It's up to you to decide

Going along with my last comment on diction, I think a sentence containing ambiguity found in the text should be noted. The sentence, “In its intransitive form, to hump meant to walk, or to March, but it implied burdens far beyond the intransitive.” Once again, O’Brien goes with the idea of the intangible factors weighing more than the tangibles they carried on their backs. Here, we are fortunate enough for O’Brien to give us the duplicitious meaning of the word “hump”. However, from this point on, I believe it us up it us to recognize how he often implies this idea with future diction found in the text.

"Weighed" down diction

One thing I observed and I would like some help from others regarding the matter is how O’Brien said how much everything weighed. At first I just thought he was adding details to the diction in order to paint a more vivid picture for the readers, but then after it kept occurring, I think his purpose in doing so was to convey the vulnerability of the men fighting abroad. By adding such details O’Brien shows how every little one pound item adds up on one’s back, and before they realize it, they are not only weighed down by their own tangible items necessary for battle, but also their fears that keep them bogged down mentally.

Dejavu- Haven't I heard this before?

I am not going to lie, I was kind of apprehensive as to what to expect after getting through the first chapter; however, I have found many concepts and ways of thinking in which I can relate, or which others in my family can. My older sister, who is in her mid-twenties is known around our house as being the one who makes rash decisions or accusations without any argumentation to back up her comments. With that being said, she once made the comment that, “some people should not be forced to fight on the front line, but should instead stay back and be the ones instrumental in keeping the country running along with maintaining the position of the ‘figure head’ who makes the military decisions (this was paraphrased, for I do not recall the direct dialogue, just the content of).” In awe, I did not know how to respond, other than being appalled and hoping her eyes will one day be opened and she would not be able to place the life of one person above another. Upon reading the last passage of page 39, I couldn't help but recall this comment my sister made. This mindset shared by her and the main character allowed me to open my eyes to the harsh accusations that some people actually believe in in certain points in their lives.

What is a Rhetorical Question?

Page 38, oh how I love you! This page is FILLED with literary terms and devices along with many concepts and ideas fundamental to the book as a whole. However, one literary device essential to the concepts of the page would be the numerous rhetorical questions asked by the writer. I have always been lead to believe that rhetorical questions are posed by the writer to challenge the reader to stop and think about where they stand on the matter at stake. But, after reading over the passage once again, I think these questions offer insightful knowledge into the life of the character who “asked” them. By adding these questions to his diction, Tim O’Brien offers the readers the knowledge necessary to fully understand the main character’s way of thinking along with insight into the way in which his brain processes the current status of the nation.

Love is in the air

The Chapter entitled “Love”. This chapter serves as an anecdote in the scheme of the whole story. To me, it allows the author to convey the long-term effects of the war on the Veterans once they returned home. O’Brien had just got done explaining what life was like on the battle front, but he then takes it a step farther and explains “the things they carried” with them later in life. Instead of necessities for battle, these men carried memories and life-altering experiences as vivid memories with them to their grave. To me, this chapter allowed the readers like myself to have an insight into what these veterans experienced in the years following their last mission in the jungles of Vietnam.

Anastrophe/Inversion- You choose!

Once again, this could be a stretch, but when I was writing the definition for anastrophe (a.k.a inversion), I was a little confused as to how this could be applied in reali literary works. However, I believe I might have found an example on page 15. The latter part of the sentence, which reads, “...all the mysteries and unknowns, there was at least the single abiding certainty that they would never be at loss for things to carry.” In previous sentences, “they carried” (or some version there of) appeared at the beginning of the sentence, but in this particular example it is at the end. As to why the syntax allows for the phrase to be at the end, I think it has to do with the fact that here, O’Brien is not talking about what they carried as he did previously, but instead he explains how in their (the soldier’s) minds, they have assured themselves they would always have something to carry- be it something physical or be it emotional or something untangible. In order to convey this to the reader, I think the writer purposefully uses anastrophe as a “red flag” to pay attention to the point being made.

Maybe a Motif?

Okay so this may be a stretch, but I am going to go for it. Even though I have only tackled the first 56 pages of the book, I think I may have found a motif. On page 38, O’Brien mentions the novel (novel during this era atleast) concept of America “not fighting a war unless knowing why". Hmm does this not resemble what is currently happening in the second Gulf War? (tell me what y’all think!) I could be wrong at this point in the novel, but my intuition tells me this notion will keep appearing in the book. I also think that as of right now, this could develop into the common theme of the story- one of questioning and uncertainty.

First Impression

As I sit on a flight from Ft. Myers to Indianapolis listening to “The Space Between” by DMB, I decided I would start typing some of my thoughts regarding the book on Pages, (since I cannot access the internet.) After studing the Vietnam war in APUSH just a couple of months ago, the words on the pages of this book kind of bring a sense of reality to what was printed in my text book. Yeah we studied the Gulf of Tonkin Resolutions, Ho Chi Minh, the Viet Cong, but most importantly how unpopular the war was at home. To me, in the first few pages of the book, I think O’Brien did an exceptional job of conveying the harsh reality of the war that forced those at home on American soil to question not only why we were fighting this war but also the credibility of those “men in pinstripes” (p 38).