Exploration 6
Dixon Shapiro
The story that meant the most to me in The Things They Carried so far was "Friends," because it really focused on the promises that we keep, and the moral dilemma of it. For example, this story talks about how Dave Jensen and Lee Strunk made a promise that if one person became crippled, the other would find a way to give him a quick death. However, when Lee Strunk lost his leg, he begged Jensen to not kill him, and Jensen said okay. After that, Strunk died on the way to the hospital, and Jensen looked like he was relieved of a great burden. This story went directly to heart of how promises can be the greatest burden one could have.
The character I connect with best in the book so far is Tim O'Brien, for a couple of reasons. One reason is that he was really sensitive to how the people around him look at him. He can't stand being embarrassed at all, and this is just like me; I am very conscientious of how people see me, and I can't stand it if people take notice of me in a negative way.
In my active reading, I have noticed that the book contained a lot of sensory details, and all of them were extremely well written. In the book, Tim O'Brien does a really good job of captivating the reader and making them believe that they are a part of the story, that the sensory details O'Brien is describing is our own.
The passage where the writing struck me, and where it really meant something to me, was on page 20-21: "They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die... Rather, they were too frightened to be cowards." This whole paragraph made a great impact on me, because this is where I first learned that some soldiers were more afraid of being embarrassed, more afraid of looking like a coward and a weakling, than dying a bloody death in a war. These soldiers weren't looking for glory or valor. they just wanted to "avoid the blush of dishonor."
Very nicely put Dixon. Much like a child who doesn't want to be embarrassed by a parent dropping them off, a soldier wanting to "avoid the blush of dishonor" I think every one has the drive not to feel painted in a bad light. I agree with you that promises are sometimes the hardest things to carry.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the statement about promises being the greatest burden one can have. I always catch myself making promises that are hard to keep, but feeling obligated to keep to keep them and follow through with them. I've learned to not make promises unless I 100% know I can keep them.
ReplyDeleteI can relate on how you connect to Tim. We all have our insecurities and definitely embarrassment is one of my biggest ones.
ReplyDelete