The journalist and writer Tim O’Brien has become synonymous with the American war in Vietnam. Neither an opponent nor a defender of the war, O’Brien’s books are clear-eyed but complex accounts of his own experiences in the battle zone. In O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried, he hesitates and prevaricates, starts one story only to interrupt it with a second, and mixes up chronology so that the characters die before they have been introduced. O’Brien’s voice is steely, cold and lucid, as if emotional engagement is impossible in such a hostile environment. (http://lion.chadwyck.com)
Tim O’Brien was born in Minnesota on October 1, 1946, the son of an insurance salesman and a primary school teacher. He has described himself as a lonely child, an overweight dreamer who amused himself with magic tricks. He studied at Macalester College, graduating with a BA in political science in 1968. (http://lion.chadwyck.com)
As soon as he left college, he was sent a draft notice, ordering him to fight in the Vietnam War. He spent a year in Vietnam between 1969 and 1970, winning a Purple Heart in the process. On returning from Vietnam, O’Brien began graduate course at Harvard University, specializing in Government and Politics. He secured an internship at the Washington Post and soon after became full-time journalist. (http://lion.chadwyck.com)
Tim O’Brien’s first-hand knowledge allowed him to write The Things They Carried, although sometimes the stories are confusing with regard to the timeline, they are graffic, heartfelt portrayals of what happened to him in Vietnam. His use of words and his vivid imagination puts you there with him. It allows you to live the experiences he lived through while there.
Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried,” is about a lot of things, namely how in the time of war, the men in his unit carried many things. Not just the physical things they needed to carry out their missions, but personal things, like photographs, lucky charms and most of all emotions. For instance, “In April/Lieutenant Jimmy Cross received a good-luck charm from Martha/smooth to the touch, it was a milky white color with flecks of orange and violet, oval-shaped, like a miniature egg.” (O’Brien, page 8). This was one of the things the Lieutenant held dear, since it was from Martha, who he dreamed of and envisioned along the Jersey Shore, where she says it came from. He used this and the photos and letters received from Martha, to keep him in touch with the world, he once knew, before the war. It took him away to a place he longed to be. But instead, it was his downfall. He was too busy daydreaming about Martha, when Ted Lavender was shot and killed. He had let his guard down and one of his men paid the ultimate price.
After Lavender’s death , “He felt shame. He hated himself. He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence, Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war.” (O’Brien, page 16). So, not only did the men carry things, personal physical things, but emotional things, guilt, grief, shame, love and passion.
In the end, Lieutenant Cross, did love his men, he vowed to be a better Officer. Lieutenant discarded his personal things that reminded him of Martha. “/crouched at the bottom of his foxhole and burned Martha’s letters. Then he burned the two photographs. (O’Brien, page 23).
This story is profound in that it describes in detail some of the things that these soldiers needed to get through this war. It also describes the emotions they went through. The pride they felt, the sorrow, the anger and most of all the memories which they will carry forever.
It is interesting to note, that in the beginning, when O’Brien was drafted, he wrestled with the idea of going to war. He was against the war. But like most patriots, he enlisted, went through boot camp, and went on to defend his country. When he came home, he was able to write about the many encounters he had and thus, we are now able to enjoy some of those stories.
Works Cited
O’Brien, Tim “The Things They Carried,” Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing, New York (1990)
http://lion.chadwyck.com, Literature Online, July 23, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Atwood Biography
Margaret Eleanor Atwood is a Canadian author, poet, critic, feminist and social campaigner. While she may be best known for her work as a novelist, she is also an award winning poet, having published 15 books of poetry to date. (Wikipedia, Atwood, page 1).
Margaret Atwood was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada to Carl, an entomologist, and Margaret Killam Atwwod, a dietitian. From infancy to her late adolescence, Atwood spent at least half of the year living in the wilderness of northern Ontario and Quebec, where her father conducted research on forest insects for the government. In 1946, the family moved to Toronto, where Atwood’s father held a university position. Graduating from Toronto’s Leaside High School in 1957, Atwood attended the University of Toronto’s Victoria College and entered the English honors program. Studying under well-known critic Northrop Frye, she was introduced to the mythical verse of William Blake, one of her strongest poet influences. As an undergraduate she wrote for the college literary magazine and her first poem was published at age nineteen. In 1961, the year she graduated from college, Atwood published her first volume of poetry, Double Persephone, which won the E.J. Pratt Medal. She went on to earn her M.A. at Radcliff College, studying Victorian literature, and also took classes at Harvard University. In 1962, she returned to Toronto and worked at a marketing research firm. Atwood taught English literature at colleges in Vancouver, Montreal, Edmonton and Toronto. She has been married two times. Her novel, The Handmaid’s Tale won a Governor General’s award, along with the Commonwealth Literature Prize and the Arthur C. Clark Award for Best Science Fiction. (Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 246, page 91).
Margaret Atwood’s background in literature and her passion for writing allowed her to write The Handmaid’s Tale. Although, at the time she wrote this book, it was much different from her previous works. In her early work, she compares and contrasts animals and humans worlds. The Handmaid’s tale is a futuristic fantasy, a cautionary tale, and a feminist tract. The story takes place in Gilead, a dystopian version of a future America, in which fundamentalist Christians have killed the president and imposed their own dictatorial rule. In this society, which has been polluted by toxic chemicals and nuclear radiation, few women can reproduce. Those women who can bear children are forced to become handmaids, or official breeders. The narrator is on the Handmaids, and like others of her class, she bears the name of Commander to whom she is temporarily assigned. (Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 246, Page 92)
Margaret Atwood is a talented author in that she allows you to see into her vivid, imaginative world, the subjection of these women. In The Handmaid’s tale she allows you to see the oppression of the handmaids, the humiliation of the wives and the world in which they live. Their hopelessness is very obvious, only because of her ability to allow you to see through her words on the page. The burden of carrying the children for the wives, the envy they feel for the handmaids is stoic. Even though this is a futuristic story, it is thrilling in some ways and disturbing in others. To think that women could be treated this way is troublesome in light of the fact that women were oppressed for many years. Women suffered for years without rights of any kind, merely as the property of men. Women were not valued much, nor were they valued in The Handmaid’s Tale. Women have come a long way. Atwood, in writing The Handmaid’s Tale took women back to the time before women’s rights and to know a little about her history, you can forgive her because she is a feminist herself and writes other stories that uplift women and give them the power they didn’t have in The Handmaid’s Tale.
Works Cited
Atwood, Margaret “The Hanmaid’s Tale,” Houghton Mifflin Publishing, New York (1986)
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1347065 (7/23/2010)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Atwood (7/19/2010)
Margaret Atwood was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada to Carl, an entomologist, and Margaret Killam Atwwod, a dietitian. From infancy to her late adolescence, Atwood spent at least half of the year living in the wilderness of northern Ontario and Quebec, where her father conducted research on forest insects for the government. In 1946, the family moved to Toronto, where Atwood’s father held a university position. Graduating from Toronto’s Leaside High School in 1957, Atwood attended the University of Toronto’s Victoria College and entered the English honors program. Studying under well-known critic Northrop Frye, she was introduced to the mythical verse of William Blake, one of her strongest poet influences. As an undergraduate she wrote for the college literary magazine and her first poem was published at age nineteen. In 1961, the year she graduated from college, Atwood published her first volume of poetry, Double Persephone, which won the E.J. Pratt Medal. She went on to earn her M.A. at Radcliff College, studying Victorian literature, and also took classes at Harvard University. In 1962, she returned to Toronto and worked at a marketing research firm. Atwood taught English literature at colleges in Vancouver, Montreal, Edmonton and Toronto. She has been married two times. Her novel, The Handmaid’s Tale won a Governor General’s award, along with the Commonwealth Literature Prize and the Arthur C. Clark Award for Best Science Fiction. (Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 246, page 91).
Margaret Atwood’s background in literature and her passion for writing allowed her to write The Handmaid’s Tale. Although, at the time she wrote this book, it was much different from her previous works. In her early work, she compares and contrasts animals and humans worlds. The Handmaid’s tale is a futuristic fantasy, a cautionary tale, and a feminist tract. The story takes place in Gilead, a dystopian version of a future America, in which fundamentalist Christians have killed the president and imposed their own dictatorial rule. In this society, which has been polluted by toxic chemicals and nuclear radiation, few women can reproduce. Those women who can bear children are forced to become handmaids, or official breeders. The narrator is on the Handmaids, and like others of her class, she bears the name of Commander to whom she is temporarily assigned. (Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 246, Page 92)
Margaret Atwood is a talented author in that she allows you to see into her vivid, imaginative world, the subjection of these women. In The Handmaid’s tale she allows you to see the oppression of the handmaids, the humiliation of the wives and the world in which they live. Their hopelessness is very obvious, only because of her ability to allow you to see through her words on the page. The burden of carrying the children for the wives, the envy they feel for the handmaids is stoic. Even though this is a futuristic story, it is thrilling in some ways and disturbing in others. To think that women could be treated this way is troublesome in light of the fact that women were oppressed for many years. Women suffered for years without rights of any kind, merely as the property of men. Women were not valued much, nor were they valued in The Handmaid’s Tale. Women have come a long way. Atwood, in writing The Handmaid’s Tale took women back to the time before women’s rights and to know a little about her history, you can forgive her because she is a feminist herself and writes other stories that uplift women and give them the power they didn’t have in The Handmaid’s Tale.
Works Cited
Atwood, Margaret “The Hanmaid’s Tale,” Houghton Mifflin Publishing, New York (1986)
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1347065 (7/23/2010)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Atwood (7/19/2010)
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Source Evaluation
Coad, David “Hymens, Lips and Masks: The Veil in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.”
Literature and Psychology 47, nos. 1&2 (2001)
This essay summarizes Margaret Atwood’s take on feminism in a lot of ways. It breaks down how the women were oppressed and looks at the symbolism. “Women are oppressed and forced to occupy a number of rigidly defined subject positions: frustrated house-bound Wives, official substitute wives known as Handmaids, half-mistress, half-whore, domestic helpers called Marthas, educators and disciplinarian, sadistic propagandists called Aunts and, lastly, unofficial prostitutes who remain on the hidden underside of the regime.” (Coad, Page 96) The essay goes on to describe in particular, the clothing of the characters in the story with relation to their status.
This is a good source of information with regard to the novel, its symbolism and will help be in writing my paper in better understanding the work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Atwood (July 19, 2010)
This is just a biography that I downloaded from Wikipedia. It is pretty accurate, as I researched another biography from notable biographies. It talks about her works
I think these sources are reliable. The Wikipedia article was updated just this month. There are many links associated with this particular biography.
It will help me to understand who Margaret Atwood is and why she wrote this novel
Literature and Psychology 47, nos. 1&2 (2001)
This essay summarizes Margaret Atwood’s take on feminism in a lot of ways. It breaks down how the women were oppressed and looks at the symbolism. “Women are oppressed and forced to occupy a number of rigidly defined subject positions: frustrated house-bound Wives, official substitute wives known as Handmaids, half-mistress, half-whore, domestic helpers called Marthas, educators and disciplinarian, sadistic propagandists called Aunts and, lastly, unofficial prostitutes who remain on the hidden underside of the regime.” (Coad, Page 96) The essay goes on to describe in particular, the clothing of the characters in the story with relation to their status.
This is a good source of information with regard to the novel, its symbolism and will help be in writing my paper in better understanding the work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Atwood (July 19, 2010)
This is just a biography that I downloaded from Wikipedia. It is pretty accurate, as I researched another biography from notable biographies. It talks about her works
I think these sources are reliable. The Wikipedia article was updated just this month. There are many links associated with this particular biography.
It will help me to understand who Margaret Atwood is and why she wrote this novel
Friday, July 16, 2010
Topic Proposal
The topic I am going to do my research on is Feminism or the Feminist Movement. In Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” the handmaids are strictly used for their ovaries. The wives are sterile, unable to bear children, so they are also abused in that they are made to accept the handmaids as surrogates. Their reproductive rights were taken away. All these women are oppressed, essentially second class citizens. They have no rights. The male dominant government controlled them in every way. The handmaids were not allowed to read, or even move about town freely.
“The feminist movement (also known as the Women's Movement, Women's Liberation, or Women's Lib) refers to a series of campaigns for reforms on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, voting rights, sexual harassment, and sexual violence. The goals of the movement vary from country to country, e.g. opposition to female genital cutting in Sudan, or to the glass ceiling in Western countries.
The movement's history has gone through three waves, beginning in the 18th century. The First-wave was oriented around the station of middle or upper-class white women, and involved suffrage and political equality. Second-wave feminism attempted to further combat social and cultural inequalities. Third-wave feminism was a reaction to and continuation from the second-wave, taking a post-structuralist analysis of femininity to argue that there is in fact no all-encompassing single feminist idea. It set itself against essentialist definitions of femininity, which assume a universal female identity, instead emphasizing discursive power and the ambiguity of gender. Third-wave theory incorporates elements of queer theory, anti-racism, and other hallmarks of modern progressivism.
The feminist movement has brought a sweeping variety of social and cultural change, its impact touching familial relations, religion, the place of women in society, gendered language, and relationships between men and women.”
“In his 1869 essay The Subjection of Women the English philosopher and political theorist John Stuart Mill described the situation for women in Britain as follows:
"We are continually told that civilization and Christianity have restored to the woman her just rights. Meanwhile the wife is the actual bondservant of her husband; no less so, as far as the legal obligation goes, than slaves commonly so called."
During the 1800s women in the United States and Britain began to challenge laws that denied them the right to their property once they married. Under the common law doctrine of coverture husbands gained control of their wives' real estate and wages. Beginning in the 1840s, state legislatures in the United States and the British Parliament began passing statutes that protected women's property from their husbands and their husbands' creditors. These laws were known as the Married Women's Property Acts. Courts in the nineteenth-century United States also continued to require privy examinations of married women who sold their property. A privy examination was a practice in which a married woman who wished to sell her property had to be separately examined by a judge or justice of the peace outside of the presence of her husband and asked if her husband was pressuring her into signing the document.”
I chose this topic, because I am a woman and I believe strongly in women’s rights. Atwood’s portrayal of women is her novel touched me in that I am opposed to treating anyone in this manner, especially women.
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal of womens_history/v012/12.2braukman.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_rights
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminist_movement http://womenshistory.about.com/od/marriedwomensproperty/a/property_1848ny.htm http://www.umd.umich.edu/casl/hum/eng/classes/434/geweb/PROPERTY.htm
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/366305/Married-Womens-Property-Acts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Subjection_of_Women
Mill, John Stuart, The Subjection of Women. Dover Thrift Editions. 1869 (1997).
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Thesis Blog Post
Identify the weak thesis statement:
1. A. I’m going to write about Darwin’s concerns with evolution in The Origin of the Species.
B. Darwin’s concern with survival of the fittest in The Origin of the Species leads him to neglect a potentially conflicting aspect of his theory of evolution-survival as a matter of interdependence.
A is weak in that it is too general. A is not specific and overly broad.
2. A. An important part of one’s college education is learning to better understand others’ points of view.
B. Although an important part of one’s college education is learning to better understand others’ points of view a persistent danger is that the students will simply be required to substitute the teacher’s answers for the ones they grew up uncritically believing.
A is the weakest thesis statement. It is generalized. It is obvious. A true statement.
3. A. By inventing terms, such as “loose fit” and “relaxed fit”, the jean industry has attempted to normalize, even glorify, its product for an older and fatter generation.
B. The jeans industry targets its advertisements to appeal to young adults.
B is the weakest thesis statement. It is not specific. It is overly broad. It is obvious.
4. A. Othello is a play about love and jealousy.
B. Although Othello appears to attack jealousy, it also supports the skepticism of the jealous characters over the naïvete of the lovers.
A is the weakest thesis statement. It is too generalized. It is obvious. It restates conventional wisdom.
5. A. The songs of the punk rock group Minor Threat relate to the Feelings of individuals who dare to be different. Their songs are just composed of pure emotion. Pure emotion is very important in music, because it serves as a vehicle to convey the important message of individuality. Minor Threat’s songs are meaningful to me because I can identify with them.
B. The punk rock group Minor Threat uses emotional lyrics to appeal to their target audience, which considers itself individualistic and therefore the lyrics must convey a message of individuality.
A is the weakest thesis statement. It offers personal conviction for the claim.
My thesis statement.
Why didn’t Offred allow the doctor to help her? She was so frightened, that she wouldn’t dare risk getting caught. She didn’t trust this man. She could end up on the wall she passed daily.
It is arguable, can be supported by the text. It is specific.
1. A. I’m going to write about Darwin’s concerns with evolution in The Origin of the Species.
B. Darwin’s concern with survival of the fittest in The Origin of the Species leads him to neglect a potentially conflicting aspect of his theory of evolution-survival as a matter of interdependence.
A is weak in that it is too general. A is not specific and overly broad.
2. A. An important part of one’s college education is learning to better understand others’ points of view.
B. Although an important part of one’s college education is learning to better understand others’ points of view a persistent danger is that the students will simply be required to substitute the teacher’s answers for the ones they grew up uncritically believing.
A is the weakest thesis statement. It is generalized. It is obvious. A true statement.
3. A. By inventing terms, such as “loose fit” and “relaxed fit”, the jean industry has attempted to normalize, even glorify, its product for an older and fatter generation.
B. The jeans industry targets its advertisements to appeal to young adults.
B is the weakest thesis statement. It is not specific. It is overly broad. It is obvious.
4. A. Othello is a play about love and jealousy.
B. Although Othello appears to attack jealousy, it also supports the skepticism of the jealous characters over the naïvete of the lovers.
A is the weakest thesis statement. It is too generalized. It is obvious. It restates conventional wisdom.
5. A. The songs of the punk rock group Minor Threat relate to the Feelings of individuals who dare to be different. Their songs are just composed of pure emotion. Pure emotion is very important in music, because it serves as a vehicle to convey the important message of individuality. Minor Threat’s songs are meaningful to me because I can identify with them.
B. The punk rock group Minor Threat uses emotional lyrics to appeal to their target audience, which considers itself individualistic and therefore the lyrics must convey a message of individuality.
A is the weakest thesis statement. It offers personal conviction for the claim.
My thesis statement.
Why didn’t Offred allow the doctor to help her? She was so frightened, that she wouldn’t dare risk getting caught. She didn’t trust this man. She could end up on the wall she passed daily.
It is arguable, can be supported by the text. It is specific.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Mid-Session Check-In
Laura,
Here are my answers to the questions for the Midsession Check-in Blog.
1. What has been your biggest challenge in this class so far? My biggest challenge so far, was setting up the blog. I have never done anything like that before, so it was incredibly challenging. Also, I don’t really like seeing myself on video. I am often told that I speak really softly, so sometimes it’s hard for people to understand me.
2. What has been your biggest success? Not sure about this one. I guess, maybe the fact that I completed the blog. But I still sometimes have issues with getting the pictures to post or the links.
3. How have the readings in the class affected you? It has just made me think about war and how it affects us all. How our soldiers go through so much so that we can live safely in our country every day. I feel for them and their families as it is really taxing on all involved. I think we should do more for them when they return home. I also think we should do more for the families while their loved ones are away defending our country. I loved the poetry. I often don’t have time to read for pleasure, so the poetry was really nice!
4. How is literary analysis different from other types of writing you have done in college? This is my first time attempting literary analysis, so I’m not sure how well I’m doing. I know that when I write creatively I do well, but I’m still not sure if I am really analyzing or summarizing or just giving my opinion of what is written.
5. What are your goals for the second half of the session? My goal is to do well in this class. I hope to complete all remaining assignments in a timely manner and that they are in the proper format and context of what is required.
6. What do you hope to improve or accomplish? I hope that my writing skills get stronger.
Sincerely,
Kathy Bickham
Here are my answers to the questions for the Midsession Check-in Blog.
1. What has been your biggest challenge in this class so far? My biggest challenge so far, was setting up the blog. I have never done anything like that before, so it was incredibly challenging. Also, I don’t really like seeing myself on video. I am often told that I speak really softly, so sometimes it’s hard for people to understand me.
2. What has been your biggest success? Not sure about this one. I guess, maybe the fact that I completed the blog. But I still sometimes have issues with getting the pictures to post or the links.
3. How have the readings in the class affected you? It has just made me think about war and how it affects us all. How our soldiers go through so much so that we can live safely in our country every day. I feel for them and their families as it is really taxing on all involved. I think we should do more for them when they return home. I also think we should do more for the families while their loved ones are away defending our country. I loved the poetry. I often don’t have time to read for pleasure, so the poetry was really nice!
4. How is literary analysis different from other types of writing you have done in college? This is my first time attempting literary analysis, so I’m not sure how well I’m doing. I know that when I write creatively I do well, but I’m still not sure if I am really analyzing or summarizing or just giving my opinion of what is written.
5. What are your goals for the second half of the session? My goal is to do well in this class. I hope to complete all remaining assignments in a timely manner and that they are in the proper format and context of what is required.
6. What do you hope to improve or accomplish? I hope that my writing skills get stronger.
Sincerely,
Kathy Bickham
Sunday, June 27, 2010
The Things They Carried
Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried,” is about a lot of things, namely how in the time of war, the men in his unit carried many things. Not just the physical things they needed to carry out their missions, but personal things, like photographs, lucky charms and most of all emotions. For instance, “In April/Lieutenant Jimmy Cross received a good-luck charm from Martha/smooth to the touch, it was a milky white color with flecks of orange and violet, oval-shaped, like a miniature egg.” (O’Brien, page 8). This was one of the things the Lieutenant held dear, since it was from Martha, who he dreamed of and envisioned along the Jersey Shore, where she says it came from. He used this and the photos and letters received from Martha, to keep him in touch with the world, he once knew, before the war. It took him away to a place he longed to be. But instead, it was his downfall. He was too busy daydreaming about Martha, when Ted Lavender was shot and killed. He had let his guard down and one of his men paid the ultimate price.
After Lavender’s death , “He felt shame. He hated himself. He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence, Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war.” (O’Brien, page 16). So, not only did the men carry things, personal physical things, but emotional things, guilt, grief, shame, love and passion.
In the end, Lieutenant Cross, did love his men, he vowed to be a better Officer. Lieutenant discarded his personal things that reminded him of Martha. “/crouched at the bottom of his foxhole and burned Martha’s letters. Then he burned the two photographs. (O’Brien, page 23).
This story is profound in that it describes in detail some of the things that these soldiers needed to get through this war. It also describes the emotions they went through. The pride they felt, the sorrow, the anger and most of all the memories which they will carry forever.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Things_They_Carried
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