FinalProject 4

I am finished presenting! Woo hoo! I know that I spoke quickly, but I think it went relatively well. So, now I just need to write the essay. Lucky for me, the paper is going to be based on the same information that was in my presentation. So, all I really have to do is type up all of that information and convert it into paragraph form. After I do that, I plan on adding a nice sprinkling of quotes from the books that I read. During the presentation, I was pressed for time. However, now I will be able to go more into detail with my examples for each avenue. For example, I said that O'Brien wrote about courage, but I didn't get to give all of the examples that I collected. In my essay, I will be able to make use of all of these.

FinalProject 3

Ok, considering that I am presenting Wednesday and this entire weekend will be spent at Relay for Life, it's about time I get to work on the actual presentation. That said, I have finished reading my books and designing my plan for the presentation/paper.

Topic: Tim O’Brien’s involvement in the Vietnam War has shaped his writing career.

I already typed up and submitted my plans for the essay and presentation so I won't bother wasting a blog retyping all that. Instead I'm going to use this space to discuss what I will be putting into the actual presentation/what I'll be saying.

Slide 1: Early Life

-Born October 1^st, 1946 in Austin, Minnesota

(setting which figures prominently in his novels)

- Moved to Worthington, Minnesota, which had a large influence on O’Brien’s imagination and early development as an author

- The town is located on Lake Okabena and serves as the setting for some of his stories, especially those in “The Things They Carried”

- He earned his BA in Political Science for Macalester College in 1968.

Slide 2: Involvement in the War

- That August, he was drafted into the Army and sent to Vietnam

- Seriously considered going to Canada (topic which would appear in many of his books)

- Served from 1968 to 1970 in 3rd Platoon, A Co., 5th Batt. 46th Inf., as an infantry sergeant.

- He served in the Americal Division (division that contained the unit involved in the infamous My Lai Massacre) (referred to as "Pinkville" by the U.S. forces)

- Awarded the Purple Heart for a wound he received from shrapnel from a hand grenade

Slide 3: At War

- During his Vietnam tour, O'Brien began jotting down stories about the war at least in part to cope with it. He says that had he not gone to Vietnam he might not have become a writer.

Slide 4: After the War

- Upon completing his tour of duty, O'Brien went on to graduate school at Harvard University and received an internship at the Washington Post

- His writing career was launched in 1973 with the release of “If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home”

- About his war experiences. In this memoir, O'Brien writes: "Can the foot soldier teach anything important about war, merely for having been there? I think not. He can tell war stories."

Slide 5: If I Die in a Combat Zone

... that's as far as I've gotten!

FinalProject 2

I finished reading "If I Die in a Combat Zone..." and really liked it. It reminded me of the first book I read of his, "The Things They Carried". Through O'Brien's writing, it's clear that he's a well educated college graduate. He sounds very literate and constantly makes references to other books and authors (not easy books either- he mentions ancient Greek philosophers).

Some other quotes/ important pages from this book:

138: Johansen is brave and a real life hero for O'Brien and the men.

"He was like Vere, Bogie... by a hero's standard."

"Like my fictional prewar... book or movie reel"

"But losing him was like the Trojans losing Hector. He gave some amount of reason to fight."

139: "So captain... we clung to him."

139: "The idea is manliness... try to find a hero."

141: Hemingway says, "Grace under pressure, that's how to recognize a brave man." O'Brien disagrees with this.

That's all I have from the first book. I started reading my second book, "Northern Lights", but I got about thirty pages in and wasn't sure if it was in line with my final project idea, so I switched to "Going After Cacciato". "Northern Lights" is about a brother who returned from Vietnam and how this affects his relationship with his brother. "Going After Cacciato" is about a soldier in Vietnam who goes AWOL. The rest of his unit pursues him. To be completely honest, the two books that fit the best for my topic are "If I Die in a Combat Zone..." and "The Things They Carried". However, I realize that I have to have a different book, other than the one we read in class, so I'm going to make the switch to "Cacciato" because at least this book actually takes place in Vietnam.

By the way, my project idea is: Tim O'Brien's experiences in the Vietnam War have had a lasting impact on his writing (something like that).

FinalProject 1

So, I have been reading Tim O'Brien's If I Die in a Combat Zone Box Me Up and Ship Me Home. I'm on page 139 of 199. So far it reminds me strongly of the first book I read by O'Brien, The Things We Carried. Both novels are centered around soldiers and their involvement in the Vietnam War. He writes with a specific style, where the chapters are not always linear. Each chapter is relatively short and tells it's own story, sometimes completely independent of the chapters preceding and following it. In both stories, O'Brien mentions a large lake in the middle of the town that a character finds themselves driving around, thinking about the war. Each book also makes note of the fact that the character O'Brien is considering running to Canada to escape the draft. In both cases, O'Brien ends up going to war because of the embarrassment tied with not going. Ezra Pound's poem, "Hugh Selwyn Mauberly", reflects this sentiment nicely. (On page 21 it says the line, "We said the words, and we were soldiers,". I only mention this quote because my movie choice is "We Were Soldier".)

Stuff that might help for when I write my final paper on Vietnam:

Pg. 48: lists the typical weapons for American foot soldiers fighting in Vietnam

Pg. 54: O'Brien discusses human value and the difference between good and bad. "I believe human life is very valuable... the suspect bravery of the mind."

Pg. 56: O'Brien is having a 'debate' with the military's chaplain about the morality of the war. "This war was conceived in man's intellect..."

Pg. 67: O'Brien discusses arriving in Vietnam, "Arriving in Vietnam as a foot soldier... Vietnam into your lungs."

Pg. 76-77: Examples of how the soldiers impersonalize the war/people by using nicknames instead of real names and terms such as 'waste a man' not 'kill a man'.

Pg. 83-84: Soldiers discuss not wanting to get lost or die at night. They talk about the importance of the men in front and behind you. (2 paragraphs) "The man to the front and the man to the rear... You alone are his torch."

Pg. 93: "I neither hated the man nor wanted him dead, but I feared him... I fired."

Pg. 131-133: O'Brien talks about what real courage is and relates it to a dialogue called Laches. "Courage is nothing to laugh at... in spite of fear - wisely."

Pg. 135: O'Brien discusses Plato's take on courage, "For courage, according to Plato... is wisdom and nothing else."

My Room 101

What would be in my room 101? In the book 1984, Winston is terrified of rats and views them as behemoths. This makes his worst nightmare an easy thing to realize. But, I don't have any fears or anathemas like that. I know people who are afraid of heights and needles. I have friends with arachnophobia and ornithophobia. But me? In order for someone to accost me severely enough to make me turn on my loved ones and accept Big Brother they'd have to be able to invoke this same kind of fear. So, how? Even more, if they did think of something to terrorize me with, who would they want me to betray? My family? I really don't have any idea how The Party would break me.

Even if they did find a way to torment me and force me to turn on my loved ones, would I really give up and accept Big Brother in my life the way Winston did? I mean, Winston wasn't even a person by the time he left. He was a mindless drone with no thoughts of his own; he was nothing. Is it really that easy to break a person?

(This is completely unrelated but I just wanted to mention somewhere that every time I think of the title of the book, 1984, I think of the song "1985" and immediately start singing.)

Orwell vs. Scorsese

In Book 3, chapter 2, (pg 247) O'Brien is trying to convince Winston that he has a memory problem and that he keeps remembering things that didn't happen. He continuously tells Winston that his brain is messing things up and causing him to 'mis'remember what really happened. For example, O'Brien asks Winston who he believes Oceania is at war with. To this Winston replies, "Eastasia... I remember that until only a week before I was arrested, we were not at war with Eastasia at all. We were in alliance with them. The war was against Eurasia." But this is 'false', Oceania has 'always' been at war with Eastasia.

This whole crazy mind warp parallels almost exactly with a scene from the movie 'Shutter Island'. ------ I am giving you a warning right now that what I'm about to say will give away the ending and most likely ruin the entire film for you ------- In 'Shutter Island', the protagonist, played by Leonardo Dicaprio, is a cop who travel to Shutter Island, where a mental institution is situated. He starts to go slightly crazy and thinks that everyone there is trying to convince him that he has lost his mind and indict him of being a patient. In reality he is a patient!!!!

This quote holds true for both Winston and Leo: "You have to humble yourself before you can become sane." Both individuals are wary and cynical of what they're being told, which makes it all the harder for them to change their minds and accept the 'truth'. Their beliefs in their own strength makes them develop scruples about giving in to what they're told.

For Winston it was necessary that he stop believing in his strength as an individual and the power of his memory. He needed to realize that Big Brother is paramount and that The Party is always right, has always been right, and will continue to always be right. He needs to eradicate all memories he 'thinks' he has that may disprove this.

For Leo, he needed to realize that he is no longer a great cop looking for the truth, that he is a murderer and a patient at a mental ward who has been living in a life full of delusion. This is extremely hard for him to do because as a cop he doesn't want to lose his sang-froid and be proven a credulous fool.

If you've seen the movie then my connections will probably make more sense to you. OR my connections may be shear folly because I came home and read this passage immediately after having seen the movie SO I probably was on a Leo-induced one-track mind type of thought process.

(If that did spoil the ending for you then I'm sorry, but the movie wasn't really all that great to begin with so don't feel too bad.)

The Olympics

No one had to cajole me into watching the opening ceremony for the olympics when they were held in Beijing, but the Vancouver one... eh, that took a bit of convincing to make it to the end. The baroque performance put on by the Chinese was so incredible that I couldn't look away. After watching I just didn't feel satiated. It's not that the performers weren't talented, it was just well, kind of boring. I don't want to sound supercilious - I don't believe that I could have created anything better. However, I was not crazy about the circ du soliel act they seemed to be putting on. What's more, some of their affects appeared maladroit; they left one person without a torch to light!

Ok, now that I've finished acting like a malcontent individual, I think it would have been difficult for anyone to follow up the act done in Beijing. The performers all did their best just as I'm sure the musicians, technicians, choreographers, and composers did. I'm babbling. I don't even know what I'm talking about. It's too late for me to focus on a vocab blog!!!!

Hakuna Matata

In a quixotic world I’d be able to write all of my schoolwork about 'The Lion King'. I feel ebullient everytime I even think of Simba and the gang crossing over that log bridge. Some people would disparage this movie as merely being a cartoon for little children, but it’s taught me more than most people. It’s nearly impossible for me to appraise 'The Lion King', and I'm well aware that many individuals would deprecate the value I’d assess it as being worth. While it's true that I sometimes pop in this vivacious film with such zest that I second guess my maturity level, I wouldn't be the person I am today without the wise words of a meerkat and his warthog companion. Im practically a dossier of all Lion King-related knowledge and I would consider hakuna matata to be a colloquial term at this point in my vocabulary. The life lessons taught in this movie are in no way cryptic; they express to viewers the importance of responsibility and honor. I would prescribe this movie to anyone looking for a good time, a good story, and a good life lesson. Always remember, the greatest adventure is finding your place in the circle of life.

Gangs of NY

So Monday night... homework or Gangs of New York? Guess what won. If you said homework, well then you are delusional. If you said Gangs, well then DING DING DING we have a winner! Now usually I would agree that my work should come first, but I waived that standard Monday and let me just say, what a choice! I'm not sure if you've seen it or not but spoiler alert, this blog is going to give some of its glory away. The movie starts off with two different gangs (the natives and the dead rabbits) calling duress to one another in their own argot. The leader of the natives, The Butcher believes in only 'true' Americans and therefore hates the Irish immigrant's gang, the dead rabbits, led by The Priest, Vallin. As the two gangs meet each other in the streets, The Butcher derides The Priest's culture. Naturally The Priest hectors The Butcher and it seems the only way to redress the scuffle is for an all out brawl. Those responsible for creating this movie did nothing to censor the amount of realistic gore evident in this scene. But the riled up crowd of dead rabbits grew saturnine as they watched The Butcher kill The Priest. No one took this harder than The Priest's young son, Amsterdam Vallin. The Butcher took Amsterdam and sent him away to this Christian boarding school. Fifteen years later, Amsterdam returns to his hometown with the plan to ruse The Butcher into trusting him and then kill him, not only avenging his father, but also usurping The Butcher's power as well. The Butcher is always committing invidious acts and to kill him would exorcise the town of his evil ambience. I don't want to give away the ending, so you'll just have to watch and see what happens!

Calm Down Edward Scissor Hands

I understand that Augusten felt that there was a stigma against him because he was gay, but that fact that he was living with a psychologist must have been helpful. The description Augusten gives of the Doctor's home creates a nice supplement to the details of Dr. Finch's personality and gives the reader a deeper insight into the mind of this complex character. While I believe it was impossible for Dr. Finch to absolve all of Augusten's issues, he certainly could circumvent quite well. His unique style of parenting and general honesty/openness with not only his children, but Augusten as well, led to an openminded household and environment for Burroughs to grow up in. While I may find his tactics to be a bit amorphous and even odd, I cannot deny his skills as a powerful, guiding light in Augusten's life.

I'm not sure why I entitled this blog post the way I did, but I love Johnny Depp and the fact that he was in a movie with 'scissors' in the title (so naturally he managed to seep into my blog).

Running With Scissors

This memoir is about the life of Augusten Burroughs and describes how his childhood years transpired. I'm only about a quarter of the way into the book, but so far the part that I found to be the most salient was the caricature Augusten paints of the Finch home. Augusten viewed doctors as individuals possessing a great deal of cachet. He therefore always pictured that their houses would be ethereal and vogue. Instead, Augusten was forced to abrogate this imprimatur and accept that doctors too can live in squalor. The funny thing is that after a while he came to find their home alluring all the same.

I suppose the crux of the story so far is supposed to be that Augusten is gay, but for some reason the description of the Finch's house elicits more empathy in me. I think this is because I have a family friend who lives in a house similar to the Finch's. It's not like my friend is living under the nadir, she just keeps a much less tidy home than my family. I feel like Augusten whenever I make the sortie over to my friend's house. I don't want to sit on their couch because it might be sticky and I'm certain that all of their silverware is loaded with spots. If I were Augusten I'd be more concerned with the roaches than I would be with my sexual preferences.