The Things They Carried Log #1, Chapter 1, 08/19/15 Before reading this book, I had already formed my own biased opinion. War stories I can not help but find either completely and utterly boring, or excessively graphic. Not to say that I am not appreciative of what the men and women go through for the freedom of this country, I just prefer a different style of books. However, even with only reading the first chapter, my attention has been grabbed. I am getting the impression that this is not your typical war story. The way Tim O’Brien describes the things that the soldiers are carrying is enjoying, this gives the reader enough to form somewhat of a personality for each character. Interestingly, the soldiers physical baggage, seem to represent
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He shifts the novel from being in combat to years after the war, which is fascinating because O’Brien writes “Stories are for joining the past to the future.” (O’Brien, 36). I trust he means this in the “past mistakes give us knowledge to lead a better future” sense. However, that passage explains the writing style of this novel. The way he connects more recent events with his past of war supports the quote, I just thought that was interesting.
War is immensely destructive, both physically and mentally. More often than not, the emotional toll is much greater. It would take a lot to convince someone the people they are killing, sometimes even families, are not people. They dehumanize the enemy as much as possible, which is precisely the same thing Hitler did encourage the massacre of 11 million people. O’Brien writes that Norman Bowker and Henry Dobbins played checkers every evening before dark, everyone came to watch and it was peaceful. I am sure that is because it reminded them of home, just being anywhere that was not in the middle of a
He shifts the novel from being in combat to years after the war, which is fascinating because O’Brien writes “Stories are for joining the past to the future.” (O’Brien, 36). I trust he means this in the “past mistakes give us knowledge to lead a better future” sense. However, that passage explains the writing style of this novel. The way he connects more recent events with his past of war supports the quote, I just thought that was interesting.
War is immensely destructive, both physically and mentally. More often than not, the emotional toll is much greater. It would take a lot to convince someone the people they are killing, sometimes even families, are not people. They dehumanize the enemy as much as possible, which is precisely the same thing Hitler did encourage the massacre of 11 million people. O’Brien writes that Norman Bowker and Henry Dobbins played checkers every evening before dark, everyone came to watch and it was peaceful. I am sure that is because it reminded them of home, just being anywhere that was not in the middle of a