You are reading either The Things They Carried or The Yellow Birds. Each book addresses a specific war. However, the war that is addressed is only part of the story. There is a timelessness to these books. They capture humanity, people, ideas, emotion. For this week's blog, I want you to make a connection.Choose a character or scene in the book. Explain that character or scene very clearly using quotes to back up the description.
- For the character think about the following: What does this person look like? How do they behave? What motivates them? What role do they play in the text?
- For the scene, think about the following items: What does this place look like? What happens here? How does the scene change?
Once you have described the character or scene, you need to make a connection to something in your world that is like your character or scene. It could be a character/scene in a movie, book, television show, someone you know (do not use name), a speaker in the song. You will describe and explain how these two are connected.
Your post should be about two paragraphs in length.
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Tim O’Brien, the main character of the novel, and the author/protagonist, is a very complex character. O’brien is a fourty-three year old soldier, writer, husband, and father. He is not tall, but he’s not short either. He has brown, short hair with a crooked smile. O’Brien never really liked the war, and thought it was his only option. O’Brien says, “In June of 1968, a month after graduating from Macalester College, I was drafted to a war I hated” (p.40). He behaves in such a way that is different from everyone else in the text. For example, he didn’t like being outdoors, and he didn’t like what the “typical boy” likes. O’brien says, “I hated camping out. I hated dirt and tents and mosquitos. The sight of blood made me queasy, and I couldn’t tolerate authority” (p.41). To me, this connects back to the fact that he’s a writer. Not many men left war and became a writer and wrote about everything he hated during it. The scenery is pretty much what the mind would think of when someone says “war zone”. For example, in the text it says, “The whole platoon was there, spread out in the dense brush along the trail” (p.132). What happens in these platoons is a lot of ambushes take place. For example, in the text it says, “The grenade bounced once and rolled across the trail” (p.133). Suggesting that a grenade wasn’t expected, but ambush is what the word suggests, a surprise. The scenery isn’t always in a platoon. Sometimes, the book time-hops and goes back to a person’s childhood, like O’Briens. For example, he writes, “In the evenings I’d sometimes borrow my father’s car and drive aimlessly around town” (p.43). A connection I made to the outside world is to the song “One Hell of an Amen” by Brantley Gilbert because he is saluting all of those who risks their lives to save ours. For example, Gilbert sings, “Fightin’ the good fight till the good lord calls you home” (ln. 11-12). These two connect to each other because every time I read the text, I hear the song in the back of my mind each time I read a war scene. As a whole, Tim O’brien is a complex character, and Brantley Gilbert’s song, “One Hell of an Amen” is a prime example of war.
In The Things They Carried the men all went through incredibly traumatic events. They were in a muck field and the next thing they knew they were under attack. I can imagine them being in a deep jungle and the muck is like deep mud that sinks them in when they do not move for a while. As they slowly sank into the muck, to hide, they heard a scream "Two rounds hit close by. Then a third, even closer, and immediately, off to his left, he heard somebody screaming" (page 142). He knew it was Kiowa by the sound of the scream. Bullets were flying everywhere but Norman had tried to go out and save him. When he got there he saw that Kiowa was already almost completely under, he tried to pull him out but he could not. After he could not get Kiowa out he realized how close the bullets were and he had to sink back into the muck, and the soldiers stayed like that for the rest of the ambush. After Kiowa died it took a tole on Norman. He blamed himself on the death of his friend, even though he ran out and tried to save him he still felt responsible. I believe this connects to the song "For You" by Keith Urban. It is a song about the soldiers in war and how they looked out for each other, and try to get home safely. They all change if someone dies it affects them "It's weighing on my mind I'm not trying to be a hero I don't wanna die" (line 23-25). They did not want to go to war but everything affected them. They always tried to save each other but sometimes they could not. I believe this scene and this song make a great example as a connection.
The main character and author in The Things They Carried is Tim O'Brien. He went through horrifying events that he detailed in the book. O'Brien went to Vietnam only because he thought he had no where else to go. He endured the awful conditions of Vietnam, witnessed the death of friends and comrades, and even had to take a life. His psyche was damaged heavily even to this day. He fights his demons every time he wakes up. "But the thing about remembering is that you don't forget"(p.31) O'Brien writes these stories because they fly at him in his head. He can't forget about them and they will always be with him, so he chooses to share them with the world. O'Brien was changed after the war, he blamed himself for the death of some of his friends. Vietnam haunts him everyday. The only way to cope with these thoughts is to put them in a book so others know about them. He doesn't want his friends to be forgotten. His book reminds me of a song by the Twenty One Pilots "Goner" from the album "Blurryface". The title of this album represents the lead singer's, Tyler, dark side. Tyler fights his dark side but it haunts him everyday. "Though I'm weak, And beaten down, I'll slip away into this sound" (Line 8-10) These lines show that Blurry is constantly fighting him and his only escape is music. Tyler copes by letting his fans know about Blurry thus making him stronger. Both of these individuals have a side to them that is eating away at them and without their ways to cope, might have even killed them.
In Yellow Birds, the main character is Private John Bartle. Throughout this story Bartle and his friend Murphy are stationed over in Al Tafar Iraq. While they are stationed over there , they are faced with many troubling events. One of the main events is when Murphy gets killed. This really starts to get to John because he feels he was responsible for looking after him. When John comes home he is not the same person he was when he left. He is very independent and and does not really associate with anyone. " Late August. I left my mothers house. Id developed the habit of taking long, aimless walks to fill the days"(p.135). He is showing signs how the war has affected his personality and how it caused him to shut himself out from society. I can imagine him going somewhere and just sitting down and trying to process all of his his thoughts in one place. He has trouble doing this because there are things that he remembers that he wishes he could forget. Throughout this story the author gives many flash back of the main character. Some of the events that John does not remember to well; he blames himself as the cause of them. " The closer I got to reconstructing him in my mind, the more the picture I was trying to re-create receded"(p.138). John was always thinking of his man Murphy. He wanted him back but there was nothing he could do. John is a very bold character throughout this book and his always willing to fight. The war seems to be always on his mind and he did not just leave it in Iraq. He brought it home with him. In todays society the Movie American Sniper is a great example of how war can affect the individual. When Chris comes home from each of his deployments, he is a different person. In one part of the movie Chris was sitting staring at a blank t.v, but in his head he could visualize the war and all of the sounds. Chris and John both brought the war home with them and now it slowly affects how they adjust back to society.
Jimmy Cross, the main character of The Things They Carried is a young drafted soldier. He is a sensitive Lieutenant and is only partially committed to war, but not emotionally. He spends his days daydreaming about his love interest Martha. Martha and Jimmy went on one date, and when he was sent off to war she sent him letters and a pebble for good luck. His infatuation with her never faded. In the beginning of the novel, Martha is Jimmy’s motivation. In Jimmy’s head, Martha is a symbol of regret. She symbolizes all the things he feels that he should of done when he had the chance. As the war drags on, Cross loses his innocence and he gives the fantasy up. “He was realistic about it. There was that new hardness in his stomach. He loved her but he hated her. No more fantasies, he told himself.” (Pg. 114) By leaving this fantasy world of Martha, he becomes a better leader to his men. Cross feels responsible for their lives, but not for his own; He is committed to the war only because he views it as a job. His guilt allows him to shoot his own foot, removing him from war, and when he returns home, it is hard for him to relate to others because of the mental damage from the war. Jimmy Cross is forever changed by the war and the events that occurred during war. Bruce Wayne, also known as Batman; is the hero of a small town by the name of Gotham. He is a tall, has dark hair and is either wearing a suit, or a cape and a mask at all times. Civilians look to Batman for safety and protection from sources of evil, also known as The Joker.
The connection I am making between The Things They Carried, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and the Batman is their motivation. In both cases, their motivation were their love interests. Jimmy’s being Martha, and Bruce’s being Rachel Dawes. In The Things They Carried, Jimmy fantasies about Martha and going home to Martha. Martha motivates Jimmy to get through war. Jimmy uses Martha as an escape from the horrors of war, which is what gets jimmy through war. The motivation of Bruce Wayne is Rachel Dawes. His long term friend and love interest. Throughout The Dark Knight, Rachel is in a relationship with District Attorney Harvey Dent. Rachel makes a promise to Bruce that the day he doesn’t “need batman” is the day she will leave Harvey to be with him. Bruce keeps this in mind throughout his batman journeys. Bruce has to make a decision between saving the lives of the people of Gotham, or being with the love of his life. Bruce uses Rachel as motivation to leave Batman behind. The Joker takes Rachel and Harvey hostage and puts them in different locations. The Joker tells the Batman the opposite locations of each, So Bruce thinks he is saving Rachel, but is really saving Harvey. Rachel is stuck in the warehouse when it explodes. Harvey makes it out alive. When Bruce is ready to leave Batman behind for Rachel, she dies. Jimmy Cross has to deal with PTSD because war had such an awful effect on him, and Bruce has to deal with the loss of his one true love, Rachel Dawes. Jimmy and Bruce’s motivation for their love interests was similar, but what they suffered from was very different.
The Character I choose is Tim O’Brien, the main character and author of the book The Things They carried. O’Brien is a writer, fourty-three year old soldier, and a loving father and husband. When describing O’Brien people would say that he has a straight face with little emotions, brown hair and brown eyes. When talking about war O’Brien has nothing good to say about it. He believes that war was his only option back then because everyone around him was all about it and would look down on him if he were to ignore his time when getting drafted as a young man. O’Brien says “I did not want people to think badly of me. Not my parents, not my brother and sister, not even the folks down at the Gobbler Cafe. I was ashamed of my conscience, ashamed to be doing the right thing.” (p.49). O’Brien starts to regret leaving and avoiding the war. He was just so scared but he didn’t want the people the mattered to him to dislike him.
A connection I made is with the song “Bury me far from my uniform” by Joe Pug. The reason this made a connection is because in this song it talks about how he didn’t really like war and the things that he had to do or experience Pug says “won’t you bury me far from my uniform so God might remember my face” (8-9) This line is showing that the things done were bad and he hopes that God could forgive him. Therefore I believe the two connect because of things that have been done in war that they don’t like talking about because of the overall bad that occurred.
The character Tim O'Brien in The Things They Carried is the main character in the book, as well as the author. O'Brien behaves originally by not wanting to go into the war and being against it. He feels that the war is incorrect and even has the idea of crossing the border to try and avoid the draft. When O'Brien does finally decide to go back to war he is motivated by the fact that he does not want to be seen as lesser of a person for crossing the border. He stated that he would take his dad's car and just drive around town to try and just think. The main role that he plays in the text is to show exactly what happened during the war and how his group was able to make it through.
A connection could be made between this the song "Our Endless War" by Whitechapel could be seen. The song talks about how people should not be drafted and should not have to do what they do not want to with their life. This is a connection to when O'Brien has the idea of crossing the border because he does not want to go to war, he does not believe in it. Their is also a connection between the two because of how war is seen during this seen and the song. It shows that war is not always for the best, as a lot of the time there is not much reason for it. This is why these two shows such a large connection.
I chose a scene in The Yellow Birds, rather than a character, to make a connection to. This scene is particularly morbid and barbaric because it involves a body bomb. This body bomb was used by the enemy to the American soldiers. What the enemy had done was they had took a man and killed him by silting his throat and then when he was dead stuffed him with explosives. The American soldiers in this scene watched this man's last moments, and as Bartle said it "saw him struggling and begging and asking Allah to free him..", as he was killed and stuffed with bombs. This corpse was then lit and exploded, making the scene suddenly change. We know that the man in the scene is a Muslim because he asks Allah to save them, but the people stuffing the man with bombs are possibly also Muslim. If the man and the enemy are both Muslim, wouldn't they be respectful towards each other? Instead, the men that stuffed the corpse are not being respectful towards the man, they are killing him and treating him as nothing more of than a weapon to serve their goals. This scene to me reminds me of a line in the song "Savages" by Marina and the Diamonds. The line is "Are you killing for yourself or killing for your saviour?" and it is said at the climax of the song after two verses and two refrains have been sang by the speaker, so it has an effect that makes you think. In the context of this scene, if the men that made the body bomb are both Muslims, are they killing another Muslim for themselves or for their savior? That is the connection that stood out to me between this scene in The Yellow Birds and the song "Savages" by Marina and the Diamonds.
In the novel The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers, I chose a scene where Bartle was feeling sorrowful and sentimental because of his best friend Murph. Bartle left his house and took all of his belongings and walked along the railroad tracks trying to pursue the old Danville line northeast toward the city. Bartle was observing everything down by the river where he was at. "The broad river, not yet white capped, it ran a half or a quarter of a mile to the other bank. Beyond the river and up the opposite hill, the city stood outlined against the sky. It squatted on the high ground above yet more rail lines and past the remains of a canal carved out by colonial merchants who sought to break the impediment of the fall line which Richmond straddled" (pg.141). Bartle saw Luke and other boys and girl in the water, taking turns diving into the water. " Luke and the rest of the boys and girls still splashed in the water, taking turns diving from the broad gray rocks into a little draft of current that swept them ten or twenty feet downstream like an amusement park ride" (pg.143). Luke was his best friend from before he enlisted himself in the war in Iraq. Bartle took off all his clothes and walked into the water, he began to calm down laying into the water. He drifted away putting himself to sleep. Bartle began to dream of extraordinary and beautiful images. "It stood before me, old and worn from the lash and it bled into the gently flowing water and stood tall despite its wounds. It leaned in and nuzzled me about my shoulder and neck and I Ieaned in too and nuzzled back and put my arms around it and I could feel the power in its bruised old muscles. The hose's eyes were black and soft" (pg.147). Bartle woke up to the noises of kids yelling. Luke had seen Bartle floating in the water and called for help. Bartle was drowning in the water peacefully how he wanted to. "I smiled absently and thought of the old palomino nuzzling me as i came around" (pg.147).
A connection I made to the outside world is a song, "I Will Remember You" by Sarah McLachlan. In a section of a song It talks about how she is too tired to be going through what she is going through, and how she has so much to say but cant seem to say it."I'm so tired but I can't sleep standing' on the edge of something much too deep it's funny how we feel so much but we cannot say a word though we are screaming inside, oh we can't be heard" (ln. 5-9). The song and scene I picked from the book connect to each other because Sarah McLachlan and Bartle seem to both be going through the same situation, how they are both tired and going through difficult times. They both have so much to say but cant say it.
In Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers, the main character Private John Bartle has to overcome many obstacles while at war. One in particular though is when his best friend, Murph, dies. When Murph dies, John blames it on himself because he thought he could have done more to save him. Bartle also feels horrible because he promised Murph's mother that he would look out for him when he says "I promise,” I said. “ I promise I’ll bring him home to you” to represent that John now realizes he should not have made a promise he could not keep (p.47). Throughout the book, Bartle starts to keep to himself and think about Murph and what he would do if he was there. He starts to picture Murph in his head and the memories they shared but those memories began to fade and John does not know what to do so he blames himself. Bartle says "the closer I got to reconstructing him in my mind, the more the picture I was trying to re-create receded" represent how much he imagine Murph and the impact his friend made on him (p.138). Barle thinks about Murph all the time and blames himself for the actions that took place. He becomes sympathetic and trys to fight for Murph and re-create their memories.
A connection to the outside world is the song, "Wake Me Up When September Ends" by Green Day. This song is about how when someone close to you passes away you just want to have nothing to do with the world and be secluded. For example, "Summer has come and passed/The innocent can never last/Wake me up when September ends" to represent how the innocent die and how things just "come and pass" and how they feel as if their world is upside down (ln 1-3). Both of these characters have to deal with death and the impact those individuals had on them. They start to become upset and believe that ot was all their fault but in the end, in some situations you can only do so much and have to come to reality that some events are just supposed to happy. They both have to focus on the positive and not blame everything on themselves.
Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is an influential character in the book The Things they carried. Cross is in love with a woman named Martha. Martha is a women from his home town that he spends a lot of time thinking about. She writes him letters that talk about many things, but never about the war. He wonders about Martha and wishes he would have done things differently when was back in his hometown with her. "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'Brian 42). Cross felt very guilty after Lavender was killed.
A connection made to the character of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is Noah Calhoun from the movie The Notebook. In The Notebook, Noah never gives up on his teenage romance, Allie. Their relationship ended when Allie moved across the country, but Noah never gave up on the hope that they would one day rekindle their love for each other. In the end, Noah and Allie get married and grow old together. Even though the two stories end very differently, they both include a man who does not want to give up on a woman.
The scene in the book that I chose is the one where Lee Strunk and Dave Jensen get into a fight. Where Jensen started fistfighting Strunk. “Jensen kept hitting him, over and over, quick stiff punches that did not miss” (pg. 62). Dave started worrying that Strunk was out to get him. “On patrol he was careful of Strunks whereabouts” (pg. 63). Dave thought that Lee was out to get him. Dave got so nervous that he broke his own nose just to get even with Strunk. Later on the didn’t become instant friends but they did learn how to trust one another. “They covered each other on patrol, shared a foxhole, took turns pulling guard at night” (pg. 64). Even though at one point they didn’t like each other, they found a way to learn how to trust each other. Lee later on stepped on a rigged mortar round and cut his leg off and jensen was there for him. He carried him to the dustoff chopper and later on found out that Strunk died. This is compared to when someone meets someone and they instantly don’t like them without giving the chance of knowing them. When people are mean to others about stupid things that are pointless. When they all could get along and not cause stress on others, but when they finally give each other a chance they become best friends and realize they should have all along. Just like Dave and Lee they hated each other because Lee stole Jensen’s Jackknife which made Dave made so he beat Lee. After that Jensen was afraid that Strunk was coming after him and tried to keep himself away. Later they became friends, learned how to trust each other, and everything was good.
Pvt Bartle is the main character in Yellow Birds. Bartle and Murph where like close friends and they where stationed in Al Tafar Iraq in the same war. While in Iraq , they faced many troubling events ultimately leading to Murphy's Death. Throughout the rest of the book.. not only does Murphy's death effect Bartle, he fails to believe that he and the rest of his team are killing humans who are just like themselves. "He looked left, then right, and the dust popped around him, and I wanted to tell everyone to stop shooting at him, to ask, ‘What kind of men are we?" (Powers, 21) The repeating theme of "What kind of men are we?" is a huge part of Bartle's journey and how he handles himself when he returns home. Throughout the book, Bartle takes responsibility for the tragedies around him, even though he's only one man just trying to get through a difficult situation. When he returns home, Bartle can't let go of the thoughts and feelings he experienced while at war. He's trapped in his own head. "I sat down there awhile until the sun was straight above me and the light fell down in wide columns and sweat ran down between my shoulder blades. I decided then to walk the tracks toward the city. It wasn't so much a decision as it was a product of trying to turn off my mind. I couldn't stop thinking about Murph." (Powers, 138). This quote represents the occurring theme of how he feels he was responsible for Muprh's death and he is trapped in the state of when he was at war. An example of the toll war takes on an individual is greatly expressed in American Sniper. Chris Kyle suffers from PTSD and he turns info someone, that not even his wife would recognize. All he wanted to do was go back to war and "Finish what was started" he had no actual interest in family life and life at home away from war. This ties both characters into the same group. They both cannot forget what happened at war and it takes a toll on the lives they had before they where deployed.
I chose the lieutenant, Jimmy Cross, from The Things They Carried. He was a sophomore in college when he signed up for officer training. Cross is supposed to take control of his alpha unit and be a leader, when he is actually not even focused on the war. He gives orders and then daydreams about a girl back home who he thinks he is in love with. He remembers all his times with Martha and wishes he had made a move before being going to Vietnam, but she was not even interested in him. This lack of focus gets one of his soldiers killed. In The Things They Carried, it says, "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 16). This shows the consequence of him not being focused on his task. As the commanding officer he should not be daydreaming about some girl at home while they are in possible danger. Cross signed up to be an officer just because his friends were doing it. This impacted his platoon because he was not prepared to lead these men. Later on he realizes he must forget this hopeless relationship and focus on his platoon. In The Things They Carried it says, "There was that new hardness in his stomach. He loved her but he hated her. No more fantasies, he told himself.” (Pg. 114). This is the point when Lieutenant Cross decides that he must let Martha go and stop the daydreams.
One person who is similar to Lieutenant Cross is Eddard Stark from Game of Thrones. They are similar because Ned dreams about the past and how things were, instead of focusing on the present. He is an old school kind of guy who believes in honor and doing things right. The rest of the kingdom is becoming a vicious place where back stabbing, cheating, and killing happens on a daily basis. His stubbornness and being unable to adapt and play the game of thrones gets him and many of his men killed. This is similar to how Jimmy cross can not let his love, Martha, out of his mind, and because of this, one of his men are killed. In Ned's case, instead of just one man dying, many of his men die and he is killed along with them.
In the book The Things They Carried, Mary Anne Bell is not a main character, but her story packs a punch in the book. Mary Anne is Mark Fossie’s girlfriend, whom he flies in to be with him in Vietnam. At first Mary Anne’s role at the camp is exactly what one would expect: she’s there looking pretty, full of dreams, and in love with Mark. However as her time in Vietnam goes on, curiosity gets the best of her. She begins to learn about the guns the men use, how to help them in anyway she can, and how life as a soldier works. She cuts her hair short, and stops being girly because she’s more interested in the world that has got her in a trance. Mark is somewhat angered by this because she is not there to serve only his purpose-- to be his girlfriend-- anymore. She is described on page 95 as such: “Her body seemed foreign somehow-- too stiff in places, too firm where the softness used to be. The bubbliness was gone.” and Fossie was starting to get suspicious about her behavior. She was coming to bed late and he suspected that she was sleeping with another soldier. When investigated, they found that she was actually going on secret missions with the top of the line Green Berets. The resentment Mark has shows that he had the mindset that women were not meant for war and that Mary Anne should have only been there for him. Eventually he has intentions to send her home to go back and be his fiance and wait for his return, but instead she continues to fight alongside the Green Berets and goes crazy in a sort of way.
A similar story, although the characters do not share the same motivation, is from the Disney movie Mulan. Mulan goes to war to fight for her father, but before that happens, the opening scene in the movie is her getting ready to meet a matchmaker who will choose her husband for her, which is a traditional way that they treat their women. When she offers to take her father’s place in the war, everyone laughs at her but she does it anyways. Disguised as a man, as her troop is on their way out of training camp and onto battle ground the men sing a song titled “A Girl Worth Fighting For”, in which all of the men describe their perfect woman that they want to be waiting for them when they get home. Even though the men are singing about the ladies, they are still focused on themselves and what the women will do for them with lyrics like “I want her paler than the moon,/ With eyes that shine like stars/My girl will marvel at my strength,/ Adore my battle scars”(lines 12-15), which imply that the only purpose the women serve is for the man. Later in the movie when she is discovered, Mulan is shunned by her company and more importantly General Shang, much how Mark Fossie had negative feelings toward Mary Anne. There is no reason for them to be disappointed in her, she is a great soldier and had just helped them in a battle against their enemy, however the fact that she is a woman leads to them leaving her out in the cold. Both of the stories show how men think that a woman does not belong in the military, and that they should sit back and be a reward waiting at home for the man who went to war.
The scene I had chose was found in chapter 1 of the book Yellow birds. The character John Bartle was currently in Al Tafar on a mission with his crew. As he was there he had watched many innocent lives get taken and some of his own men. The innocent lives that were taken had played a big impact on his mind. In war we forget that its not only tragic losing our own men, but its tragic to our men that have to kill innocent people and children. The scene that stood out the most to me was found on page 22, "I realized with great shock that I was shooting at him and that I wouldn't stop until I was sure that he was dead, and I felt better knowing we were killing him together and that it was just as well not to be sure you are the one who did it" (Powers, 22). I chose this scene because this is when he started getting into detail about the things that take place on their missions. Before he was able to shoot the man, he went into detail about how he froze before he could shoot, "Sterling yelled a long time that day before I squeezed the trigger" (Powers, 20).
This scene also can relate to anyones everyday life. Although we do not kill anyone or are put in predicaments like the men that are in war, we do have the capability to tear others down with the words we use. Everyday we know people who are shot down by other peoples cruel words. I relate this to anyones life because John Bartle explains that, "I wanted to tell everyone to stop shooting him, to ask, 'what kind of men are we'" (Powers 21). We watch people tear others down everyday whether it be in person, social media, or text. Many of those times we watch it happen instead of taking a chance to stop it. Not only does that happen, but the quote above that John felt better shooting when he had murphy next to him because it made him feel better knowing not sure whether he did it or not. Many times we have our friends with us when we shoot harmful words at other people. Those are the two connections I had made with everyones daily life and the book Yellow Birds.
In Yellow Birds, I considered chapter two very important and made a lot of connections. In specific, pages forty-four through forty-seven. I called this part the ‘goodbye’ section. Where John Bartle and Daniel Murphy are saying goodbye to their families as they head off. Bartle’s mother cries as she says goodbye to her son, reminding him how she told him not to enlist. John struggles to remember his manners, but calmly reminds her that it is done and there’s nothing she can do. She sadly remembers this and wants to have a nice time with her son before he goes off and she may never see him again. Bartle also speaks with Murphy’s parents and stupidly promises his mother that he’ll bring her son home safe. To say this to someone’s mother is probably one of the hardest things to do. But she just wants reassurance that her son will be safe. And I’m sure all moms want that, but to actually ask that of someone is also a bit dumb, in my opinion. It’s just setting them up in a difficult position they don’t want to be in.
This desire for assurance reminds me of Taylor Swift’s Never Grow Up, from her third studio album Speak Now. In this song, the speaker sings to their younger brother throughout his growing up life. They remind him, through everything, to “Never grow up, it could stay this simple” (Swift in. 9). A simple life, in the speaker’s eyes, is not “...[losing] the way that you dance around in your PJs / Getting ready for school” (Swift lns. 21-22). They desperately want their brother to stay younger and not grow up. In this same sense, Bartle’s and Murphy’s mothers don’t want them to grow up, either, and take all of this responsibility on them. Murphy’s mother comments how “‘[She’s] gonna take good care of you. Y’all will get more care packages than anyone.’” (Powers 46). Bartle’s mother doesn’t show as much external support, though she always cares. She more just wants her son to be safe and away from the dangers of war. She wants to protect him from everything, as Never Grow Up is about how the speaker wants to keep their little brother safe.
The scene I chose from The Yellow Birds was where Bartle had been home for a few months after his deployment. He is sitting along the river while this scene is going on. This scene is very unique because it is one long sentence, which spans just about two pages. In this drawn out thought we see a large amount of emotion and an inside look into Bartle's head after the war. While it is hard to capture the emotion of this scene in one quote, you can feel the stream of consciousness in something like this “and everyone wants to slap you on the back and you start to want to burn the whole goddamn country down, you want to burn every goddamn yellow ribbon in sight, and you can’t explain but it’s like, F**k you, but then you signed up to go so it’s all your fault, really, because you went on purpose, so you are in the end doubly f****d, so why not just find a spot to curl up and die…” This whole passage is the same, we get a detailed inside look at what Bartle has been thinking of how people interact with him now, the reason he went into the army, and a sense of how his time overseas really impacted him.
I’d compare this scene to the song ‘u’ by Kendrick Lamar, not in their similarity in topics but in delivery. Both use a very emotional delivery to get the message or thoughts across. Bartle uses the one long stream of consciousness and Kendrick uses two distinct flows, one where he elongates the end of each line and another with a tearful delivery. Both of these deliveries, in the book and song, enhance the message by giving the reader/listener a more emotional connection to the song/passage.
In The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, he writes about the one time he killed a man in the Vietnam War. The scene is early in the morning, and O’Brien is taking the last shift of the night for guard duty. “The night was foggy and hot” (Pg. 126). It was a quiet night until he saw a young man walking in the brush, coming through the fog. “In a way, it seemed, he was part of the morning fog, or my own imagination, but there was also the reality of what was happening in my stomach” (Pg. 126). O’Brien saw the man as if he was no harm, just passing through. However, his stomach was nervous and he reacted by pulling the pin on a grenade. As O’Brien thought about what was happening in the moment, he realized he did not want to kill the young man. “I did not hate the young man; I did not see him as the enemy...There were no thoughts about killing. The grenade was to make him go away - just evaporate” (Pg. 126-127). The grenade was thrown, and O’Brien felt himself throw it as if in slow motion. He knew the man was going to die. He could hear the man drop his weapon, run, and try to take cover, but it was too late for him. “The grenade made a popping noise...and the young man seemed to jerk upward as if pulled by invisible wire” (Pg. 127). O’Brien will always feel guilty for what he has done to that poor man on that hot and foggy early morning.
This scene that Tim O’Brien has witnessed connects with today’s society. The society can be two sided. One side being the “good” and the other being the “bad”. The good part of society will have a heart for the people living in difficult situations. This included donations, fundraisers, and other events to help others. Many people will come together to look at the brighter side of every situation and will help others. However, the bad part of society is also a huge problem in today’s world. This would include being racist, sexist, or shaming people for what they look like. All the hate that society brings when they tell people they are not good enough to be alive. This relates to the scene O’Brien kills a man in because of the feelings he has. As a person, O’Brien has no hate for that individual and he just wants him to go away so neither get hurt. However, his instincts react first. He never saw that man as an enemy, but he had to do what was right for the war. Even though he had every right to kill that man, he had regretted it since he had done it.
Tim O'Brien is the author and main character of the book The Things They Carried. He is a witter, husband, and father and is not to keen on the idea of going to war. He is against the idea of war and feels it's not necessary. As he goes off to war,it is through him that we learn more about him. Its not just him who we learn it from. Other people's stories are also briefly introduced to the story as well. O'Brien does not want people to view or think of him badly. He does go to war eventually and he is forced to deal with all the horrors he endures throughout war. This is both in reality and in his thoughts. Its what is carried with O'Brien and the other soldiers even after they go home. "But the thing about remembering is that you don't forget"(p.31) no matter what they all have to carry their demons and go on with the thoughts and memories that they experienced. So the things they carry are not always physical things but can also be applied mentally.
The song that I connect this to is "Empty Gold" by Halsey. The lyrics "We're the alley cats and they can throw their stones
They can break our hearts, they won't take our souls" applies because soldiers are being thrown at all different kinds of challenges and personal struggles like not wanting to go to war but still going. Seeing their comrades and friends die and having to put up with harsh environments and situations and then just having to go on. But even after having to go through such traumatizing events , they all still hope to some out strong and even if things are not the same, people can always find a way to pull through, even if it seems like the hardest thing in the world.
Lieutenant Cross was drafted into the war and he wasn’t fully committed. He was in love with Marsha back home even though the feelings weren’t mutual. They only went on one date together before he left. He was caught up on her, always daydreaming about her and not committing himself to his men. He felt shame for always choosing her over his men. “He had loved Marsha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead,” (p.16). After Lavender died, Cross burned marsha’s notes.
In the movie Forrest Gump, Forrest is a not so intelligent kid that wears braces on his legs due to scoliosis. Forrest loved Jenny all through his life. They meet each other as kids on the bus to school and stayed friends. Forrest was always a target from bullies and Jenny was always there for him as his friend. He played football in college, then went to the army. Through adulthood, Forrest never stops loving her and they saw each other in DC when forrest received a medal of honor. Forrest and Jenny eventually get married and have a kid. Even though the love story of Cross and Marsha didn’t end the same way, it is a similar love story about being stuck on the same person for many years in the war.
Although a minor character, Malik makes a significant impact in the book “Yellow Birds”.
He is not described in much detail because much of him is covered. “He wore a hood over his face, worn khaki slacks and a faded dress shirt” (page 9). Malik was the interpreter for the group of soldiers. He studied literature before the war, and seemed to have a love of the english language. He wears the mask because if it found out what he does, there will be deadly consequences, “They’ll kill me for helping you. They’ll kill my whole family” (page 9). Malik’s character is symbolic of how common death is during war. Malik gets shot and killed, and all Bartle and Murphy can think about is if his death counts towards the total. Malik also displays the fact that war is not necessary. The fact that he would help the country that is fighting his shows that war only makes things worse.
A character similar to Malik is Hector Salamanca from Breaking Bad. Hector has a hatred towards Walter white because he killed his nephew. The only thing that trumps that hate is his hate for the DEA. Hector works with his enemy (Walter White), just as Malik worked with his enemy (The American troops). Another similarity is that they are both killed by their own people. Malik gets shot by people from where he grew up, while Hector commits suicide with a bomb. Both characters also died in an honorable way. Hector takes out one of the most powerful drug lords in the world, and Malik dies trying to better his life by helping America during the war.
I chose the scene "The Things They Carried" where Tim O'Brien drives to the small lodge resort on the Rainy River. Tim has received his draft letter and is contemplating going to war of which he resents or crossing the border and becoming a deserter. One scene in particular from this is when the old man he was staying with takes him out on the river, well knowing what O'Brien was thinking. O'Brien breaks down and begins to cry he is hunched over trying to to choose what he will do in either case he would be deserting his old life. O'Brien describes the feeling with very intense detail using people as the comparison, "It was as if there were an audience to my life, that swirl of faces along the river, and in my head I could hear people screaming at me. Traitor! Turncoat!" (O'Brien, 57), although there were no actual people there the embarrassment drove O'Brien to go to war. The choice he makes was not one he wanted to but was forced into through societal pressures.
I compare this to my life after high school, and what kind of decisions I'm making right now. Having to make difficult choices about either going to college, joining the military or going straight into the work force. My decision is not as heavily weighed by societal pressures as O'Brien's but has the same amount of impact on my life. The way society pushes us now is more towards going to college and getting a degree and that is the path i chose, which is what happened to O'Brien but not to the extremity of his situation. I'm still able to choose what major and what college I want to go to where as O'Brien didn't have a choice in the branch or specialization he would have.
I chose the lieutenant, Jimmy Cross, from the book The Things They Carried. He is partially committed to war but doesn't show that he is emotionally connected. In the beginning of the novel, Martha is his motivation. Before Jimmy went to war him and Martha went on a date and after he was sent off to war she still wrote him letters and gave him a pebble for good luck. Jimmy and Martha talk about a lot of things but would never talk about the war. Jimmy always thinks about Martha and wish he would of did things differently when he had the chance. "He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavander 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'Brian 42). This shows the consequence of him not being focused on his task. Jimmy was too caught up in daydreaming about a girl from back home then focusing on the war and being in possible danger, but later into the war Lietentant Cross realized he needed to stop the daydreams and let go of Martha.
I compared this scene to the movie "The Notebook". Noah Calhoun is similar to Jimmy Cross because they both struggle with giving up on their teenage love. In the movie The Notebook Noah is in love with Allie, Noah never gave up the hopes that him and Allie would get back together and grow old together. Noah fought for Allie and they ended up growing old together. Even though the book The Things They Carried and the movie The Notebook end differently, they both include a man who does not want to give up on their first love.
Sergeant Sterling is the man mostly in charge of Bartle and Murph and is known for his temper and bad behavior. However, he is dedicated to his duty as a sergeant and is well disciplined, making him an excellent leader. “I didn’t realize it then, but Sterling seemed to know exactly how hard to push the LT so that discipline remained. He didn’t care if we hated him. He knew what was necessary” (page 17). He is strong and is noted throughout having tattoos, proving his strength and willingness to do whatever he wants to do. It is not stated what motivates him yet because he is a closed off character with little display of emotion other than the typical sergeant, being mean and uncaring.
I relate sergeant Sterling to Lieutenant Dan in the movie Forrest Gump. Lieutenant Dan is a very strong character and is in the war to follow in his family’s footsteps. He yells at Gump and torments the other soldiers with his words. LT Dan, like Sterling, knows discipline and will do everything to make sure rules are followed. Both of these men have alcoholic downfalls though and both turn to bars and darkness as a remedy; Sterling uses it to forget the war he is constantly trying to remove from his mind and LT Dan drinks because he believes his life is a mess because he didn’t die in war like the rest of his family and he is missing both his legs. Sterling turns abusive and Dan becomes depressed. Neither of them are able to be the person everyone expects them to be under the influence of alcohol, they turn into their true selves. Lieutenant Dan and Sergeant Sterling are similar in ways of discipline and downfalls but still end up helping the main character, whether it’s Bartle or Gump, become a better person and learn to become successful and happy in the end.
Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is a Platoon leader and obviously, Lieutenant. His main priority and job is to keep his men safe, and take control of situations that arise. He has to plan ahead for situations, and come up with solutions. Although, Jimmy Cross is not that well of a leader. His mind wanders all the time, and is mostly on the love of his life Martha, whom will never love him back the way he loves her. He is always distracted and his mind is almost never on war. After one of his men died, Lieutenant Jimmy cross will always feel the guilt for his death, because his mind wasn't where it should have been, while it was on Martha. "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 war" (O'Brien 16). Ater that incident, the Lieutenant wanted to change his ways of leading, and become a better leader. He started by burning the letters Martha had written him, and motivated himself to focus on war, and keeping his men safe. His motivation to leadership is shown in the quote "his obligation was not to be loved but to lead" (O'Brien 25). The Lieutenants motivation during the time of war was his love, Martha. She was his safe haven. He would always keep with him the good luck pebble she sent him. He believed that she was his guardian during war. His dependance for motivation towards Martha is shown in the quote "Lieutenant Cross kept to himself. He pictured Martha's smooth young face, thinking he loved her more than anything" (O'Brien 8). His thoughts of her would keep him going, and was his motivation to get through obstacles. Someone that is like Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is Izzy Stevens from Grey's Anatomy. She is a young, smart, determined woman that is learning to become a leader and be the best she can be. That all changes when she gets involved with a patient, Denny, and falls in love with him. Izzy is soon distracted by Denny and can't concentrate on her duties as a surgeon. Just as Jimmy Cross, he was distracted by Martha and wouldn't be able to keep his mind on what really mattered.
Tim O'Brien is the narrator of the book "The Things They Carried". He's an important character in the book because he gives an outside view on his comrades and an inside look at his own views on the war. He describes himself as what seems to be a good-looking, smart, and educated man. Despite all of his positive attributes, though, he allows social stigma to make his decision to go to war after he was drafted. He says on page 57, "I would go to war...because I was embarrassed not to". This need to be a man, a real man, motivates him to go through with being drafted although he had such a bright future ahead of him. Although he describes himself as a liberal who does not believe in war that has no visible rhyme or reason, much like the vietnam war in his eyes, he still chooses to go to war instead of Canada. O'Brien is an in-depth character, though, and while he chose to go to war without actually wanting to, he does his best in order to succeed and be the best he can while in war. He talks of his strong moral values and how he tried to stay true to them as best he could while in war, but also of how war changes people and gives examples within himself on how this is so. In the text, the role he plays is not only to allow insight on war, but on the change in others and the ways in which people act while in such situations.
In making a connection, I will reference Katniss Everdeen. She is the main character in the Hunger Games series and she chose to go to a type of "war" when she volunteered as tribute to save her sister. If she would have not volunteered, she would have been looked at in the same way as O'Brien would have; a coward for not taking her sister's place, an embarrassment. Much like O'Brien, she is an average yet smart person, not believing or buying too much into the "war" or hunger games she must endure, but still going through with it because she must. Like O'Brien, her purpose within the novel is to explore the moral compasses one will surpass and break when going through times of trial. While she would not normally think of murdering another, when it comes to keeping oneself alive, she had no problem doing so. She gave her own insight into the hunger games and the ways in which others thought of it as well; for example, certain districts bred their tributes to be winners and took pride in being chosen, yet districts like hers could not afford to breed such lavish humans since they were too impoverished. All in all, the connection made between the two characters is that they are both made to serve the purpose of war and not only their own personal views but the views of their society and of those they are at war with.
I chose the scene where Narrator kills a man, in the book "The Things They Carried", the scene starts at the beginning of a chapter when his daughter asks if he has ever killed anyone. He lies to his daughter, and then describes the young soldier he killed. As the author describes what happens, he gets caught up in the thought of what the young man might have acted like or what he might have felt, he feels guilty for taking that man's life. So he fabricates, a stories, about the young soldier, "And for years despite his poverty, the man I killed would have been determined to continue his education in mathematics." (p.122) The Narrator was trying to say that the man he killed was just like him, or everyone else, he had a life, he had dreams. But the Narrator killed a man, an innocent man, as he describes it, who was just trying to do good for his family. The Narrator relates, to the young soldier, by saying how he was scared, that the young soldier didn't want to be there, he was just trying to do his part. In the same like, the young man could be compared to many of the American soldiers drafted, they were young, inexperienced, scared. But they went, because they were too scared of what everyone else might think. The Narrator is ridden with guilt, in fact he is surprised at himself for killing the man, because it happened so fast. He can's take his eyes off the corpse of the man, he describes it with so much detail, how the body looked after receiving an impact from a granade. For example, "His jaw was in his throat, his upper lip and teeth were gone, his one eye was shut, his other eye was a star shaped whole..." (p.118) The Narrator can't take his eyes of the corpse he created, he takes in every detail, and describes it in detail to the reader. How it looked, there is even a part where Kiowa has to drag the Narrator from the body, and tells him to stop staring. When he threw the grenade, it was late at night, while he was on watch, it was a hot foggy night. The narrator describes how he threw the grenade, how it came to him like an instinct, "...But there was no reality of what was happening in my stomach. I had already pulled the pin on a grenade. It was entirely automatic." (p.126) The Narrator was scared, and from instinct he threw the grenade, it wasn't like he hated the young man, he just was scared. The young soldier was just walking along the path, trying to find his way, but he walked down the wrong path that night. His body had responded on it's own, before he could even tell it too. At the end of the chapter, the Narrator finishes by telling the reader that he still hasn't forgotten the man he killed or how it happened. He still hasn't forgiven himself for his death, it still haunts him to this day. A connection I would make would be The Expendables 2, when Liam Hemsworth aka Billy is killed. Billy, like the young soldier was young, he was vibrant and had a girlfriend, but when he is killed by Vilian, Barney Ross feels responsible for his death, he feels guilty. Billy was younger than Ross, and was a bit inexperienced. Ross tries to trade for Billy's life, but Ross watches Vilian kill Billy in front of his own eyes. Ross feels guilty because he was the younger of the troupe and feels like he failed to protect him. I made the connection with the movie because both the Narrator and Ross feel guilty about the lives list at their hands.
I chose the character Malik from the book "The Yellow Birds". Malik has a direct characterization. “He wore a hood over his face, worn khaki slacks and a faded dress shirt” (page 9). He wears a hood over his head because he is working with the american troops. He interprets for the army. He really belongs to the opposing enemy. if his native land found out what he was doing, there would be things he would have to deal with. Malik has a connection to the character is Sam Axe from the series "Burn Notice". Sam works for his friend Michael Westen. After Michael was burned, Sam came to help him, but at the same time he was reporting to the FBI what Michael was doing and what he was up to. He had to lie because he did not want Michael to et in any more trouble. Just as Malik, If the FBI found out that he was lying about what Michael was up to, there would be some consequences. Malik and Sam are nearly identical as in what they are doing for the good of themselves and for the people they are helping.
Reading The Yellow Birds through the eyes of the protagonist John Bartle there is a sense of uselessness. Its pathetic for the protagonist to be such a panzee, heck he doesn't even know what side he is on at times "A man ran behind a low wall in a courtyard and looked around, astonished to be alive, his weapon cradled in his arms. My first instinct was to yell out to him, “You made it, buddy, keep going," (Pg 20) Why isn't the main character smoking, with a bullet chain around his shoulder, and holding a big machine gun mowing enemies down by the dozen? Its because the character is a genuine human being, John Bartle, a simple name, and the appearance is unknown so far, but one can assume as all soldiers don't look to different: 5-11, 220 pounds, soft faces silhouetted by a hard jawline, all with the same buzz cut, all with something in their eyes, but what does Barlte have in common with my father? Well for starters both are veterans, and he may not look like it but my dad once passed a fitness test for the military. Although different wars, hell is hell, give or take a few degrees and they both went through it. Seeing videos and hearing stories of my dad he was always quiet yet found a way into trouble. Bartle has a knack for trouble to, promising mothers safety, getting into brothels and thrashing places, gun fights, the whole nine yards. Some stories my dads friends would tell me sounds similar, cause my father doesn't speak to often i only hear them from friends. Bar fights, swindling the MP's, getting robbed at knife point, i'm not sure about a brothel but i hope he doesn't have a story in one of those... Jokes aside i remember hearing how my Uncle said he was changed, tending to himself more often, quiet, not stand offish but distant instead of his perodox of nerdy rebellious self he joined the war because he didn't want to be a carpenter. I mean no offense to carpenters heck Jesus was one my grandfather too, but he joined none the less in spite of disapproval from his marine father and all. I think it was to escape something, the same old same old, he was intelligent testing very high in the placement tests and got along just fine with the people he served with. Just like Bartle escaping that backwash of Virginia dixie land and wanting answers, adventure, never more than five miles from home before is something him and my dad have. Growing up in a finically strapped house hold check. seeing friends gunned down in front of you, checked. making friends and connections only to hear about their death later, check. withdrawal and timid about recalling memories, check. keeping a large part of his past a mystery from loved ones, check. These are all things they have in common and im scared for the ending of this book because it holds such similarities to my own father that is scares me to know what he is going through... Ignorance is bliss... Really three things are connected: Bartle with my father and I am connected to bartle like looking through a lens and seeing my fathers life a little, its scary.
Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, a character from one of O’Brien’s side stories, is the person I chose to do. Tim O’Brien did not let the reader know many details about the image of Cross, but he did let the reader see how Cross chose to deal with getting through the war. “To carry something was to hump it, as when Lieutenant Jimmy Cross humped his love for Martha up the hills and through the swamps” (O’Brien, 3). This quote is an example of the love and built up fantasy that Cross carried with him through the war. This fantasy resulted in his behavior after the war, the built up love he created was soon destroyed coming back home. “She had never married, she said, and probably never would. She didn’t know why. But as she said this, her eyes seemed to slide sideways, and it occurred to him that there were things about her he would never know” (O’Brien, 27).
I choose Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, a character from Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried". O'Brien never gave a physical description to give the readers a clear image of what Cross looked like, but his actions in the war are quite strange. Cross seems to not fully care about his men dying, and only worries about Martha, his love back home. "He remembered kissing her good night at the dorm door"(O'Brien 4). This quote symbolizes his thoughts and memories of Martha and the times they spent together. Martha motivates him to keep going in the war and to stay alive so he can return home to see her. This character relates to the main character in the movie "Remember Me", played by Robert Patinson. Robert Patinson falls in love with a girl that is in the same family drama he is in-- their fathers. Patinson eventually breaks away from the girl but cannot be without her and thinks about her constantly, knowing she was the reason that got him through the day.
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