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).