Tim O'Brien Response

“On the Rainy River” was my favorite story out of the three short stories. I feel like this story was one of the most important moments in O’Brien’s life. This story shows the significance of how hard Tim’s decision to start and join the army or running away to Canada was. Tim had the choice to stay and fight for a war that he strongly disagreed with, or run to Canada and disgrace his whole family. Tim didn’t feel like he belonged in war, he had a full ride scholarship to Harvard and potential to be something great. Running away from the war was the only thing worst then the war. Tim wants to make himself happy, but also his family, but how can he do both? He must choose, and I feel he made the right choice by staying and excepting the fact he was being drafted. I understand what Tim is feeling; no one wants to be forced into a war, especially not one they disagree with. I think disgracing your whole family and town is far worse than going to fight for county though. Tim was smart and could have taken a million different paths in life, but this one choose him and running from it would just make his life worse then he thinks the war could have made it. Staying those six days with Elroy was the best thing he could have done. It was like the road lead him straight to whom he didn’t to be with. Even without words or full knowledge of the situation, Elroy helped Tim more than anyone could have. In the story it seems like Tim never even gave consideration to what going into the army could do for him. The army could have made him a better person, a stronger person then he could have done on his own. The army could have opened doors he wouldn’t have even dreamed of, obviously because now look, he’s a famous author because of his stories about the war and his life. I believe that he made the right choose in staying and redeeming his conscience for his own personal being. In the end he probably made himself and family very proud.





I found this neat little website with quotes, books, events, and all kinds of stuff on it, and Tim O'Brien has quit a few nice ones. Check it out. :)

http://www.goodreads.com/search/search?q=tim+o%27brien&search[source]=goodreads&search_type=quotes&tab=quotes

The Sand Storm By: Sean Huze

The writing of Sean Huze made me feel a lot of different emotions. The story came from so many different people’s point of view and each person made me feel different things. I have a very close friend in Iraq right now, and to hear these stories that could of could not be happening to him makes me feel sad, worried, curios, and so much more. The story is very honest, the only feelings they seem to hold back are their emotional ones towards each other. Throughout the entire story soldiers told us about their memories and feelings. Some of the stories were hard to read, hearing about their joy of killing people and the lack of remorse. Some of the soldiers actually enjoyed killing the people over there, and not just the bad people but civilian women and children too. It’s understandable to want to kill the people that are trying to killing you, and accidently kill civilians along the way, but to enjoy it seems cold hearted. It hurts knowing that the people you know and love leave this country human and become something awful over there. From what the soldiers in the story explain it doesn’t seem like we treat them well enough at all. They shouldn’t have to run out of water or worry about food and medical supplies. They are fighting for our country and we can’t even make sure they are well taken care of? That doesn’t seem right at all. This story should make anyone feel for our soldiers overseas whether they agree with the war or not. I am not a fan of the war, nor is anyone, but I support our troops and their decisions to bravely fight for our country. Our country needs someone to fight for it and all the men and women out there fighting should be highly respected. This story opens your eyes to real dirty details of what our soldiers go through. The soldiers in Huze’s story tell every detail of their memories without holding back. They curse and tell the awful things they’ve done and about all the people they’ve lost. All the emotions of these soldiers filled my heart and made me feel what they were feeling. All the pain when they lost a friend, the anxiety of battle, the warming sensation of getting mail from home, and the comfort from the small community in Baghdad. This play was written very well, it is a very powerful and truthful. I enjoyed reading about the memories of these brave soldiers, even if some of the stories were harder to read than others.



I found a interesting little site with some poetry about Iraq, check it out.
http://www.angelfire.com/wa/warpoetry/Iraq.html

Responding to a Poem

The Woman Hanging from the Thirteenth Floor Window, by Joy Harjo was one of the poems that really jumped out at me. Since the first time I read it till now it has been stuck in my head. I think this poem was a way for Joy Harjo to speak out to women, and address issues in every woman’s life. The woman hanging from the thirteenth floor is every woman, and every woman’s desire to break away from her problems. The woman on the thirteenth floor wants away, maybe by death. She has kids, a mother, a father, and two ex husbands that tie her to this world. She wants to feel comfort and needed, the way a mother feels holding her new born child. This women seems to feel alone and miserable. But, like in every woman’s life she doesn’t jump away from reality. This woman picks herself back up and looks at the beauty in life hoping for a better tomorrow, as do all of us. This poem spoke to me. The first time I read this poem I liked it, but I didn’t feel any resemblance to it, now I do. We all have our good and bad times, and when you have your bad times you must pick yourself back up and try to make things better. This poem may seem like a story of a woman with no better intensions than to kill herself, but then restrains herself because of her three children, but to me its not. I find a far deeper purpose. This poem should speak to anyone who as felt close to the edge and turned back on hopes of making a better tomorrow.



The second poem I really enjoyed was Song of Napalm, by Bruce Weigl. It took quite a few times of reading for me to understand this poem, but I still have mixed theories. At first I thought this was maybe a soldier writing this poem about war flashbacks. I viewed this soldier as a good man who didn’t want to hurt anyone, someone who felt the pain of his decisions every day. Then I had the theory that he wasn’t a soldier but a victim of the war, maybe a villager. Seeing how Bruce dedicated this poem to his wife I feel like it had to have been a true story of some importance. Seeing how it is for his wife I don’t see how it would be of any importance if he was a soldier having flashbacks. That is how I got the theory of him being a part of the village and witnessing his wife’s death. I like this poem for the simple reason that it is good. It is written very well and it grabs my attention right away. I like the figurative speech and the way he gets you to see what he is saying. Either of my theories could be right or wrong, but I feel like they are both good. I know I could probably look it up and see what happened in his life but I’m afraid that might ruin my views, that I already like so much, of the poem.



All Pictures are from photobucket.com.
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/

"The Necessity to Speak" Sam Hamill

In Hamill’s narrative it states “a true poet is often faced with the difficult task of telling people what they already know and do not want to hear”. People know that there is abuse and violence going on every second of every day, but does anyone do anything about it? Because everyone is silent, no one knows. No one knows how to feel emotions and when they do feel emotions they do not know what to do with them. Because everyone is silent the world goes on to be violent. We grow up hearing the horror stories and watching the movies, but does anyone teach us what to do about it in real life? How to feel about it when it happens to your best friend? What if it happens to you? Do you know who to go to, or how to feel? The information about the real world shouldn’t be a secret, or unspoken. It is real, and everyone a should know of it. Just because you can’t change the world doesn’t mean you can’t change a life, even your own life.
I think Hamill wants to get the point across that poets write about everyday life good or bad, weather you want to hear it or not. Poets speak the truth threw their own eyes, experiences, and beliefs. He states that he is not the “I” in the poem; anyone can be the “I”. You can perceive yourself as the “I”, or the author or the little girl down the street. Hamill relates to “Poetry of Witness” poems because, weather those poems are about the authors or not they get you to think about what is going on in the world and put yourself as the “I”. When you read those poems you have sympathy, gilt, discomfort, maybe regret. Hamill wants us to feel those things and relate to poetry, take it in and learn from it. It is necessary to speak and to know. Hamill teaches us through his poetry.

Here is a link to a short poem found and want to share with you.
http://www.poetseers.org/themes/poems_on_violence/



Video from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2lZsmrFT4g