she wasn’t the same, but the difference is that she never left. The war had consumed her and her humanity, it took her body and transformed her into this amazonian-type of warrior. She was brutal, corrupt, and all together a soldier that has lost himself to war. Also, her sex broadened the idea of her being a symbol by also representing feminism. Her agreement to going to this scary place that many dread was so empowering to women. She did what the guys did, she participated in all of the activities and even more that some men not dare to do like going to “the Greenies” camp. While the men have been there for months, it only took her a couple weeks to adapt and learn the ways and master being a soldier. Tim O’Brien created the character Mary Anne and had her destroy any to all stereotypes about women.

Finally bringing in a tangible character that is a women was a very bold move by the author. The chapters prior to Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong explained the life of soldier and what they carried and really gave that sense of the men being strong and courageous. A woman named Martha was introduced in the beginning, however, she was not completely relevant or most likely real. Mary Anne Bell being a woman, I believe, doesn’t to the plot line or complete story, but it does matter as a message. For example, if Mary Anne were to be a man instead of a woman, the impact wouldn’t have been as strong. The fact that she is a female presented a message and especially during the times of the Vietnam War, women had just recently started joining war. Turns out that actually there were a good bunch of women that joined the army during those times, but mainly as nurses. Going out in the field and seeing the reality of war can be damaging to a person and Mary Anne had the urge to experience that lifestyle, to experience Vietnam.

Vietnam was a ground for war. Bombs, ammunition, and death covered the trails and there was no room for distractions. The war, in this chapter, was like a paranormal entity that will consume those that have entered. The smells, sights, and dangers that this war presented could have easily changed a person that has come straight from civilization. Based off of the changes that Mary Anne had went through, it proves that the war had power. The war had the capability to disintegrate any shred of humanity left in a person. It had the capability to destroy the love that the couple shared for such a long time. Within weeks, the war was able to change her.

Sonny's Blues Essay

Taylor Santos

Frenzel

Earth

Elements of Sonny

The jazz age gave birth to several songwriters and poets who created stories told through the notes and stanzas of the oppressed. Langston Hughes writes, “The Negro with the trumpet at his lips has dark moons of weariness beneath his eyes where the smoldering memory of slave ships blazed to the crack of whips about thighs” in his poem Trumpet Player. The language he used and connections that were made with the player and the instrument

The use of any type of figurative language in a story shapes the scene to be more complex and detailed. James Baldwin, the author of Sonny’s Blues,  uses  flashbacks to explain the background of the characters to really add to the scene and give it depth. Sonny’s Blues is about..

Sonny was captured by addiction and trapped in jail for a solid portion of his life, and after being taken out of such dark place, he found solace in playing the piano. Sonny hadn’t played for a while and his band family was able to guide him back.

Sonny’s character is continuously built off of from the very beginning when he is mentioned, till the climactic ending with his playing of the piano. Going to jail and being separated from his only family took an immense toll on him. Coming back from such a depressing moment in his life, surely he has changed in some ways. When Sonny plays piano with the jazz band, he was able to show his older brother who he truly is. However, it didn’t come easy to Sonny to come out in such a way musically considering the situation. Baldwin used a lot of hyperboles in this specific scene to explain feelings in a tangible way? One of Sonny’s good friends/bandmate “wanted Sonny to leave the shoreline and strike out for the deep water...deep water and drowning were not the same thing”. The author uses the idea that staying on the shoreline is being safe and not completely letting go. Sonny needed to release the person inside that has been trapped and hidden from his brother. From the context and mood of the story, the relationship between the Narrator and Sonny has an unnaturally large gap.

Inner Jazz Band

Two completely different sounds

One beat the same as the other

A heart plays a constant tempo

Thump, thump, thump, thump

Sounding like war drums, as if it were war

The battle has yet to be won

The music is flowing,

Coursing through my dark veins

Sing what you feel

Express your expressions

Be amused by my internal band

See past my eyes

Look through that external layer

Don’t let my color blind you

Within each color there is a story to tell

White is clean and pure

Dirt never to touch or soil its radiance

Red is blood, dripping thickly

Down the skin those that have suffered

Black is dark, an endless pit

Engulfed in the shadows created by light

Go through each story, see what’s been done

Move your feet blistered and bleeding

Dance to your inner metronome

To the doo-wops and trumpets blaring

The sounds of women crying, people suffering

Act as if nothing happened

Shake hands with the hands of the abuser

The hands that have caused pain and fear

Sing with your mouth that has shouted

Yelled with pain and exhaustion

But take one night to push it aside

To live the dream

Play the part of the privileged

Just for a night

With your inner jazz band playing that lovely tune