Big Think Interview #2

So it turns out the O'Brien can not remember 99% of life, day to day events that happen to him. Only the important stuff stands out. O'Brien calls them snapshots. Out of these snapshots come a lot of stories and imagination. So most of his war stories are made up of stuff that mimic combat memories. A few of them he actually experienced. He also writes stories that help him vent and express feelings. He also tries to reinvent a person and their last thoughts. Making up parts of stories helps shed some light on the past. Can also help O'Brien and others move on when they shed light on things.

O'Brien likes to think he save hope for the people in his stories. And I would agree, he is giving them hope and a story that will last for generations.

Psychology

"Psychology-that was one thing I knew. You don't try to scare people in broad daylight. You wait. Because the darkness squeezes you inside yourself, you get cut off from the outside world, the imagination take over. That's basic psychology." pg. 195

That's horrible. I would hate to be cut from the world and then be left up to my imagination. Imagination is a scary thing. Sometimes you start to think your imagination is reality. Thats when things can go really wrong. The soldiers must have had a lot of strength and will power. Some did give into their imagination like Rat.

Above it

"The draft notice arrived on June 17,1968....My mother and father were having lunch out in the kitchen. I remember opening up the letter, scanning the first few lines, feeling blood go thick behind my eyes...      I was too good for this war. Too smart, too compassionate, too everything. It couldn't happen. I was above it." pg. 39

O'Brien is a little selfish. He puts himself above all the others who are in war and going to war. Sure he was smart, but someone had to go. The last line "I was above it," is terrible. I know O'Brien ended up going to war, but no one should think they are above anyone else.

Dreams

"But this is true: stories can save us. I'm forty-three years old, and even still, right here, I keep dreaming Linda alive. And Ted Lavender, too, and Kiowa, and Curt Lemon, and a slim young man I killed, and an old man sprawled beside a pigpen, and several other whose bodies I once lifted and dumped into a truck. They're all dead. But in a story, which is a kind of dreaming, the dead sometimes smile and sit up and return to the world." pg. 213

I loved this paragraph (I know it's a lot). Dreaming back the dead sounds kind of silly, but really its a remembrance thing. If you did not care about the person sure you would be sad when they died but you would not dream about them. O'Brien misses the past. He misses the experiences he had with his friends that died. He probably even misses all the little things that made each person special. Being in a war I bet O'Brien got used to losing people. I mean it happen almost everyday. But with each death you try to ease the pain. Some made jokes others toasted. O'Brien just respected their bodies and dreamed.

Linda

"She's dead," he said. "My mom told me at lunch-time. No lie, she actually kicked the goading bucket." pg. 224

A nine year-old girl, Linda died from a brain tumor. She was a sweet girl. As I read, I inferred her death, but I denied it. Hoping for a chance for her to live. I guess we all want people to live. Death sucks. I remember when my great grandma died I was young, but I still remember.

Rat

"The next morning he shot himself." pg. 212

When I read this I totally thought Rat had just killed himself. I almost put down the book and walked away. How could a funny story telling guy go crazy and end up committing suicide? Well I kept reading and realized he did not kill himself, thank god. Rat had shot himself in the foot. This was a thing scared soldiers did so they could get out of war with an injury. It made me sad the Rat had lost himself so much that he would succumb to shooting his foot.

Revenge

"There," I whispered. "Now you know."

I could read his mind. I was there with him. Together we understood what terror was: you're not human anymore....

"Enough," I said.

"Oh, sure."

"Seriously." pg.201

O'Brien got his comeback. He made Jorgenson feel what he felt. Azar wanted to keep the trick going but O'Brien was done. He never did get Azar to end it sooner. By the end he felt a lot of guilt and said he was sorry. Him and Jorgenson made up and even joked about the whole scare.

I thought this was interesting even though I am not a person who goes out and gets revenge. I like how they were friends in the end.

Big Think Interview #1

I was surprised when Tim O'Brien said that he gets surprised when he reads his own book. He fells like he divorced his book and that it isn't his anymore. He is a stranger to his book. One reason he feels this is because he is twenty years older then when he wrote The Things They Carried. He is know full of new experiences and events that affected his view on life. In a sense he is a different man.

O'Brien has a whole new view on life now. He has a family of his own. He is a father and views the world through a fatherly perspective.

Star-Shaped Hole

"His jaw was in his throat. His eye was shut, the other eye was a star-shaped hole. I killed him." pg. 172

 "His jaw was in his throat, his upper lip and teeth were gone, his one eye was shut, his other eye was a star-shaped hole..." pg.118

This is a very important symbol. It is also mentioned more then once in the book and with great detail. The star-shaped hole the glorification (the star shape) of war, and yet the horrifying gruesomeness of the situation.

Luck

"Don't throw away luck on little stuff. Save it up." pg. 187

Azar said this when he was talking to Mitchell Sanders along with a group of soldiers. Azar was explaining how Morty would go out and go skinny dipping in the dark alone. This was really unsafe because of the enemy was nearby and their could be diseases in the water. One day Morty ended up with a disease. Really bad disease, many thought it was polio or elephant disease. Morty died soon after.

People should take safe risks. Take risks that does not risk your life doing stupid stuff. Rather risk your life saving a friend in battle then going skinny dipping alone in the dark.

Feel

"But listen. Even that story is made up.

I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening truth." pg. 171

Sometimes a story does not have to be true to get the point across. O'Brien wants us feel what he is going through. Most of the time stories need to be exaggerated a bit for readers to get the big picture. Also everybody can experience the same thing and be affected differently.

Silver Star

"The Silver Star?" his father might have said.

 "Yes, but I didn't get it. Almost, but not quite." And his father would have nodded, knowing full well that many brave men do not win medals for their bravery, and that others win medals for doing nothing. pg 135

I liked this. Very true statement. We need to make sure we thank veterans for serving our country. It would be impossible to give everyone a medal. Not every brave man gets a medal. Not every hero acknowledged. Knowing this it make me kinda sad. We need to thanks soldiers wherever and whenever we see them.

Tooth Ache

"The dentist couldn't find any problem, but Lemon kept insisting, so the man finally shrugged and shot in the Novocain and yanked out a perfectly good tooth. There was some pain, no doubt, but in the morning Curt Lemon was all smiles." pg.84

It took Lemon a lot of courage to get his tooth pull. He faced his fear of the dentist and he overcame it. I think every one needs to stand up to there fears. Once Lemon over came his fear of the dentist he was able to move on with life and worry about more important things. We need to be like Lemon and face our fears.

Dancing Girl

"There was no music. Most of the hamlet had burned down, including her house, which was now smoke, and the girl danced with her eyes half closed, her feet bare... Later we found her family in the house. They were dead and badly burned." pg. 129

I would not be able to dance if my family was just burned in the very house I lived. I would cry my eyes out. Cry so hard. How could she dance? Let alone not cry? Maybe dancing is how she coped with the pain. Hopefully she had relatives or friends she could go stay with. I wish war would not kill civilians. Sometimes I wish war would not happen at all, but that would not happen.

Listen

"The moral, I mean. Nobody listens. Nobody hears nothin'. Like that fatass colonel. The politicians, all the civilian types. Your girlfriend . My girlfriend. Everybody's sweet little virgin girlfriend. What they need is to go out on LP. The vapors, man. Trees and rocks- you got to listen to your enemy." pg.73

People need to listen. They just can't choice what they want to hear. People can't be selfish in life. It is no fun to have a friend that only talks about himself all the time.

Questions

"What would you do?

Would you jump? Would you feel pity for yourself? Would you think about your family and your childhood and your dreams and all you're leaving behind? Would it hurt? Would it feel like dying? Would you cry, as I did?" pg. 54

This made me think. What would I have done in his situation? I probably would not have jumped. I would have gone to war because I would not be able to live with the guilt if I didn't. I would end up living in fear, fear of everyone. Always thinking the worst.

I'm glad O'Brien decided not to jump because then all the stories in The Things They Carried wouldn't be here for us to read.

Stories

"And sometimes remembering will lead to a story, which makes it forever. That's what stories are for. Stories are for join gin the past to the future. Stories are for those late hours in the night when you can't remember how you got from where you were to where you are. Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story." pg. 36

I really liked O' Brien's discretion of the reason for stories. I love stories sometimes more then the truth. Stories can take you places you want to go. They help you leave and escape the world we live in.

Don't Mention it

"Brave and handsome, all that stuff. Best platoon leader ever." He hesitated for a second. "And do me a favor. Don't mention anything about-" "No," I said, "I won't." pg. 29

I thought this was really ironic because while reading the book you learn that Jimmy feels like it is his fault that Lavender died. Jimmy blamed himself for his death because he was off day dreaming about Martha.

Although this make me wonder if there is something else we do not know about Jimmy. What did he truly mean? Could it be about Martha or the war? Do you think he meant Lavenders death? What do you think?

Win, Lose, Rain check

"You win some, you lose some, said Mitchell Sanders, and sometimes you settle for a rain check. " pg. 10

Sanders said this after Lee Struck drew the number 17, the number of the person to check the caves. Although this phrase is true about everything not just being unlucky. Your not going to win every time. Someone has to lose. Thats fact. Although you can always look forward to the rain check with a chance to redeem yourself.

Ghosts

"They all carried ghosts." pg. 9

This really stuck out to me. How could soldiers be carrying ghosts? Then it hit me. Every soldier carriers the lose of friends and fellow comrades. But there is more. Ghosts also refers to the things the soldiers actually carried from letters, pantyhose to M&M's. All the soldiers held onto things from their past, their life before the war. Most of these ghosts were the comfort the soldiers needed to get through everyday.