The Things They Carried

 

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When I saw the book cover, I knew the story was talking about the war. I expected the story was serious and depressing. After I read the first episode "The Things They Carried", I realized that my guess was wrong.
Jimmy was talking about what every body carried. he said they all carried different things, when they went on the mission. It was interesting how these things expressed people's character. Jimmy carried Martha's photographs and her letter. I can feel how much he loves her but same times he is impatient with his situation. Martha was far away and he can't do anything with her. That's why he said "I loved her but I hated her."
It was interesting to read that there were two stories. one described a mission that was serious and heavy. It talked about all kinds of weapons which is I really couldn't understand. Also how heavy they were to carry. the other one described how much Jimmy loved Martha and cared about the girl. But I thought his love was twisted in his mind. This mixture of the war & love story was interesting.
When Ted Lavender died, he should have been sad and grieved but because there was Martha in his mind, he didn't. I think his mind was still in New Jersey and it wasn't there. That's why he couldn't accept the reality.
By the end of this episode, he changed. he tried to forget his girl, Martha and accept reality and concentrate with what he is doing and what he should do.
I think that he described not only what they're carrying as in material, he was also trying to describe what they were carrying as in different kinds of feelings, such as love, nostalgia, sadness, happiness, and longing.
It was interesting to read this story. it was more than I expected.

Here is about Tim O'Brien  http://www.bookreporter.com/authors/au-obrien-tim.asp        

Responding to a poem - Blog Post

　　　 The first one I chose "compendium of lost objects". by Nicole Cooley. There are three reasons I chose this poem (1) She uses many nouns as lost objects. Like, "Not the butterfly wing, the semiprecious stones, the shade of mirror" (Line 1-2), (2) She uses some colors in the poem. "or the pink- shuttered house on the streetcar line where you were married" (Line 9-10). (3) She uses simple words and simple sentences. I know that simple doesn't always easy to understand, but it was easy to read and easy to form an image in my brain with colors.

Also, i thought this was an interesting poem because of how she expresses herself despite the sad content. I just can't wait to analyze this poem.

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http://www.forpoetry.com/Archive/nicole_cooley.htm

  

The second one is "Song of Napalm for my wife" by Bruce Weigl. I chose this poem because I really didn't like it, because it's a long poem. I thought this one going to be a good challenge for me. After I read this poem, it's long but looks like short story more than a poem. Another reason  I chose this poem was because he wrote this poem for his wife. I wondered, why this poem started with a scene of a storm. in the middle of this poem, I thought this poem was a love letter for his wife. But if I'm right, i found out that his wife died and he wrote this poem because he missed her. Also he wrote about the war. I really couldn't understand this poem, so it going to be a difficult

one. Overall, I thought, this poem was sad, but same times it's beautiful and deep.

 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/bruce-weigl   

After I read Sam Hamill's essay

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       After I read his essay, to be honest I really didn't like the topic. I know, it is reality and we have to know and we have to accept. But one thing, I did like reading about other people's experiences. So I enjoyed reading his essay and at the same time it made me think about so many problems we have in our world

       He said that "The battered child will grow into the child batterer" (Sam Hamill, "The necessity to speak"). I agree with him and most people repeat from generation to generation. But I don't think that all people become child batterers. Some people who battered a child realize that battering is not a good thing to do to other people. This is a famous story : When Hitler was little, he was a batterer child, too. He become a atrocious human being.

       He said, "The man who slips off his belt to spank his naughty child is about to commit felony assault" (Sam Hamil). I think, something is wrong with people these days. We need to perceive to know differences between abuse and nurturing. We can't spank our children? Even they do something really bad? I think, if adults overprotect children, they will not respect people(adults or teachers), they think they can do anything they want even it's wrong.

       We need to speak up, but it is not easy to do for some people. So, I think that it's wonderful thing that he is helping people to express their feeling with writing. Sometimes, when children have problem in their house, they can't speak up but they're trying to express their feeling with picture.

       I never experienced either abuse or domestic violence. So, i can't understand 100%, how they feel exactly but I can imagine that it must be a horrible thing. I hope we can teach our children about reality and violence. I hope someday, we can live in a world without violence. 

Here is more information about Sam Hamill   http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/sam-hamill