First of all, please read pages 15 to 16 in The Art of Styling Sentences, and then complete the exercises on page 17.
Then, respond to the following prompt in a comment. You must use at least three of the Week 2 Vocabulary words, and sentence Pattern 3 at least once.
Prompt: Describe one of the characters in TTTC without using his or her name.
There is an array of unique characters to chose from in "The Things They Carried". Many of the soldiers never get to relax and have a hiatus because they are constantly fighting. One soldier in particular acts in a bellicose manner after he visits the dentist and demands him to pull his tooth out. He also acts like a callow boy, playing all of the time with his best friend. His goofing around cost him his life: he stepped on a 105 round land mine that blew him to pieces. His best friend could not fathom that he had become defunct and was no longer with them. Although his friend became emotionally distraught with the death; he said it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. This soldier loved to live an impudent lifestyle and always have a good time.
ReplyDeleteThis character is one of the few girls mentioned in The Things They Carried. She took a hiatus from her life in America and traveled to Vietnam to be with her boyfriend. She did not carp about not having any of the convenience that she was used to in America, in fact, she wanted to eat Vietnam up. She was not shy: she showed no signs of diffidence and even went out to fight with Special Forces.
ReplyDeleteOne bellicose character in "The Things They Carried" is Mark Fossie's girlfriend who he sends over from America. She fomented all the soldiers and espoused them to keep going on. She might have been inchoate but she was still beautiful to the men so it was excruciatingly painful when she left to fight with the greenies. Fossie grieved her leaving: he loved her but she was incorrigible and would never be the same.
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ReplyDeleteWhen he was a solider, he took no hiatus from battle. He was not an impudent man. In fact, he was nervous man. He took tranquilizers to try and calm himself when walking around Vietnam. We did not read about him a lot because he died in one of the earlier chapters. If fact, he is defunct; a sniper shot him when he was coming back from using the bathroom.
ReplyDeleteIn "The Things They Carried" there is a variety of characters. One of them who is particularly impudent: this character acts crazily on a regular basis. His death is excruciating to listen to and is unimaginable to have seen. His body parts hang from the tree. The reason for his behavior is: he has no diffidence and always does what he wants to do no matter what.
ReplyDeleteWhen the medics were talking about bringing in a girl to the camp, the disscussion fomented an idea in this character's mind to bring his girlfriend to Vietnam. He thought that Mary Anne, his girlfriend, would be unchanged. It turns out that his plan was an inchoate one: Mary Anne ran off into the jungle. This was excruciatingly painful for this character as they had been together since high school, and he thought he was going to marry her.
ReplyDeleteThis character is extremely religious: he doesn't espouse using a pagoda as a base in the war. He also doesn't carp often, rather he just takes the war as it is and goes with it, quite a contrast to many of his fellow soldiers. Additionally, he isn't an impudent guy. In fact, he comforts Tim O'Brien after Tim has shot someone, hoping to raise his spirits.
ReplyDeleteI watched him die. He was playing a game with Rat Kiley where they’d play catch with a smoke grenade until it popped covering them in smoke. They’d laugh hardily and put their hands on their knees after laughing long enough. You’d think they’d eventually stop thinking it was funny, but every time they’d burst in laughter, emulating young children. Then thing I knew, there was a popping sounds, and I turned my head in time to see him immerge from the shadows into the sunlight and then fall to the ground like his breath had been taken away in one fast moment. He’d stepped on a booby trapped 105 round and just like that he was turned into nothing but a memory. All my buddies stared silently at the lifeless man that was just a kid with young gray eyes. Someone may have whispered “damn it,” but other then that, all was quiet. But the most excruciating part was when Rat stepped out into the sunlight. His eyes were swollen and visibly heavier than before. His chest hammered up and down, yet he swallowed hard like trying to forget the pain. His expression was glazed over and numb yet at the same time, I could read the pain on his face with his scrunched eyebrows and watered eyes. At that moment he turned into all that he was meant to be, a bellicose soldier: he was no longer a man who could stand caring and then having it taken away. Then he just grabbed his gun and left: he left just like his friend. My friend Tim later told me that he must have thought that the sunlight killed him, the way he walked into the light and then vanished into nothing. But me, I think he must have thought that happiness killed him. The way everything seemed good and peaceful and then gone. I swear, he was smiling when he died. He probably believed that he was defying his destiny by laughing. Happiness was a part of the world we’d all left behind. I know what you’ll think. The sunlight didn’t kill him and neither did happiness. But in war, life and after life start to merge into the same nightmarish thing- existence. And when all you do is exist, anything can kill you.
ReplyDeleteThis character was with Tim O’Brien when Rat Kiley was telling the story about Mary Anne. He was constantly carping at Rat Kiley about his storytelling skills: he basically called Rat’s story inchoate and kept complaining about how he took many hiatuses in the middle of telling his story.
ReplyDeleteHe was practically a boy when he was killed. He did not die an excruciating death: he stepped on a mine while he was playing a game with Rat Kiley, and died instantly. Although Tim O'Brien describes him as impudent, everyone felt sympathy for him when he died. He is now defunct, but his legacy is carried on through "The Things They Carried."
ReplyDeleteMany bad things happen in "The Things They Carried." One particular character decides to take a small hiatus from the war: he plays catch with a grenade. Needless to say, he gets a severe castigation. He steps on a rigged 105 round and dies. Most people die old and hoary, but he dies at a young age.
ReplyDeleteHe could never forgive himself for Lavender's death. The death of a soldier.
ReplyDeleteIt was a bellicose time in Vietnam. At that time he was a Lieutenant at twenty-four years of age. The mass that he carried was unbearable: A 45-caliber pistol, his everlasting love for Martha, and the excruciating weight of guilt.
He saw her at a college reunion, with expectations that she might change her mind; maybe she could grow to love him. Incipiently he understands that she wants to remain friends.
Knowing that their relationship is defunct, he still adores her.
Even now, many years later, he still won't speak about the death of his friend, Ted.
This character is probably on of the least bellicose. So much so, that he always carries a Bible with him. He is never accused of a diatribe of any kind. I personally love this character for one main reason: he always seems to be around when someone needs a friend. Eventually, the stress of war encumbered his career as a soldier and caused him to shoot his own foot.
ReplyDeleteThis character has lots of tragic experiences. The one that bothers him the most is fomented by just the thought of his troops at Vietnam: the eminent memory engrained in his head of Ted Lavender being shot while he was off thinking about his girl back home. He now castigates himself for allowing his mind to wander off and blames himself for the death of Ted Lavender.
ReplyDeleteThis character has to go through the excruciating task of trying to forget about the love of his life back home. One day, because he was thinking about her instead of concentrating on leading his men, he made an incorrigible mistake: he was negligent of his soldiers, and Ted Lavender dies as a result. He feels distraught, and to castigate himself for his mistake, he burns the letters from Martha that he cherishes so much, and tells himself to focus on the war at hand and take his head out of the clouds. He is a very kind caring man with a lot of love in his heart, but he is also a strong leader and has good self discipline.
ReplyDeleteThis specific character has a cathartic mind: he carries a copy of the bible, attempts to espouse any other soldiers when needed, and has an amiable personality. For example he succeeds in comforting Tim O' Brien's encumbered mind after Tim had made his first kill. Instead of ignoring or castigating Tim by putting the blame on him, he chooses to calm the stressed mind of Tim O' Brien. His death will be remembered.
ReplyDeleteThis character constantly corrected Rat Kiley on how to tell a story. One thing he said was to not encumber the story with a hiatus: his thought that any sort of commentary in a story makes it worse. Also, he said that everything in the story has to be espoused with a reason of why it happens and if not it just doesn't seem real. And finally, do not have diffidence when you are telling your story, you have to have confidence and trust when you are doing it.
ReplyDeleteThis character is one of the most religious characters in The Things They Carried: He carries a copy of the Bible and shows diffidence when the men have to set up camp in a sacred pagoda. He does not have a bellicose nature like many of the characters. Often, when a fellow soldier is struggling emotionally with the war, instead of castigating them for being weak, he tries to help them through it.
ReplyDeleteThis character is one of the characters that mentally experiences excruciating pain, when a couple of his fellow comrades are killed. He still clings to his defunct girlfriend, from home, in order to keep the link to normalcy. He can be considered to be the eminent soldier of his group: his title is the lieutenant of the Alpha Company.
ReplyDeleteNumerous excruciating events take place in The Things They Carry, but this character never carps to his fellow soldiers about it. Something terrible happens to him: His girlfriend whom he loves, breaks up with him. Even though, their relationship if defunct, he still carries around her belongings as good luck. This character always has hope. No, he doesn't espouse the war, but he makes the most of what he is given and lives his life to the fullest.
ReplyDeleteThis man is young and full of life and innocence. He has many friends and is medic on the team: he takes care of the others. Even when his squad carps at him about his story telling, he is still a consistent, dependable friend. He experiences an excruciating loss when his best friend steps on a land mine. This loss brings further castigation when his friend's sister doesn't write back to the wonderful letter he poured his soul into. He is eminent in his kindness and compassion towards others, except for large animals.
ReplyDeleteHe shows no diffidence when he tells his stories: he foments a certain curiosity in his audience with his conviction and his necessity to have you believe him. His extraneous commentary may bother Mitchell Sanders to no end, but he is incorrigible and always interrupts to tell his personal opinion anyways.
ReplyDelete