Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Exploration 5: Xavier Gregory

1. The story that has meant the most to me was the The Things They Carried. This story I think has meant the most because through out the chapter he talks about the physical things that they actually carried through Vietnam also it talks about the mental things that they carried. Henry Dobbins... carried extra rations, Dave Jensen... carried hygienic items like toothbrush, dental floss, and soap. and Ted lavender.. carried tranquilizers. Then Jimmy Cross carried letters from Martha and also the mental notes that he had from when he and Martha spent time with each other before Vietnam.

2.Ted Lavender is the character who i have connected with the best so far because of the fact he is frightened with the idea that his is in Vietnam fighting. I think the fear is what I can connect with because even though i have never experienced a war before i have many family members who have fought in wars and i have one member who actually fought in Vietnam and when i hear the stories it seriously makes me never want to be apart of a war.

3. I think the in the first chapter when Tim talks about the things the soldiers carried through Vietnam is probably the most important convention because it talks about the physical and emotion baggage that was carried with them. Then when he talks about the physical items that they carried and he adds all the weight to the items and gives the reader a sense of how much these men were actually carrying.

4."Often, they carried each other, the wounded or weak. They carried infections. They carried chess sets, basketballs \, Vietnamese- English dictionaries, insignia of rank bronze stars and purple hearts." This passage impacted me because the part where he talks about how the soldiers carried each other through the worst of the war. War had caused them to rely on each other because they became a new family.

4 comments:

  1. I like how you tied in all your answers together. It shows how the chapter really impacted you. I also made a connection with the characters that did not want to go to war, that were afraid of it. In my case I said Tim, but I can also see where Ted Lavender is afraid of war as well.

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  2. Xavier I also liked the chapter "The Things They Carried". The one thing that stood out to me the most is when Tim said they also carried ghosts. For me the ghosts represent all of the events that they have faced during the war. Whether it was witnessing a friend die or having to kill somebody that is something that they are going to have to carry with them for the rest of their lives.

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  3. In your #4 that chapter and quote also impacted me and gave me a good visual of what the soldiers had to deal with in the war. It helped me feel what they felt and made reading it more interesting.

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  4. I had the same answer for question 3. I felt like his naming of physical and emotional baggage they all carried gave a clear idea about how burdened they all were. They were carrying around their old lives, their stresses, and most of all their equipment. It gives a new perspective on how hard it was for the soldiers back then.

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