Chapter/Story #22-The Lives of the Dead

The affect of stories on Tim O' Brien is amazing. They can make the dead come alive again for him. I think stories would have a bigger affect on everyone if they read this book because not everyone views stories in this way. They provide us with the power of memory and the power to relive moments. Almost everybody misses their childhood and stories can help us go back and reminisce about those moments. Its crazy how the guys in the platoon had the ability to have a sense of humor and shake a corpses hand. This is a good way to approach death in a war and it shows their coping abilities. Humans have to adapt to different situations and that may cause some to do whatever it takes. I found O' Brien's love for Linda amusing and he does say a true statement about how elders always dismiss love between younger people. Certain people may not look at Linda and O' Brien's connection as love but love is different for everybody. Its amazing how his stories of her can take him back to when he was nine years old. I hope my memory is that good when I get older. I did not know that Linda would eventually die at such a young age, its a sad story. But I'm sure her death made O' Brien's memories of her more strong and significant. O' Brien's stories are fuel that motivate him to keep living and he makes them more special because he records them in this book. Almost every story seemed true to me as I was reading this book but that may be because I got the emotions out of all the stories. I really did enjoy reading this book and I'm glad it showed a different point of view of war. I kind of didn't belive you, Clary, when you said this book wasn't your typical book about war. It makes me appreciate stories and the struggles that soldiers experience in war more.

Chapter/Story #21-Night Life

Its amazing how the war drove Rat Kiley so crazy but its also understandable. His thoughts seemed liked they could've never been thought of, its hard to explain them. The "night life" seemed like it was scary because a lot of humans already have this big fear of the dark so its hard to imagine operating at night time every night with no sense of direction and mostly silence amongst the soldiers. War is capable of driving your mind into an insane state. I can't imagine thinking the way that Rat Kiley did. This book is helping me understand the difficulties soldiers face in war but its not hard to understand how they're dealing with it because they're forced to. Anyone would find a way to cope with it if they don't want to die. The land of Vietnam even forces Rat Kiley to think that the bugs are after him which is incredible. That whole piece of land was considered the enemy. Its like Kiley could already see his death coming, he already pictured the corpses of people who were alive. That's insane.

Chapter/Story #20-The Ghost Soldiers

This story really shows the kindheartedness in Tim O' Brien and how he is really not meant for war. When him and Azar try to mess around with Jorgenson, O' Brien tells Azar to stop after a certain point and is horrified on behalf of Jorgenson. I think Azar did take it too far, and so did O' Brien. When he got shot and Jorgenson tried to heal him, he was brand new. I know O' Brien was facing death but he should eventually learn that brand new people in the military make mistakes all the time. I'm sure O' Brien made a mistake when he first came in the war. I found the scene when O' Brien talks about his gunshot wound disgusting, the imagery actually brung the scene to life unfortunately. I found the following statement true: "the presence of death and danger has a way of bringing you fully awake". This statement was stated earlier in the book but worded differently. Its easy for me to understand this somehow even though I haven't had any personal experiences that relate to it. It kind of reminds me of that cliche "you never know what you have until its gone". Humans fail to realize how precious their lives are everyday but I bet they'll quickly realize when they're facing death. The part where O' Brien describes the nature of Vietnam really brings the scene to life and it made me think of how scary it would be to fight on such a land. I couldn't imagine it. It seemed like it would've kind of fun to be in Tim O' Brien and Azar's positions when they were messing with Jorgenson because they said they felt like the VC and the land of Vietnam. I'm sure the VC felt like they had a certain control over their enemies because of their war tactics. I could tell that Tim O' Brien was deeply hurt when he realized he was not apart of the brotherhood with Dave Jensen, Mitchell Sanders, Norman Bowker, and Azar. The war forced them to become close and work together. The ending scene just goes to show you how most of O' Briens former "brothers" view him now: Azar states that O' Brien is the "sorriest fuckin' case I ever seen" and kicks him in the head. I know that had to hurt O' Brien physically and mentally. He has lost that connection with the former brotherhood.

Chapters/Stories # 18 & 19-"Good Form" & "Field Trip"

In the story "Good Form", I agree with O' Brien when he says his invention of these stories is not a game but it's a form. It is a good form like the name of the chapter. O' Brien emphasizes the power of memory and storytelling so well. It gives me a new point of view on stories. It is amazing that the story-truth is sometimes truer than the happening-truth and how it make the happening-truth appear so vividly. The story-truth brings O' Brien's past experiences back to memory. He is brilliant for using his storytelling ability to reveal the truth, I don't think anyone else would think of that. When my friends and I tell stories, I focus on the truth and I call them out for lying about something. O' Brien makes me appreciate the story-truth and helps me understand his experiences of the Vietnam War. Stories can make things present and that's the amazing part about it if you really think about it. I think a lot of people fail to realize that, including me until I started reading this book. The stories in this book help Tim O' Brien face fears that he was scared to face twenty years ago.

The story "Field Trip" emphasizes the power of the "shit field" again. Who would have ever thought it would have so much power? O' Brien said he felt like it had swallowed his best friend, his pride, his small dignity and courage, basically his old self. Now that he goes back to visit, he feels as if he is finally his old self again and that the field has been holding him back for so long. He says that the "shit field" embodies all the waste that was Vietnam and that's what I was thinking in one of the earlier stories. It's crazy that O' Brien didn't feel like the war was over until this day that he visited the field. Maybe he felt like he had finally recovered, like his feelings had finally got untied from the war. But those memories will always be present. I think that Tim O' Brien felt he had to swim in the field because he was so deeply connected with it. His daughter Kathleen is too young to understand and it is clear to see that she doesn't value memory yet. I'm sure O' Brien can teach her how to though. I didn't really know what to make out of the old farmer and Tim O' Brien's staring at each other. I think there is some tension between the old farmer and O' Brien because of the Vietnam war and now that O' Brien feels that the war is over, so does the old farmer which is why he holds his shovel up like a flag.

Chapter/Story #17: In The Field

I found this story very interesting. It captured my attention. It helped me realize the significance of the shit field and how it represented the chaos of the war. When O' Brien refers to Kiowa's death, he refers to Kiowa being caught up in the field and the war. The experience in that field was horrifying just like the war. I understood the fact that everyone felt guilty for the death of Kiowa because it had a serious affect on all the men. I respected the fact that they felt the need to find his body because it would have been messed up for them to leave him there. I can't imagine viewing Kiowa's dead body, I know it wasn't a good sight. In the beginning of the story, O' Brien says: "The rain was the war and you had to fight the war". This is a true statement because no matter if you wanted to be involved in the war or not, if you were there you had to deal with it or die. It is a struggle for survival. This whole book reveals that in different ways. It presents difficulties, like if Lieutenant Cross actually has to write Kiowa's dad and explain how good of a boy his son was and his death. I'm sure that's something that nobody would want to have the duty of doing. I think Lieutenant Cross shouldn't be blamed for the death of Kiowa because he had no idea that field would end up taking a life. I don't think that the younger boy should be blamed either. Like O' Brien said: "it was one of those freak things, and the war was full of freaks". That sentence explains a lot. The series of sentences where O' Brien comes up with all these reasons you could blame for a man dying emphasizes the fact that they could come up with a million reasons for a man's death but at the end of the day, they have to deal with the war. The field was powerful because any moment of carelessness or bad judgment carried consequences that could last forever. Just like the war. 

Chapter/Story #15: Notes

This story further emphasizes how Norman Bowker struggled to find meaning in his post-war life. That is probably the reason that led to his decision to hang himself. Bowker states that he feels like he sank down into the sewage with Kiowa and this reveals that he does feel some guilt about letting Kiowa's boot go. I felt like he was contradicting himself when he talks about war veterans crying and whining because it seemed like he was doing the same exact thing but I can understand why. Writing helped Tim O' Brien cope with the transition from peace to war without him knowing so at first. His ability to link some of these made up stories with true experiences is incredible. That's hard to do. He explains his technique behind it: "You start sometimes with an incident that truly happened...and you carry it forward by inventing incidents that did not in fact occur but that nonetheless help to clarify and explain". I might have to start using this technique in the future. I found it ironic that Bowker hanged himself eight months after writing O' Brien stating that his story was not terrible but he left out Vietnam and the shit in the field. That story may have added to the misery of his life. I think he would be proud of the revised story, I know I enjoyed it. Also, I found it interesting that the experience of Norman Bowker and the death of Kiowa in the shit field is actually Tim O' Brien's. A reader definitely would be able to tell unless he told them. I didn't know until the end of this blog.

Chapter/Story #14: Speaking of Courage

There is definitely some repetition present in this story. Norman Bowker repeatedly drives around the lake and O' Brien repeatedly summarizes the scenery: "the man in the stalled motorboat still fiddled with his engine",  and "the two little boys were still trudging along on their seven-mile hike". I didn't get tired of hearing the same thing and I think it helped emphasize meaning. The repetition makes me think of how Bowker's life has been boring and somewhat stalled which is why he rides around the lake 8 times. It sounded so boring while I was reading it. I know the transition from war to normal life is probably a hard one and one that all soldiers have to get used to. In class today, we talked about how some soldiers can't make that transition and are forced to go back to war, well in their minds. I think it's crazy how you can go into war regretting the decision but when you come back home, you have this strong connection and feel the need to go back. I don't know whether to believe that the platoon was actually in a "shit field". I know I can't imagine actually being in that predicament. The death of Kiowa sounded horrifying and I wonder if Bowker felt any guilt for letting go of his boot. I found it interesting that O' Brien kept on referring to Bowker's words as "he would've said" but I guess that is because he was found dead. Bowker seemed to live a lonely post-war life and I felt bad for him because nobody wanted to listen to his war story that he wanted to tell so bad. I think he jumped in the lake at the end to bring back memories of the "shit field". He probably misses the times of the war but I'm sure he doesn't want to reflect on Kiowa's death. This book presents a whole new outlook on stories for me. I appreciate them more and realize how powerful some of them can be.