WRITING: Marking period projects: Sedaris Essay. Nature Essay, Metafiction Story
READING: Me Talk Pretty, essays, The Enchanted, The Things They Carried
Master class: March 31 periods 3 and 4 Rene Denfeld
Marking period ends March 31
View A Soldier's Sweetheart
http://blip.tv/lostin24/a-soldier-s-sweetheart-part-1-of-3-2467255
https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A0LEVv7N8tBYtlIAI7APxQt.?p=a+soldiers+sweetheart&fr=yhs-pty-pty_extension&fr2=piv-web&hspart=pty&hsimp=yhs-pty_extension#id=1&vid=0f062ddcbb987838ff9f93ab90bd8759&action=view
Magic Realism and The Sweetheart of Song Tra Bong
Magic Realism
A narrative technique that blurs the distinction between fantasy and reality. It is characterized by an equal acceptance of the ordinary and the extraordinary. Magic realism fuses (1) lyrical and, at times, fantastic writing with (2) an examination of the character of human existence and (3) an implicit criticism of society, particularly the elite."My most important problem was destroying
the lines of demarcation that separates what
seems real from what seems fantastic"
- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Characteristics of Magical Realism
Hybridity—Magical realists incorporate many techniques that have been linked to post-colonialism, with hybridity being a primary feature. Specifically, magical realism is illustrated in the inharmonious arenas of such opposites as urban and rural, and Western and indigenous. The plots of magical realist works involve issues of borders, mixing, and change. Authors establish these plots to reveal a crucial purpose of magical realism: a more deep and true reality than conventional realist techniques would illustrate.
Irony Regarding Author’s Perspective—The writer must have ironic distance from the magical world view for the realism not to be compromised. Simultaneously, the writer must strongly respect the magic, or else the magic dissolves into simple folk belief or complete fantasy, split from the real instead of synchronized with it. The term "magic" relates to the fact that the point of view that the text depicts explicitly is not adopted according to the implied world view of the author. As Gonzales Echevarria expresses, the act of distancing oneself from the beliefs held by a certain social group makes it impossible to be thought of as a representative of that society.
Authorial Reticence—Authorial reticence refers to the lack of clear opinions about the accuracy of events and the credibility of the world views expressed by the characters in the text. This technique promotes acceptance in magical realism. In magical realism, the simple act of explaining the supernatural would eradicate its position of equality regarding a person’s conventional view of reality. Because it would then be less valid, the supernatural world would be discarded as false testimony.
The Supernatural and Natural—In magical realism, the supernatural is not displayed as questionable. While the reader realizes that the rational and irrational are opposite and conflicting polarities, they are not disconcerted because the supernatural is integrated within the norms of perception of the narrator and characters in the fictional world.
english.emory.edu/Bahri/MagicalRealism.html
DISCUSSION GROUPS:
HMWK: POST A COMMENT TO THE INTERPRETIVE QUESTIONS Level 2 and Allegorical/Symbolic Question Level 3
"The Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong"
Level 2: Interpretive questions.
In "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong," what transforms Mary Anne into a predatory killer? Does it matter that Mary Anne is a woman? How so? What does the story tell us about the nature of the Vietnam War?
2. The story Rat tells in "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong" is highly fantastical. Does its lack of believability make it any less compelling? Do you believe it? Does it fit O'Brien's criteria for a true war story?
3. Find three symbols in this chapter and
explain them.
4.
Find three specific quotes and scenes
from the chapter that illustrate Mary Anne’s change. Also, explain Mary
Anne’s transformation. Does she go crazy? Or does she simply change?
5. Explain the whole “cave scene”. What is going on? What
has Mary Anne become? Make a list of all of
graphic imagery from that scene.
6.
Does it matter what happened, in the end, to Mary Anne? Would this be a better
story if we knew, precisely, what happened to her after she left camp? Or does
this vague ending add to the story? Either way, why?
Level 3 Allegorical/Symbolic Questions What does this short story tell the reader about the nature of humanity? About war?
Level 3 Allegorical/Symbolic Questions What does this short story tell the reader about the nature of humanity? About war?
1. Vietnam, “The Garden of Evil” is what transforms Mary Anne. It does not matter what gender someone is, for anyone could fall to the trap of “sin” that seemingly laid in Vietnam. The Vietnam War, as shown by this story, was a monster that could gobble anyone up. It did not matter their age, their race, their gender. It was the evils that laid there, seemingly still, that tempted and affected all. It was truly a thing they carried.
ReplyDelete2. The lack of believability does not change how powerful; how compelling the story is. Not once did I stopped reading and mumble: “that’s not possible”. Instead, the story took the lack of believability and kept it at the back of your mind and took your eyes with its imagery; its details. As detailed in the chapter How to Tell a True War Story, “A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct… If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted… then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie” (O’Brien). What he means by “lie” is the feeling of being lied to, and the disgust one would feel. However, despite this story being a story, it takes itself as such and still follows these guidelines on how to tell a war story.
Level 3: The story tells of how humans, even the purest ones, can be tainted in the wrong place and time. Vietnam, during the Vietnam War, was this monster that would taint every and anyone that stepping in its plains. Humans are not saints, and a saint is not human to be able to repel these powers of sin and evil that laid in the Vietnam War. The story also tells us about war, and how it changes a person as it did to Mary Anne. War is a grotesque thing, but from reading about Rat Kiley’s affection for this young woman, O’Brien is once more trying to illustrate the beauty of war.
1. The horrors of Vietnam transform Mary Anne into a predatory killer. Although it does not a matter that she is a woman, it is much more compelling in the context of the time period because women were viewed as innocent and fragile. Her transformation proves the opposite in a way, but also exemplifies the brutality witnessed by soldiers in Vietnam. I think this story would be the exact same if Mary Anne was a man instead of a woman, but it would not be as compelling. She witnessed the same things another other male soldier did, so why would it be any different?
ReplyDelete2. Rat telling the story of Mary Anne to fellow soldiers makes it that much more believable. Because his audience is experiencing the same things Mary Anne supposedly did, they can understand why she became a ruthless soldier. However, if he was telling this story to someone back in the U.S. who did not experience war, they may not believe it, much like all the stories soldiers tell when they return home. In other words, in order for anyone to truly understand a soldier’s burden and be able to believe every story they tell, they must be fighting with them and experiencing war.
Level 3. This short story exemplifies war’s great effect on humanity and how it can corrupt anyone, no matter how innocent or strong. In other words, this story proves humanity is not expendable; the horrific nature of war can wear down any human and push them over to the point of no return.
1. In "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong" Maryanne is transformed by war. Her boyfriend and the other troops teaching her how to use a gun and the things that they learned in training made her prepared for war and she began to enjoy it. I don't think it matters that Maryanne is a woman because any man could be broken by war maybe even easier than a woman. The horror took away Maryanne's innocence but she didn't stop fighting. Vietnam was a place od death and survival, but the surviving was worst than death.
ReplyDelete2.The story Rat is telling is fantastical but believable. The way Maryanne changed happened and still happens to many that are involved in wars. The way it's told and it's gruesome exaggerations make it compelling and the imagery sticks in your brain.
Level 3. This short story tells the reader that even the most innocent of people can be changed and transformed into something unimaginable.
1. In "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong," what transforms Mary Anne into a predatory killer? Does it matter that Mary Anne is a woman? How so? What does the story tell us about the nature of the Vietnam War?
ReplyDeleteThe thing that transforms Mary Anne is f Vietnam. It does not necessarily matter that Mary Anne is a woman, she is just used to exemplify the nature of the Vietnam War. Mary Anne came to Vietnam as a very pure and innocent person who was simply visiting her boyfriend, but the more she became in tune and attached to Vietnam the more she lost that innocence. Mary Anne is just an example of the thousands of other people who came pure of anything related to war and was intensely influenced by Vietnam and the war itself
2. The story Rat tells in "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong" is highly fantastical. Does its lack of believability make it any less compelling? Do you believe it? Does it fit O'Brien's criteria for a true war story?
The lack of believability does not make the story any less compelling. As I was reading, as it is so fantastical, I found it hard not to believe; the story is so vivid that you believe there’s no way anyone could make it up, but of course it was all fiction. The story does follow O’Brien’s criteria for a true war story because, as he said, a true war story is never about war; a true war story is about the land, love, memories. “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” was not about the war, it was about a person changed by the land and the war, and thus it is a true war story.
Level 3. What does this short story tell the reader about the nature of humanity? About war?
The short story tells the reader that humanity is fragile, especially in impressionable situations like war. Mary Anne’s humanity was compromised not too long after becoming intrigued by Vietnam and she lost the innocence she once had to the war.
1) Mary Anne is transformed into a killer by her curiosity. She wants to know what things are, and how they work, and she wants to be a part of the war that she sees going on around her. There isn’t one event that transforms her into a killer, because there was not just one turning point that makes her a new person. The girl who showed up in the beginning would not have volunteered for that first night ambush, and it took a lot of changes to make her the girl who leaves her fiance to go on a three week mission. It did not matter that she was a woman, like Rat says, all of the guys out there are changed. But it is more surprising for us to hear of a woman who goes through this change.
ReplyDelete2) This story does fit Tim O’Briens’s criteria for a war story. It is not moral, highly unbelievable, and does not generalize. Tim O’Brien clearly approves of the story, as he put it in his book as a featured piece. However, it’s lack of believability does not make it any less compelling, and probably makes it even more compelling, because the reader does not know how it will end and therefore is drawn in to read more.
3) This short story shows that no one is immune to the effects of war. Not even this young, innocent girl, who arrived from Cleveland Heights. She was turned into a killing machine within a few months of her arrival at the base. She hadn’t been there for the war, or to help protect her country. She didn’t need to be involved with what was going on outside the base at all. But because of what she saw, she was hardened and lost her emotion and sense of the girl she was before, which is a thing men returning from war go through as well.
1. Vietnam was a terrible war that affected many. The soldiers from that war were scarred for life. Mary Anne saw this first hand when she went to visit her boyfriend. Their first mistake that they made with Mary Anne was teaching her how to shoot a gun. After that everything went downhill from there. She wanted a taste of the war, and she began to go on missions with the men and go on patrols. In some ways it mattered that Mary Anne was a woman, the men on the missions of course let her go with them because there was no way of stopping her. She knew that they wouldn’t try and stop her from what she wanted to do. The story tells us that the nature of the vietnam war could change anyone, even the most innocent could be changed into killers.
ReplyDelete2. The story that Rat tells may be highly fantastical but that doesn’t make it any less compelling. Even though it isn’t true there are certain aspects about it that make you really think about it and become more interested in it. I don’t really know if I believe it, but it still makes the story a whole.
Level 3. This short story tells the reader how terrible the war is and how easily humanity can be broken and changed. The war can change and consume a person easily even if they are the strongest. The story tells how the war was able to change “innocent” Mary Anne into a fighter and take away that part of her.
1.The thing that transforms Mary Anne into a killer is the influence of a completely new culture and the atrocities and gore that constantly surrounds her in Vietnam. Coming from a completely safe home life in Cleveland Heights, the climate of Vietnam astounds her and gives her a new perspective on what life is like. Her sense of curiosity becomes her fatal flaw as her fascination with warfare brings her into an ambush lifestyle. The fact that she is a woman, based on the stereotypes of women being fragile or pure, makes this turn of events even more shocking, further drilling O’Brien’s true meaning into the minds of the audience. The story tells us that the Vietnam War was a surreal experience and the horrible things that were seen during the war could completely corrupt a person.
ReplyDelete2.The lack of believability does not make it any less compelling, actually quite the contrary. The embellishments that rat Kiley employs makes the story of Mary Anne that much more poignant and meaningful. While I do not believe the actual logistics of the story, that a man’s girlfriend was brought on a helicopter to Vietnam, but the idea that a person can be completely changed is something that I do believe. It does fit his criteria for a war story because it is a complete mesh of the truth and speculation, and has an equal amount of beauty and sickening accounts.
3.This short story tells the reader that humanity is a constant spectrum of people that can be changed or persuaded to act in a certain way in a short amount of time. War is often the cause of this change because of the high stakes involved, and how these can make people lose their bearings and find themselves stranded, alone. Humans are highly volatile and are susceptible to suggestion and curiosity, but unless they are cautious, they can become a version of themselves that is less than ideal.
1. Mary Anne is transformed by her own curiosity and the influence of the environment and culture around her. The war had forced her to adapt to her surroundings, changing her from an innocent and pure young woman to a predatory killer. This demonstrates the effects the war has on those who participate in it, as it can transform even the most innocent woman into a soulless killer that needed combat to survive.
ReplyDelete2. The lack of believability does not make it any less compelling because war is ambiguous to those who are not a part of it, and even to some who are. There is not a one experience that a soldier has, but many different ones based on an individual’s mind and body. The story still reflects the capabilities of war and the extremely detrimental effects it can have on human beings. I do believe that his story is possible, and it fits Tim O’Brien’s criteria as it is part truth, part speculation, beautiful and sickening, and does not end happily, but has a moral.
3. This story tells of the impressionable nature of human beings and their ability to adapt in threatening situations. It describes the horrible effects that war can have on human beings, altering them so drastically that they lose who they are and completely change their personality.