Monday, March 7, 2016

My Lai Massacre


Good morning everyone! This will be an interesting, but disturbing class. The material is graphic and crucially important to understanding O'Brien's historical context in In the Lake of the Woods.

AGENDA:

EQ: Why is the background of the My Lai massacre so important to understanding O'Brien's novel In the Lake of the Woods?



-We will be watching various sections of a PBS documentary on the My Lai Massacre



-After watching the documentary, you will explore an interview with Tim O'Brien about his experiences in Vietnam

-After viewing the documentary and exploring the interview, answer the following questions (post on the blog):
1. Has watching the documentary and reading the interview on My Lai changed your reading of In the Lake of the Woods by O'Brien? Do you feel as though you can sympathize with Wade on some level, or are his actions completely unforgivable? 
2. What was your prior knowledge of the massacre? Do you think the fact that the My Lai Massacre is somewhat mysterious and unknown to many people adds to the complexity of the novel? How so? Do you think that if something of this caliber is concealed by those involved that the general public will ever know the true story? 
3. How does having some type of historical context incorporated into a fictional text effect you as a reader? What historical events or time periods are you considering for your own writing piece (this can be a list)?


WRITING: Work on Nonlinear narratives
HMWK: Read to Ch. 19 pg. 175
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10 comments:

  1. UnknownMarch 7, 2016 at 8:59 AM

    1. Watching the documentary gave me more insight about the topic and it did help me to sympathize with John Wade. It sort of put all of the events in perspective and allowed me to understand the intensity of the situation. To a certain extent, I can sympathize with Wade because after all, to him he was just receiving an order that he had to fulfill; he couldn't really oppose. However, their actions are still terrible.
    2. Prior to the book, I had no knowledge of the My Lai massacre. This does add some complexity to the novel because not many people knew about it and they are learning. Readers will more than likely do some research about the event while reading and this will shed more light on the issue. I think due to the fact that this event was so unknown for so long, the public will never know the true story or intentions of the event and that is sad.
    3. Having some historical context gives fictional text more complexity and depth. It makes the story more real while simultaneously shedding more light on the issue. I plan on incorporating more modern historical events such as the french massacre, 9/11 etc.

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  2. UnknownMarch 7, 2016 at 9:04 AM

    1. Watching this documentary didn't changed my interpretation of the book, because I kept most of this in mind when reading it. But, it did open my eyes to the intensity of the situation. I have been sympathizing with Wade since I started reading the book, because I realized how hard it was to go through all of that.
    2. I didn't fully understand the massacre before hand, but I got the main idea. I knew that the soldiers were ordered to go into the village and kill people. Something like this cannot be concealed from the public. The American military has to pay the price for its injustices, just like they have tried to make others do the same.

    3. The fact that the historical context is in it adds a meaning of truthfulness to the story. It leads the reader to take it as narrative, making the story more personal for them. I'm not sure which historical events I'm going to use for my story yet.

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  3. UnknownMarch 7, 2016 at 9:05 AM

    1. Yes, it really does change what John goes through. Sort of. I wouldn't really forgive Wade although he had to do what he was commanded to do by his superiors.

    2. I knew that innocent people died but I didn't know anything about the massacre. It does add complexity that people do not know about it, you wouldn't really know what John is going through during that massacre. I think that the general public will never know the true story because the government always hide things that will ruin their reputation or that will have people hostile against the government. [x files theme plays in the distance]

    3. It makes everything more realistic and more complex.
    -1970s
    -1980s
    -Second half of the 20th century.
    Amanda & Reyenne

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  4. Kami King SmithMarch 7, 2016 at 9:06 AM

    I feel like it kind of gave you an insight of the emotions that were going on with the soldiers during this time. You can truly understand because your not those situations that they were in. But based on the information I learned it justifies the things that were going on. I feel like on some level you can understand where Wade is coming from.

    2. I didn't really have much prior knowledge on the massacre, I feel like the novel puts you in the shoes of a solider who had to live and survive through these tough times. if the soldiers didn't open up then what actually happened would be a complete mystery to this day.

    3. Having historical text adds more depth to the story because you can get a sense of the emotion of how the character is feeling. Based on the ideas of how the solides were feeling.

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  5. UnknownMarch 7, 2016 at 9:08 AM

    1.It has made me realize what he had to go through before when he was in war. The actions are unforgettable, watching anyone die can completely scare a person for life and also change how people look at you as a person.
    2.I didn't know much about it before, as far as I knew it was just a war. It does add a better story to the novel because you can only guess what happen and it leaves you questioning what could have been done, whats real and whats a lie.
    3. It makes you feel for the charterer and you try to remember that it is only a book, but you cannot help but to remember that this was a real event and effected people in real life.

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  6. UnknownMarch 7, 2016 at 9:09 AM

    Olivia
    1. I have found a new sympathy for Wade. He was completely changed on an emotional and mental level in terms of his health. The only thing I wish he would do is allow himself to reach out to other people, specifically Kathy, much more.
    2. I had no prior knowledge of the My Lai massacre, I only knew about the Vietnam war in general. The fact that this insane American event of cruelty is not well known, and even somewhat hidden, makes the novel that much more important.
    3. Having a historical background for a fictional novel makes it more relative to the reader, especially if it is an event from the reader's own country. If it is not, it puts everything in a much wider scope by making it global. For my own story, I wanted to write about another event of American injustice - the Trial of the Scottsboro Boys.

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  7. UnknownMarch 7, 2016 at 9:14 AM

    1. I think since the very beginning I was able to understand how soldiers could do something so horrible and do it even when they would have never even considered doing that when they were back in their homes safe and sound. So considering that I do understand and have some degree of sympathy for Wade but I don't think that he could ever be forgiven for what he did in the traditional sense.
    2. I knew a pretty good deal about the massacre simply from my own outside interest in the war as well as learning about it during our time reading The Things They Carried but I can definitely see how not knowing anything about the conflict would add another layer of intrigue.
    3.Historical context always helps in allowing for you to understand the author and their intentions when they wrote their novel and it also allows for the reader to look at characters and events in the story and garner new perspectives and understandings which in turn influence how you look at said characters.
    -Cameron Bennett

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  8. UnknownMarch 7, 2016 at 9:16 AM

    1. Watching the documentary and exploring the interview on My Lai changed my way of reading "In the lake of the Woods" because now I sympathized even more for John Wade because I can feel how hard it has been for him and how it still haunts him.
    2.I didn't really know nothing about the massacre. The fact that the soldiers did not just shoot at the enemy but that they also shot many innocent people and because of it, many Americans soldiers are paying the price by being haunted by the memories.
    3. Having some type of historical context in a fictional text effects many readers because it gives the text more profundity to it as also it makes it seem as if it was non fiction. Historical events that I am thinking about writing are either 9/11 or the death of the famous singer Jenni Rivera but other than that I'm still looking for more ideas.

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  9. UnknownMarch 7, 2016 at 9:19 AM

    1) After watching the My Lai video and seeing those pictures and hearing the things the soldiers did to those people, it changed my views on the book a lot. Reading the book before I felt sympathy for john because it seemed like even though him and Kathy had problems in their relationship, he really loved her and that some of the things he did was only because he was a really passionate person so when he lost the election I actually felt bad for him a little bit even though he was accused of doing those things. His actions are very unforgivable to me.
    2) I actually had no knowledge prior to learning about this in class. I knew about the Vietnam War obviously and with our American experience in wars I figures there could have been something bad like this. I think it’s very suspicious that a lot of people don’t know about this. We should definitely be learning about these things in detail because it seems like Americans always only want to teach the good things we did or the bad things that people did to us. I also think that the people involved wanted to cover it up and they did a good job.
    3) Having historical background creates bias for me because in the book you get to know the character and get into their head and see how they feel about things so you can sympathize with them but in this case, getting to know the real truth changes my feelings towards the main character and even makes me think he did whereas before I was on the fence about it. My time period might have something to do with it. My era might take place during the Harlem renaissance.

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  10. UnknownMarch 21, 2016 at 8:13 AM

    1) after watching the video its changed my perspective on characters in the book based on the actions by the solders in the film, I always thought john was just a product of the environment he was placed in but in all reality he knew what he signed up for.
    2)I never knew things in detail about the war, these are things we should be learning in the school environment and not just what makes us seem like such a superb society.
    3)having a historical background makes it hard for a story not to be biased because your going based on the facts you already know which like all story's may not be the truth.

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