"As I Lay Dying"- Content 1

In this post I will discus Vardaman's fish and how he relates it to his mother.

Throughout the first 84 pages, Vardaman tries to connect the fish that his father makes him clean and his mother's death. Vardaman seems to be a young boy who had never expierence death before, and the sudden loss of his mother has left him unable to cope. He knows and accepts that the fish is dead, and he knows but does not accept that his mother is dead, but I think that when he tries to process the fact that his mother is dead and accept it, all he can think of is how the fish is dead and his mother is not a fish. His relation of the fish to his mother leads him on a confusing journey of what is real and what is not and why God would take his mother so far away if he can invent such wonderful things as a train. I think that Faulkner makes Vardaman's reaction to his mother's death so strong in order to convey the extreme emotions that grief can take a person through, particuarly someone who has never expierenced death. I think that Faulkner chooses a fish, something so common that is gross when dead, but beautiful while alive because that is sort of what death does to his mother- it takes something beautiful and turns it into something inhuman, something that isn't what it once was in Vardaman's eyes. Vardaman also goes through many of the most important stages of grief over his mother's death with the fish: denial- he runs out of his mother's room and passes the spot where he cleaned the fish, questioning- asking why God made the fish just go into the pan when it died and took his mother so far away, discussing it on page 70 with Vernon in terms of the fish's death because Vernon could relate to Vardaman -- "'You was there. You seen it laying there... You seen the mark in the dirt", and finally acceptance on page 84, "My mother is a fish." All of the comparisons that make Vardaman seem crazy with grief resulted in his acceptance of it because he combined his two encounters with death into one that makes his mother's death not seem so terrible because she is now something different and beautiful that he could see again whenever he sees a fish. 

"As I Lay Dying" - Style 1

In Cash's chapter after he finishes the coffin,  Faulkner's style completely changes from prose with South-Eastern syntax and diction and mostly their person point of view to numbered lists divided by sentence and is framed by first person. 

The purpose of this change in style is to emphasize how Cash deals with his grief, similarly to the slight changes as each character narrates their grief over Annie's death. Cash seems to be very logical,and spends all his time working on his mother's coffin, so Faulkner conveys this aspect of Cash by making his chapter like an instruction manual of his reasoning as well has how to build a coffin correctly. This chapter's style also represents Cash's calmness as everyone else in his family transforms with their grief.  As the list goes on, the sentences being to form into couplets, as if he is writing down his thoughts and they branch off of each other. An example of this is scentences 6 and 7, which together seem to be one thought, but are broken up for emphasis. 

One thing that confuses me stylistically about this chapter is the purpose of the numbers, other than to create the feeling of an instruction manual. However, it seems that the numbers correlate to every scentence in the chapter, but numbers three and four have two scentences each. I think that the idea of the couplets later in the chapter, combined with these two sections of sentence pairs supports the idea that each number represents a thought in Cash's logical, calm, carpentry-centered brain as he finishes his mother's coffin.

"The Things They Carried"- question 3

In the chapter, "Good Form", why does Tim O'Brien admit that the entire book was made up, a "work of fiction"? How does this admission and then the following examples of made up stories that seem true help his purpose of exploring what is true and what is illusion?

I think that these questions are important in terms of the whole book because answering this question would help define the purpose of the book, which up until this chapter has been mostly stories that seemed true despite the warning of it being a work of fiction on the title page. If this question was answered, it might reveal that Tim O'Brien had a purpose intended for this book. He could have written it for the purpose of explaining how people accept things as true that feel true to them and what they know about the Vietnam War, which is a similar concept to the purpose of exploring the concepts of truth and story. These questions help to nail down the focus of the purpose of the book and Tim O'Brien's truthful seeming fiction.

"The Things They Carreid"- Tim and the man he killed

In this post I will be discussing a possible reason that Tim O'Brien portrayed the young man that he killed as almost identical to himself (other than the fact that it might be true in this fictional collection of memories).

As far as I have read in the book (through "Speaking of Courage"), Tim has only killed one Vietnamese soldier. The young man that he killed, and his injuries, are described with some of the most graphic imagery in the novel thus far. I think that they way Tim O'Brien described the man, first in terms of his injuries, then in terms of his life, and then finally in terms of his motives for being in the war. Obviously, Tim (the character) never knew this man before, so all of his analysis is based upon his body and speculation. I think that Tim O'Brien (the author) used his vivid memories and Kiowa's comments designed to make him feel better, to get him out of his state of shock and horror to heart when writing this story. Tim O'Brien portrays the man that he killed as an almost-exact copy of himself in the Vietcong army. He pictures this young man to be someone who thought that the war was wrong too, who wished the Americans could go away just as Tim wishes he could go home, who had an intellectual brain and lots of promise and plans for continuing his education, who had fallen in love and had a happy life that was spoiled by his obedience to tradition and honor and Tim's instinctive throw. The similarities between Tim and his victim are uncanny, even down to the reasons for joining a war they did not support -- fear of disappointing their families because they didn't have the courage to desire to go to war with a dangerous foe. Tim O'Brien uses his image of the man that he killed and the person he had been before the grenade to demonstrate why Tim was in such a state after he saw the carnage of what he had done, and why even his friend Kiowa's comments could not break him out of his trance. Tim knew that the man was human, but until he saw the man's body I don't think it had fully registered what he had done and how possibly similar that man could have been to himself. It is empathy in the most extreme sense. Kiowa tries to console Tim by telling him that it could have been him (Tim) lying on the ground rather than that man had their places been reversed. But Tim also realizes that this man's death was avoidable, if his instinct had not controlled his body as if he were only a computer programmed to kill, this man could have lived, or at least not died at Tim's hand, the man who is arguably so similar to him. Tim O'Brien uses his imaginations about the man that he killed almost as a symbol of his death because he killed another man. He makes the man so similar to himself, or his characterized self, that it is as if he has killed who he was and he is staring at what he was and could have been if he had not thrown that grenade and become like so many others in Alpha Company.

"The Things They Carried" - question 2

In "How to Tell a True War Story", Tim O'Brien tells what he says to be true story about how to tell a true war story using his own for examples. The longest war story that he tells is about his friend Rat who wrote a letter to his best friend's sister after he (Curt Lemon) died.  What is the purpose of conveying the idea that Curt Lemon probably thought he was killed by sunshine and not by a booby trap?

A possible answer to this question would be that this idea is a metaphor. Sunlight represents happiness and/or youthful bliss/innocence as a contrast to the darkness and gloom of the war. Rat and Lemon are the only ones who exhibit a youthful demeanor, a carefree outlook on the world that fades for most people with time and exposure to harsh reality. They play chicken with smoke grenades when they break during marches, a reckless but mostly harmless game of displays of masculinity, while everyone else relaxes. They are playing in the gloomy woods where there isn't any sunlight, but as soon as Lemon steps out of the shade of the trees into the sunlight so that he could face the camp, his life violently ends. The patch of sunlight, the only seemingly comfortable place in the area where they are, is in reality the most lethal. The sunlight almost counters its qualities of symbolism by acting as a spotlight to death, a false sense of security or comfort that leads to death.
Tim O'Brien probably speculates that Lemon thought that the sunshine killed him because it is probably true in a metaphorical sense; Lemon and Rat thought of the war as  "a nature walk", and seemed to think that they were untouchable (66). By emphasizing that Lemon thought he was killed by sunshine could also mean that he thought that he was killed by his own confidence or appearance of confidence and carefree attitude. He was killed by his "sunshine", the thing that kept him sane as a nineteen year old fighting in a war millions of miles away. The war was almost a booby trap in itself, with the draft entrapping any able-bodied young man over 18 into the deadly and hated war.  By keeping their carefree and youthful perspectives alive – their “sunshine”, Rat and Lemon kept the darkness and the nightmares of war and death at bay, just as the older men had letters and other articles of home to keep them sane. Just as Jimmy Cross was blinded by his "sunshine" (Martha) and Ted Lavender died; Lemon was blinded by his and it cost him his life.

"The Things They Carried"- question 1

In the fourth story in Tim O'Brien's collection of short stories, "On the Rainy River", readers learn of O'Brien's deepest, darkest, secret: he attempted to go to Canada to escape the draft, but didn't do it out of cowardice.

After reading the first four stories in this fictional auto-biography, I have some lingering questions. One of which is why does Tim O'Brien feel that Elroy Berdahl saved his life when he seemingly did nothing at all?

A possible answer is one that Tim O'Brien suggests quite often throughout this story; that Elroy saves him by doing ordinary tasks/activities with him that make him think about what he is doing and if he can really live with his choice. To me, Elroy is a representation of God, some other divine being ( I know how that sounds with Jimmy Cross representing a Christ motif), or Tim's conscience, because of how he seems to know all of the conflicts Tim is facing without actually asking any questions of him. He saves him with this knowledge and how he treats him accordingly. Perhaps Tim isn't the first almost draft-cutter that Elroy has encountered, thus he knows what people like Tim need -- time to be alone with themselves, away from the pressures, and a little indirect guidance to help him decide which path to take. The very end of the story (the fishing trip and Tim's departure) helps solidify the idea that Elroy represents God or some other divine being, almost more than just being a very empathetic, observant, conscious-like old man. In this scene Tim realizes that Elroy purposely takes him into Canadian waters to test him -- to allow him the time and space to make his final decision, with the prospect of escape only twenty yards away. However, Elroy only speaks when he realizes that Tim has chosen (probably because he is crying). "'Ain't biting'" are the only words he says in this scene, as if to say that the fish (drafted young men) are resisting the bait of Canada and exile, and more are continuing to swim along and live life as they had before (to some extent); just as Tim just had just done. (57) The next morning, Elroy is gone before Tim departs -- as if he never existed; as if his task was complete so he could move on to the next young man in trouble, like a guardian angel. That is how I think that Elroy saves Tim by seeming to really do nothing at all -- the distant relationship, the silence, the uncanny understanding of his plight, and the gentle tests all help Tim to realize that he is making a mistake by trying to do the courageous thing, and so does the ironically cowardly thing and joins the war.

Unnacustomed Earth- Short Story 1

Rereading the story, "Unaccustomed Earth", really helped me understand the conflicts between the characters that I only understood in terms of plot, and not as much in terms of literary meaning the first time. 

One lingering question that I still have about this story is why Ruma and her mother were considered "allies" when they argued so much, where as Ruma and her father had never had a conflict until the end of this story, but were as distant as if they had an irreconcilable difference? 

It is possible that, although they argued frequently and were so different, Ruma felt much more "open" and "allied" with her mother rather than her father because she felt that her father was judging her because he was trying to be the traditional father/husband of their culture, as well as assimilate into American culture, and provide for his family. Ruma's mother was home all the time, and so that is who Ruma talked to, and as a result, argued with.