The Things They Carried

 

I would have never imagined that someone could tell such an interesting story basing themselves solely on the things soldiers carry with them. Tim O'Brien is such a talented writer that he was able to do just that. I had never heard or read the a personal story from a Vietnam war veteran, so I was rather uninformed when it came to the war in Vietnam. But when I read 'The Things They Carried', I was really able to paint a picture in my head concerning that war. O'Briens puts so much delail into his writing that it almost makes you feel as if you were there with him when it all happened. He gives detailed information about every item that each one of the men who were with him carried. He tells us the personal things that they carried, along with the weapons each one had. He also tells us the weight of each one of their items so that we can calculate about how much weicht each one of them was carrying. And then he goes on to describe the terrain and all the walking that they had to do. They had to walk long distances every day through the jungle, up and down hills, through swamps, in the rain and in the intense heat and humidity. And the whole time they each had to carry about a couple hundred pounds of extra weight with them.

He also tells us how the men felt and the things they did to cope with everything that was going on around them. For example, he tells us that one of the men would always carry marijuana with him and would smoke it regularly. Another one would carry letters from the girl that he was in love with and would read them regularly and daydream about her and zone out to the point that he was sometimes unaware of what was going on around him. They each had different ways of dealing with their situation. O'Brien did an awesome job of telling this story and I have personally learned alot about the Vietnam war and the lives of some of the brave soldiers who took part in it.

Here's the link for the image:  http://ronaldarichardson.com/2008/01/30/the-things-they-carried/

And here's a link to a site with info on all the weapons used during the Vietnam war: http://www.militaryfactory.com/vietnam/vietnam_war_weapons.asp

Sean Huze Response

I had never read anything like Sean Huze's 'The Sandstorm' before. I didn't know what it was about, so I wasn't looking forward to reading it. But once I started reading it, I couldn't stop. I was amazed at how raw and real it was. I had never heard a soldier talk about his experiences in war or about how he felt, so I didn't really have any idea about what it was like for them. The way each soldier talked about their experiences, how they felt and what they went through really opened my eyes and helped me see them in a very different way. I feel more respect toward them now because I see the things that they have to go through and how much they suffer and sacrifice. I can't imagine the nightmares they have due to all the psychological trauma they receive after everything they see and do. Many of them are forced to live each day feeling guilty for all the things they did, for all the people they killed. They try to cause the least damage possible, to kill as few people as they can, but many times they are forced to do things that they wish they didn't have to do in order to protect themselves and make it out alive. They live every day wondering if they will survive to fight another day, fearing what will become of their families if something were to happen to them. I hate to think about how they must feel every time they have to see one of their friends get killed, or every time they see innocent men, women, and children die because of them. Many times, they are forced to fight in a war that they don't believe in, but even though they want no part in it, they have to go and give it their everything as if they were the ones that wanted to be there. This reading really changed they way I viewed the members of the armed forces. I feel alot more compassion and respect for them and for their families now.

Heres the link where i got the image from http://blog.usnavyseals.com/2010/06/memorials-for-the-fallen-of-iraq-and-afghanistan-in-kansas.html

Heres a link to some statistics from the war in Iraq http://usliberals.about.com/od/homelandsecurit1/a/IraqNumbers.htm 

Something to Think About

When i read the poem "Immigrants in Our Own Land" By Jimmy Santiago Baca, I felt like I knew the writer, like I was related to him somehow and he was telling me what it was like to come as an immigrant to this country. I felt this way because alot of my family, including my parents, were once immigrants here too. When I read the first lines of the poem, it immediately reminded me of what my dad used to tell me when i asked him why he had come here. Baca said that, "We are born with dreams in our hearts,/ looking for better days ahead" ( lines 1-2). I remember my dad telling me that he came looking for a better life, to make something of himself, to be able to give us a better life. But like Baca states in his poem, "We came here to get away from false promises,/ But it's no different here" (lines 33 and 38). My dad would tell me how when everyone first came here, none of them planned on staying, but they just wanted to make some money so that they could go back to their country and live a better life over there. But that rarely happened. The weeks tuned into months, which then turned into years. After a while, they had kids here, so they had to stay so they could go to school and make something of themselves. They wanted their children to get an education so that they could have better lives than their parents. But thats not always the case either. Like Baca says, "Some of the younger ones will become gangsters,/ Some will die and others will go on living" (lines 62-63). I have heard many immigrants say that they wish they could be back in their own country, that they miss their families and their friends back home. They miss the simple lifestile that they had before coming to this country. Now, all they do is work to live and live to work. They can't stop working or else they wont make it. They are tired and worn out, and they wish that they could just drop everything and go back home. Like Baca states in his poem, " As they look at themselves, so long gone from their families,/ so long gone from life itself, so many things have changed" (lines 69-70).

Another poem that made me think was "Photograph from September 11" by Wislawa Szymborska. The way she described the last moments of those who jumped to their deaths from the twin towers really gave me a different view of the incident. It made me wonder how hard it must have been and how desperate the people got, to the point that they had to choose between dying inside the buildings or jumping out and falling to their death. How does a person make a decision like that? I cant imagine what went through their minds before they jumped out. They decided that it would be less painful and traumatic to jump out and die instantly when they hit the ground than 2 die slowly and painfully as the flames consumed them or by asphyxiation due to all the smoke. Szymborska paints a vivid picture as she describes the way they looked as they fell to their deaths. And she ends it very respectully when she says that, " I can do only two things for them-/describe this flight/ and not add a last line" ( Szymborska, lines 17-19). I like that she ends it this way because by doing so, she shows them respect by commemorating those who died, and by not describing the scene that occurred when they hit the ground.

Heres a link to a page with other good poems on immigration. http://www.helium.com/knowledge/75180-poetry-immigration

And this is where i got the picture. http://queens.ny1.com/content/ny1_living/121151/free-programs-from-state-labor-department-help-out-immigrant-workers