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."