Sources

Frost, Adam. "O'Brien, Tim, 1946-." Literature Online Biography. Chadwyck-Healey (a ProQuest Information and Learning Company), 2002. Web. 20 Oct. 2010.

This article was just a quick rundown of Tim O’Brien’s life. The author also does a little bit of interrupting of his writings. Within the article are quotes and passages of some Tim’s books not just the things he carried. To be honest I do not know if I will use this article, I just wanted to practice the citing. If I do use this source it most likely be used for dates and other facts; some examples would be day he was born, when he was drafted, what colleges he went to, or what platoon he was in during the war.

So the next article I looked up was writing by Philip Gerard. This guy is an author and teacher at UNC.  With that being said I’m going to say he is a reliable source. The article was published in The World & I, and the website for them looks pretty legit. Latest issue is for October 2010, no ads, and has all the information to cite you would need. I would say I everything is good and would use this as a source.

On the Rainy River

On the Rainy River starts with Tim O’Brien saying that he has never told anybody this story before.  It then goes to his past, just after graduating from college and now living with his parents he got his draft notice. During the summer he works at a meatpacking plant cleaning clots from slaughtered pigs. When he is not working he is thinking about his option to dodge the draft by going to Canada. One day he leaves his job and goes home packs his clothes and starts to drive north toward Canada. He ends up at Tip Top Lodge which is a little place located at Rainy River. Just beyond the river lays Canada.  Tim finds Elroy Berdahl, the old man running the lodge. Elroy allows him to stay in one of the cabins. Tim stays there for six days. Their day consist of doing chores, hiking, playing scrabble and other things. They never discuss the draft. Tim thinks Elroy already knows why he is there and just gives him his space. Tim takes these six days to keep thinking about the war and what he is going to do.  On the sixth day Elroy takes him fishing on the river. Elroy takes them twenty yards of the shore of Canada.  Tim knows this is his chance to jump off the boat and swim to the shore. He takes his time thinking about everything and how this is the moment he must choose what he is going to do. After a while Elroy takes the boat back to Minnesota with Tim still in the boat. The next morning Tim leaves and goes back home and then off to war.

                In this chapter of the book is about Tim’s battle with the choice of going to war or going to Canada. He meets an old man at a lodge where he stays for about week. Tim says this man saved his life. In his head the reasons to go to war are all peer pressure. He doesn’t want to be called a pussy or known as the guy who ran away. In his heart though all he wants to do is run away to avoid fighting a war he doesn’t agree with. I think he sees Elroy as the only person who supports the way his heart feels. Elroy does not pass judgment on Tim and gives him the option to go to Canada. In the end Tim himself says he couldn’t be brave, he couldn’t live with the judgment of others if he would have dodged the draft. He lost and now has to go to war. The whole chapter is just a metaphor for making a decision in which one option is the one you don’t want to do but your expected to do and to listen to your heart  and forget what other people think.         

Picture from http://www.davidlouisedelman.com/wp-content/uploads/tim-obrien-2.jpg

Poem Responses

The first poem I related to was Rite of Passage by Sharon Olds. I liked this poem because I’ve been there. The poem is what Sharon experienced at her sons 6 year old son’s birthday. Not that this is a secret to anyone that is exactly how young boys act together. It doesn’t matter much on size but on who were the oldest, being the oldest meant that you were bigger, stronger, and smarter then everybody younger then you. At that age nothing else really matters, everyone is considered an enemy or an opponent till you both agree on something, like together we could defeat someone else. I can’t think of a time where I did this but I know it happened. It makes me think do we ever really grow out of this? When meeting someone new are people as nervous as I am? Once finding something in common I feel better. Ah memories, sums up this poem for me.

The next poem I related to was The Women From The Thirteenth Floor Window by Joy Harjo. I also liked this poem. This poem is basically about a woman’s choice to or not to jump out of a window and kill herself. She thinks about all the things that are wrong with her life and all she is going to lose if she jumps. She see’s other people that have done it and how it has affected the people close to the jumper. But does it all really matter? Every day the person thinks all these thoughts before climbing back inside but will there be a day she thinks all these things but decides that today is going to be different and jump. I just can relate to this poem so much, I would never think about doing this but I do think about all that is happening in my life. I think about all the things that have gone right, those that were not planned, and how things could have been different. I think that when people finally do decide that leaping is a better choice than getting back inside that they had to do what was best for them. Some people call it selfish but I would never call that selfish, you have to put yourself above everyone because no one is going to put you before themselves.

Photo from http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/olds.html

Sam Hamill

This poem was a mixture of horrible things people go through, how people are not doing enough to change the world, and how his writing has released him from the pain he once held inside. I feel that Sam Hamill’s poem The Necessity to Speak might have been the worst thing I have ever read. I tried to read this many times with a positive view but I just couldn’t. The very first line of his writing puts me in a bad mood. “And yet we go on living closed lives, pretending we are not personally responsible for the deaths we buy and sell.” With that one line he is saying that everyone (including you and me) doesn’t care about the pain we cause other. That statement is outrageously offensive to me; Sam Hamill doesn’t know what I think about or care about for that matter. He also never says if he considers himself apart of everyone, if he also lives his life ignoring all that is wrong with the world. The way interpreted this poem Sam feels he is better than everyone. I just picture his thoughts go something like this; I went through so much being abandoned, in and out of jails, being raped, and seeing the devastation of war but now my writings are helping people with their issues, man I’m so much better than everybody else who keeps their pain inside.
If I could meet this man and talk to him maybe he could explain his writings in the way that I hope he meant for them to be read. That deep down when he wrote this he was just trying to help people by showing writing can make them feel better and that people should try and do more to help others and stop violence. This is just my wishful thinking because I can’t stop thinking that he is a pompous poet. I disagree with some of his beliefs too. He talks about how on TV that he sees people hitting women and kids getting spanked teaches them hitting others are ok. People need to grow up and take responsibility for their actions; stop blaming movies, music and video games for your mistakes. If thoughts things made people violent I would see more people jumping on turtles.
I just want to end with saying again I really hope that Sam Hamill had good intentions, but I just couldn’t see them. The way I took his words are the way they sounded to me. Pain can be eased if someone writes about it. But that doesn’t mean if people with pain don’t write or speak up are assisting with the crime. As long as the person themself is no longer feeling the pain or letting the crime happen to them then that is good enough because sometimes sharing that story with another only hurts you more.

photo from http://www.simplyhaiku.com/SHv3n2/images_contributors/sam_hamillSM.jpg

Welcome

Good Reader

Nabokov believes that a good reader has an imagination, a memory, a dictionary, and some artistic sense. I agree and disagree with his list of traits that make a good reader. I completely agree that a good reader needs to have a good imagination. When reading the person needs to be able to picture what the author is trying describe. It is the author’s job to describe what he wants the reader to see. Yes a memory is needed and it does make someone a better reader. But it is the author’s job to make something memorable. A good reader isn’t going to remember something that seems mundane. Not only does a good reader need a dictionary but also the urge to learn new words. I disagree with an artistic sense; some people like me read for entertainment and don’t care about deeper meanings. The books I like to read aren’t trying to be artistic; they are written purely for entertainment. Along with the traits above I believe a good reader also is able to put themselves in the story. I believe that I’m a good reader. I enjoy reading and can usually connect with the book in some way.

 Link of bad reading habits.