Chapters/Stories #10-14: Stockings-Style

I looked up a lot of words on my dictionary app on my iPod while reading Stockings. I wanted to interact w/ the reading more and understand what I was reading. I found it funny and weird that Henry Dobbins carried his girlfriend's pantyhose around his neck before heading out on ambush. If that's what helped him survive in the war then I'm not mad at him. O' Brien mentions the pantyhose as a symbol for a spiritual world that was soft and intimate in a real world that was tough and serious. It was interesting that Dobbins came close to dying a few times and the pantyhose helped him live.

Most people don't like war, however, a war can help you explore the world which is something you may never be able to do elsewhere. Like in the story Church, when Henry Dobbins meet the monks near the Batangan Peninsula and forms a special connection with them. He mentions becoming a monk after the war. I doubt he's serious but this shows how much he likes the monks and being nice to people. The monks were very nice to the platoon. Dobbins mentions that when he was a child, he wanted to become a minister because it seemed like a good life that could bring you a "free house, free car" and "lots of potlucks". This reminds me of how I think that there are a lot of ministers and preachers and reverends out there who are in churches just for the money. That is why I'd rather learn about God and Christianity on my own. Dobbins also mentions that he wanted to be a minister just because he liked the fact that they were nice to people. This shows that he was a kindhearted man for the most part. I found the monks interesting. I am very nice like them and I could possibly enjoy their lifestyles. It may get a little boring at times though.

In the Story "The Man I Killed", I could tell that the death of the man Tim O' Brien killed really affected him. He repeatedly mentions the details of it: "His jaw was in his throat. His one eye was shut and the other was a star-shaped hole". O' Brien felt sympathy for the man and even states that he wanted to warn him about the grenade he threw. This lets readers know that he was really not meant for war. I think I would've felt the same as him after killing someone.The repetition of the description of the man's dead body emphasizes the affect it had on O' Brien. Azar repeatedly tries to talk to O' Brien but he doesn't even say anything. I found it kind of weird that O' Brien knew facts about the man's personal life. Maybe he felt so much sympathy that he wanted to get to know him so he did some research on him.

In the story Ambush, O' Brien goes into further details about how he killed the man. He mentions that his daughter asked him if he killed somebody before and he replied "of course not". O' Brien explains the story as if he was real nervous before he did the killing and how his stomach felt crazy. He was terrified and didn't really want to kill the man. He wanted him to "evaporate" so he wouldn't have to kill him. The man had nobody with him and I think this is the reason why O' Brien feels guilty for killing him. He didn't pose much of a threat but he did have a gun. O' Brien seemed as if he was amazed by the man's dead body. He mentions that he still thinks about killing the man to the day of him writing this book. He imagines the man smiling at him which emphasizes O' Brien's mindset about killing him.

Style was a story that I didn't really get much out of. I found it hard to understand why a girl would be dancing when her house has just burned down and her family just died. I can't imagine having to drag the bodies of her family out like the platoon did. It would be a horrific sight. Henry Dobbins repeatedly states that the girl just liked to danced but it's hard to imagine dancing at a time like that.

Chapter/Story #9: Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong

I found this story to be weird. For the first 10 or 15 pages, I was lost and I didn't know the significance of the story. It didn't come to me until the end. Vietnam drove Mary Ann crazy and turned her into a whole different person. This may seem bad to readers but Mary Ann is satisfied with her new self and repeatedly states that her situation is not bad. It's hard to believe that Mark Fossie went through so much to get his girlfriend to come to Vietnam. If it is true, I'm surprised that the higher ranking men of the war let him bring her. That's a major distraction. It's easy to understand how the other men got attracted to Mary Ann because they weren't seeing any other girls during war. They probably miss their girlfriends or just looking at girls period. I found the fact that Mary Ann got so involved in Vietnam interesting. She wanted Fossie to show her the land and to get a feel for how people lived. Rat Kiley said that it was "like a cheerleader visiting the opposing team's locker room". Rat Kiley found it hard to believe that Mary Ann learned so quick since she was young and innocent but he also mentions that all of the men in the military unit were the same when they first came but they learned pretty quick. You have to make adjustments if you want to survive. I also found it weird that Mary Ann was focused on the job dealing with casualties where she learned how to clip arteries and pump a plastic splint and shoot morphine. She didn't even want to go home and said that everything she wanted is in Vietnam. I think the point of this story was to emphasize that when O' Brien and others went to Vietnam, they got deeply involved which is necessary. You might spend a significant amount of time in your life there. The irony in it is that Mary Ann was a normal female who knew nothing about war who got so deeply involved in it that it is rumored that she is still somewhere in the Mountains enjoying Vietnam. War affects human nature and challenges you mentally and physically. It affected Mary Ann and changed her into a whole different person.

Chapter/Story #7: How to Tell A True War Story and #8: The Dentist

The How to Tell A True War Story required me to slow down my reading pace and actually think about O' Brien was saying. It seemed like he kept on adding new characteristic to a true war story and that confused me. First he said that a true war story is never moral and does not instruct. It's funny because the true war stories O' Brien tells kind of instruct me but I think he is saying that a true war story intentions are not to instruct. Then he went on to say a true war story is unbelievable because "it's a question of credibility" and that the crazy stuff is true but the normal stuff isn't. I find this to be true about different stories other than war stories, you always question the credibility after. O' Brien repeatedly mentions Curt Lemon's death and emphasizes how the sunlight shined on him before he died, which may be the reason why he thinks Lemon's death was beautiful. I still find that weird though. O' Brien goes on to say that it's difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen in any war story, especially a true one. I guess this is why it is still hard till the day he wrote this understand Curt Lemon's death. Even though it made it harder for me to understand, I liked how O' Brien kept jumping from the topic of a general true war story to actual true war stories and just war stories that he makes up. Even though Mitchell Sanders story about a six man patrol that goes up into the mountains on a basic listening-post operation. I actually believed the story at first for some odd reason and I found it amazing that the rocks and other things of nature made all these sounds. I found the fact that Rat Kiley kept shooting the baby water buffalo to be despicable and I understand that he was feeling grief  but that doesn't give him the right to shoot a innocent animal. With all the contradictions that O' Brien presents about war, I can tell that he learned to deal with war and find out its' true characteristics. I can understand how war is nasty but also fun, thrilling but also drudgery, can make you a man but also dead, and that war is "mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love". O' Brien emphasizes the fact that war makes you appreciate life more and live more. You don't realize how precious your life is until you're close to death. At the end of the story, readers can assume that the story about Curt Lemon's death is true because he compares the facts about it to the characteristics of a true war story. He calls the story of Lemon's death a love story because it provides him with a powerful memory and a love for stories that is close to timeless.



I don't really have much to say about the story "The Dentist" except that Curt Lemon is a weird character. I kind of view him as insane for enjoying pain so much. I think I would find it interesting to be in his presence and see the crazy things he does. It would be amusing.

Chapter/Story #5-Enemies & #6: Friends

I think it was a great idea for Tim O' Brien to relate the two stories Enemies and Friends. I think they show another conflict that could possibly occur during the war. In the story Enemies, Lee Strunk and Dave Jensen get into a fist fight over a missing jackknife. That's absurd. In a military unit, everyone might not trust each other and it's hard to develop trust so you're faced with having to watch your back and focus on the war. That is what happened after the fist fight with Lee Strunk and Dave Jensen. It has to be hard to manage both of those tasks. That just goes on to show you the difficulties of war. The fact that paranoia drove Dave Jensen so crazy to the point where he began firing his weapon in the air and yelling Lee Strunk's name and caused Jensen to break his nose to make things even with Strunk is crazy. I wouldn't dare break my own nose, but maybe that's how intense the pressure was. Another thing I found crazy is that Jensen and Strunk made a pack to end the others' life if they got severely injured. That makes their relationship seem weird. I actually thought Jensen was going to kill Strunk after he lost a leg but he didn't. It's good to see that they eventually got over the fight though. O' Brien continues to emphasize the difficulties of war in these stories and I'm sure he will continue throughout the book. I find it interesting and it gives readers insight. I think these stories also show how friendships could go in a war and also in real life.

Chapter/Story #4: On the Rainy River

This story emphasizes Tim O' Brien's attitude towards the Vietnam war. He felt as if the war didn't have a clear purpose and it was not worth fighting for. He also wanted to live a normal life, which was a mainstream life to him. He was drafted a month after graduating from Macalester College. He had many questions regarding the war like what really happened to the USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin and was Ho Chi Minh a Communist stooge or a nationalist savior. America was divided at the time: one side for the war and the other against it. Many protests were taken to the streets. It's ironic that O' Brien felt like a coward for deciding to join the war instead of not joining. He didn't want to go to the war but he felt the pressure he could potentially face from his friends, family, and his town. He felt embarrassed for looking like a coward by not wanting to fight the war so he decided to feel like a coward, in his mind, for deciding to fight it. I think it's amazing how Elroy Berdahl encouraged O' Brien so much with his silence. It's like Berdahl almost knew Tim O' Brien's situation and wanted to help him dearly. I could understand why O' Brien didn't want to go to war, he was just reaching his 20's and he felt like he has so much life left to live. I also thought it was amazing how the Rainy River combined both O' Brien's past and future, how he imagined all those important figures in his life at the river, some cheering him on and some discouraging him. The syntax was so extending with all the and's included in the sentences that just made them go on forever. It made it more interesting and made me want to keep reading. It's crazy how the Vietnam War put so much pressure on O' Brien that it caused him to escape to Canada so he wouldn't have to bear the decision. There were times when he couldn't sleep and just lost it. I think that is why it led him to make the decision of fighting the war. He felt like he was going to let many people down if he didn't. Personally, I would have tryed to focus more on my opinion of the decision.

Chapter/Story 3: Spin

The third story is a great group of stories. It really emphasizes the power of a story and memories towards the end. I love the way it is written. It also emphasizes how Tim O' Brien and the other men in his unit found peace and happiness in such a hostile setting like the Vietnam War. O' Brien mentions how a little boy with a plastic leg asked Azar for a chocolate bar and this shows how violent the war can get but yet this little boy still has a sense of humor when he says "GI number one" and this makes Azar smile. This story also mentions how Norman Bowker and Henry Dobbins used to play checkers every evening before dark. The other boys used to enjoy watching them because the playing field was in a strict grid with no tunnels or mountains or jungles like Vietnam. Norman and Henry knew where they stood and could visibly see there enemies. We discussed in class that the Viet Cong used to be everywhere and you never knew when they would attack so this game of checkers helped the boys escape from the reality of the jungles in Vietnam. They needed some type of escape. O'Brien mentions how his memories of the events in the war turned into a rehappening which helped him write this book. He also mentions how the boys of his unit met this "old poppa-san" who guides them through the mine fields on the Batangan Peninsula and they form a close relationship with this man. The boys looked at the guiding as an adventure and learned to love the old man. They were sad when they had to leave him. O'Brien mentions how you could find yourself in more peace than ever by looking up and seeing "the sun and a few puffy white clouds" (35). It is amazing how his unit found serenity in a terrifying war. O' Brien later goes on to end the chapter with such vivid images of the war that brung out the "childlike exuberance" (37). He states the war is still very much alive and his memories help him relive the moments. He states that stories are for joining the past and the future, for eternity, the moments when your memory is erased, and just keeping things alive forever. It made me think of how powerful memories can be and how precious they are. It just made me want to remember good moments in my life.

Chapter/Story 2: Love

The second story's setting is in Tim O' Brien's home in Massachusetts. Many years have passed since the war. Jimmy Cross comes to visit Tim and they reminisce about the war. They drank coffee, smoked cigarettes, and looked at various pictures. They also discuss how Ted Lavender's death is still hard to accept and Jimmy states that he still has not forgiven himself. They reminisced about the things that they used to carry and even though the war is over, they still carried things in their lives. The war just made that weight seem heavier. They also reminisce about how much Jimmy Cross used to love Martha and Jimmy tells Tim that he ran into her at a college reunion in 1979. He tells Tim that everything was still the same and she gave him a new picture of  her playing volleyball. Jimmy still loved her and she still didn't love him.The story ends with Tim O' Brien telling Jimmy Cross that he would like to write a story about all these adventures, which is probably the group of stories that this book consists of. Jimmy tells him to make him sound like the good guy and the best platoon leader ever but don't mention a certain person. Tim already knows who he is talking about. I assume that he is talking about Ted Lavender because Jimmy feels guilty for his death.