James Rives: Journal 4 – A Crowded Place
It was boisterous and compact. The Capital had a mall the size of the Old Earth’s state of Virginia and it definitely held as many people as the former state did. But it was commercial traffic– which...
View ArticleJournal 4
“Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before noon.” Nick laughs as Jamie slumps into the chair next to him. “I don’t need this today.” Jamie mutters as she rubs her head in frustration before trying...
View ArticleHeroes and Heroism
Before answering the question of heroism in the novel The Things They Carried, I wanted to begin by sharing a quote. O’Brien says that a “true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor...
View ArticleJournal 5- Jake
1) No, I don’t believe O’Brien’s story has heroes. And it’s interesting too, considering how the USA’s perception of the Vietnam war was one where, now, it wasn’t enough being a patriotic...
View ArticleJournal 5 – Storytelling
There were a lot of times in The Things They Carried that O’Brien got very candid and “meta” with the reader. The three most prominent examples of this in my mind were the three vignettes towards the...
View ArticleJournal 6; Topic 4
Option B: In short, I think that the story about Rahm flying is a metaphor for the writing life. Dillard makes this connection for me when she says that Dave Rahm’s “plane was the pen” (95). When...
View ArticleJournal 6, Jacob Black
What haunts me? The opportunities missed, maybe? Sometimes I think a little too hard about the film programs, rookie documentaries made with loaned equipment. Mom sometimes asks if I still have any of...
View ArticleJournal 6: B1
What happened to me here did matter. Yeah, it might not have mattered to you, or to her, or to him. I bet they never even heard my name before. In fact, I’d probably bet you any sum that they haven’t....
View ArticleAdaptation: Desire
One aspect about the movie Adaptation that I found interesting was “desire.” Susan Orlean, played by Meryl Streep, says this: “I wanted to want something as much as people want these plants…I wanted to...
View ArticleJournal 8 – Adaptation, Beth Anne, and the Writer’s Block Monster
Plot twist: I have never been very interested in writing books. I love books, reading them has always been a great source of joy and inspiration for me, but I do not seek to write them myself. That...
View Article