Friday, October 10, 2014
TTTC-How to write a TRUE war story
Find a quote or passage from this chapter that resonates with you. Write out the quote and page number. Respond as to why this particular quote moved, disturbed, or provoked you into thinking deeper into the subject. Click on the comment button below and begin your response.
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"Listen to Rat: "Jesus Christ, man, I write this beautiful fuckin' letter, I slave over it, and what happens? The dumb Cooze never writes back."(P69) provoked me into thinking deeper about it because, imagine how many times this must have happened to other people? How many times as a human wrote to another human, copying their soul into words and writing it down on to a piece, or however many, of paper and never got a reply. That person who sent that letter out could've died waiting, thinking their friends letter will arrive soon, but it never did. It could be happening right now. It's very sad but it's just something that happens.
ReplyDelete"But you got to promise me. Swear it to me-swear you won't kill me."
ReplyDeleteI feel sad about this because he's dying and before they made a promise that if one of them get badly injured the other would kill him. How could you bring your self to kill you friend even though you made promise then make another promise not to kill them? Even though you didn't kill him, you still would feel sad because you are losing a god friend who is in battle with you and has your back, makes somethings feel like they are not as bad as they are.
War is hell, but that's not half of it, because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love. War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling; war is drudgery. War makes you a man; war makes you dead. this makes me think of my brother who just joined the marines and also the hell he was walking into.
ReplyDelete"In other cases you can't tell a true war story. Sometimes it's just beyond telling." I believe this does not only relate to me, but to everyone. Everybody has a story. Maybe it's a story that is always on the top of their head, or maybe it's a story that they have buried so deep down in their thoughts that they "don't remember it" but the point is, everyone has a story that they can't find the words to say. Yeah it's not always a war story but it's a story of their own battles.
ReplyDeleteFrom The things They Carried on page 70, fifth paragraph "Sharp grey eyes, lean and narrow-waisted, and when he died it was almost beautiful, the way the sun light came around him and lifted him up and sucked him high into a tree full of moss and vines and white blossoms." This quote gives me unearthly chills because they way he hides the hideousness of the death and that you must re-read it a couple of times to fully uncover the disguise that was shown as beauty. But maybe he was not trying to cover up it at all. Some times death can be seen as something as great as living, many beliefs have thought that death was better then living a life of suffering and agony. Or maybe he cant describe it because the man was still only a boy, Right? It still puzzles me on what Tim was really trying to say in that message.
ReplyDelete"In a true war story, if there's moral at all, it's like the thread that makes the cloth. You can't tease it out. You can't extract the meaning without unraveling the deeper meaning. And in the end,really, there's nothing much to say about a true war story, expect maybe 'oh.'"
ReplyDeleteThis particular quote is about finding the moral in a war story, but it also is about how if the moral is hidden, its hidden for a reason. By picking apart the stories, you're ruining the story. Most war story morals arent happy ones, and they should stay hidden for a reason.
"A true war story is never moral." This quote really moved me through the realism it expressed since most hollywood war movies always try to have a happy ending even though that isn't necessarily true especially for the soldiers who survive. The quote manages to say the truth in a short melancholy like phrase.
ReplyDeletepg.68
ReplyDelete"if a story seems moral, do not believe it. If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie.(pg.68-69). This quote made me think because it seems like he is telling you that if someone is telling you that they came out a good person at the end of a war story it is a lie because it seems like he is saying that no matter what you do in the war it wont make you a better person.
ReplyDelete"In many cases a true war story cannot be believed. If you believe it, be skeptical. It's a question of credibility. Often the crazy stuff is true and the normal stuff isn't, because the normal stuff is necessary to make you believe the truly incredible craziness."
ReplyDeleteThen what is a true war story? I've obviously never fought in a war, and I don't have any relatives who have fought in a war, so I don't know any war stories. What's "normal" and "crazy" about all wars? Does the craziness happen in the middle of battle when they don't know what's going on? Or does the craziness come after soldiers realized what has happened? How is a true war story supposed to make you feel? This quote only got me to ask questions.
'I glanced behind me and watched Lemon step from the shade and into the bright sunlight. His face was suddenly brown and shining. A handsome kid, really. Sharp gray eyes, lean and narrow-waisted,and when he died it was almost beautiful, the way the sunlight came around him and lifted him up and sucked him high into the tree full of moss and vines and white blossoms."(70) It invoked me to think of how someone could have watched some one die a horrible way and get there mind to see something this beautiful. I mean I have seen people die and i have never once thought of it as something beautiful. I think that was his way of copping with the pain of losing someone close to you and waking up the next day and feeling the emptiness of that person not being there and how they go from becoming part of your life to being a memory that you cling to just so you don't forget them as a person.
ReplyDelete"Serious spooky. You just go with the vapors-the fog sort of takes you in... And the sounds, man. The sounds carry forever. You hear stuff nobody should ever hear."(pg.72)
ReplyDeleteThis is what I feel being in a war would be like. The things people in a war hear must haunt their dreams for a long time. In a way I feel that this quote shows that. It could apply to the rush of battle taking you in, a sort of haze over your thoughts, the only thing that matters being the actions of those around you. Surrounded by the deafening sounds of gunfire and bombs, eyes and nose assaulted by gun smoke. It must be horrifying.
"If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie." This quote stuck out to me because it shows the style of Tim O'Brien of how he writes. O'Brien demonstrates that he will give you the truth no matter how cruel or brutal it will be or how it effects you. Or maybe this is just how he wants the reader to perceive it.
ReplyDelete"In any war story, but especially a true one, it's difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen." on page 71 paragraph 1. It made me think more about what he said because is he saying like you can tell a story about war and make it seem real when it's not or saying when you tell a story about war that it can be hard to tell what happened or saying what you thought happened? I think it can be way different from knowing what happened and telling the story then telling a story and then telling it when you seem to think of something else when you're telling it.
ReplyDelete