Reading reponse to The Things They Carried so far- Nicole Miller

1) So far, the story that has meant the most to me so far would have to be the story when Mark Fossie's girlfriend came over to Vietnam. When Mary Ann Bell came over from Cleveland, she was very girly and sweet, but was intrigued by the war. A couple weeks of staying there and everything changed. She began working with the boys, learning how to shoot guns, clean them, and she would help when wounded soldiers came in to be fixed up. She became more and more involved in everything, and when Mark suggested she go home because he was starting to get worried about her, she left. I like this passage a lot because it shows you just how easily the war can change you . Mary Ann went from a girly girl, to a girl who went off by herself killing anything she could, and wearing a necklace of tongues. It also changed the couples relationship. The war can do some crazy things to people, and this was just one example.

2) A character I connect with would have to be Henry Dobbins. He seems to be very straight forward. When Azar was making fun of the girl that was dancing while her family was burning in the village they sat on fire, Dobbins picked him up and asked if he wanted to be dumped in a well. I like to let people know when I don't like what they're doing, or when they upset me. Something I admire about Dobbins is that he wears his girlfriends stockings around his never everyday and sleeps with them every night. On page 112 Tim talks about how Dobbins isn't ashamed of it at all, and the stockings seem to give him some protective power. I think that the stockings give him motivation and hope to get out of the war alive.

3) "Sometimes I forgive myself, other times I don't. In the ordinary hours of life I try not to dwell on it, but now and then, when I'm reading a newspaper or just sitting alone in a room, I'll look up and see the young man step out of the morning fog. I'll watch him walk toward me, his shoulders slightly stooped, his head coked to the side, and they'll pass within a few yards of me and suddenly smile at some secret thought and then continue the trail to where it bends back into the fog. (128) I like this passage because while other people celebrate killing other people, Tim is upset by it. He remembers everything that happens, and he's torn about how to feel. Tim was still bale to feel, he didn't go numb or try to ignore the pain.Tim didn't let the war change him, and I think that is what is most important.