READING:
Now that you've read to pg. 219, please post a group response to the questions in the previous post.
Please finish the book for Thursday. There will be an essay style test on the book. Think about "story truth" versus "happening truth" in regard to the writing and the major themes of the book. What does O'Brien say about the power of stories to heal? How does the end of the book put the war story into a different context?
WRITING:
Begin work on your Marking Period 4 project. You can write whatever you'd like--essays, poems (new poetry cycles?), stories, scripts, journal entries about the books we will choose next week, etc.
It's up to you...too much independence and choice? Think, too, about revising earlier work from this year.
Book choices (Choose 1 for now--check out the links on the side of this blog):
The Hours by Michael Cunningham:
The Hours is a 1998 novel written by Michael Cunningham. It won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the 1999 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, and was later made into an Oscar-winning 2002 movie of the same name starring Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore.
The book concerns three generations of women affected by a Virginia Woolf novel.
The first is Woolf herself writing Mrs. Dalloway in 1923 and struggling with her own mental illness. The second is Mrs. Brown, wife of a World War II veteran, who is reading Mrs. Dalloway in 1949 as she plans her husband's birthday party. The third is Clarissa Vaughan, a bisexual woman, who plans a party in 2001 to celebrate a major literary award received by her good friend and former lover, the poet Richard, who is dying of an AIDS-related illness.
The situations of all three characters mirror situations experienced by Woolf's Clarissa Dalloway in Mrs. Dalloway, with Clarissa Vaughan being a very literal modern-day version of Woolf's character. Like Mrs. Dalloway, Clarissa Vaughan goes on a journey to buy flowers while reflecting on the minutiae of the day around her and later prepares to throw a party. Clarissa Dalloway and Clarissa Vaughan also both reflect on their histories and past loves in relation to their current lives, which they both perceive as trivial. A number of other characters in Clarissa Vaughan's story also parallel characters in Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway.
Cunningham's novel also mirrors Mrs. Dalloway's stream-of-consciousness narrative style (a style pioneered by Woolf and James Joyce) in which the flowing thoughts and perceptions of protagonists are depicted as they would occur in real life, unfiltered, flitting from one thing to another, and often rather unpredictable. In terms of time, this means characters interact not only with the moment in the time in which they are living, but also shoot back to the past in their memories, and in so doing create a depth of history and backstory which weighs upon their present moments, which otherwise might appear quite trivial; buying flowers, baking a cake and such things.
Cunningham's novel also uses the device in Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway of placing the action of the novel within the space of one day. In Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway it is one day in the life of the central character Clarissa Dalloway. In Cunningham's book it is one day in the life of each of the three central characters; Clarissa Vaughan, Laura Brown and Virginia Woolf herself. Through this prism, Cunningham attempts, as did Woolf, to show the beauty and profundity of every day—even the most ordinary—in every person's life and conversely how a person's whole life can be examined through the prism of one single day.
Michael Cunningham took the novel's title, The Hours, from the original working title that Virginia Woolf used for Mrs. Dalloway.
Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels:
Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels:
Fugitive Pieces is a novel by Canadian poet Anne Michaels. First published in 1996 [1] (1997 in the UK),[2] it was awarded the Books in Canada First Novel Award, the Trillium Book Award, Orange Prize for Fiction, Guardian Fiction Prize and the Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize.
It is written in two sections, called Book I and Book II. The first follows the story of Jakob Beer, who as a Jewish child in Poland narrowly escapes being killed by the Nazis. He is rescued by a Greek geologist, Athos Roussos, who adopts him and takes him to live on Zakynthos in Greece. After the war the pair emigrate to Toronto. The novel follows Jakob's life as he marries and goes through life. The second book is written from the perspective of an admirer of Jakob's poetry, Ben.
The novel is written in a poetic style with persistent layers of metaphor, often called forth via Athos Roussos. Roussos' paleobotanical research involves peeling back physical layers of archaeological strata as well as temporal layers of change and decay. The novel explores themes of trauma, grief, loss, and memory, as well as discovery both personal and scientific.
The novel has been made into a feature film produced by Robert Lantos through his Toronto-based Serendipity Point Films Inc. It opened on the opening day of the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival. It is directed by Jeremy Podeswa based on his original screenplay adaptation of the Michaels novel. It stars Stephen Dillane as Jakob Beer and Rade Šerbedžija as Athos.
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde:
The Eyre Affair is the first published novel[1] by English author Jasper Fforde, released by Hodder and Stoughton in 2001. It takes place in alternative 1985, where literary detective Thursday Next pursues a master criminal through the world of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre.
In a parallel universe, England and Imperial Russia have fought the Crimean War for more than a century; England itself is still a parliamentary government, although heavily influenced by the Goliath Corporation (a powerful weapon-producing company with questionable morals); and Wales is a separate, socialist nation. The book's fictional version of Jane Eyre ends with Jane accompanying her cousin, St. John Rivers, to India in order to help him with his missionary work. Literary questions (especially the question of Shakespearean authorship) are debated so hotly that they sometimes inspire gang wars and murder. While regular law enforcement agencies still exist, new ones have also been created to deal with situations too specialized for traditional police work. These agencies fall under the single organization SpecOps (Special Operations), with more than 20 branches, including SpecOps 12, the Chronoguard, who police all events related to time travel, and SpecOps 27, the Literary Detectives, or "LiteraTecs", who deal with all literature-related crimes.
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde:
The Eyre Affair is the first published novel[1] by English author Jasper Fforde, released by Hodder and Stoughton in 2001. It takes place in alternative 1985, where literary detective Thursday Next pursues a master criminal through the world of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre.
In a parallel universe, England and Imperial Russia have fought the Crimean War for more than a century; England itself is still a parliamentary government, although heavily influenced by the Goliath Corporation (a powerful weapon-producing company with questionable morals); and Wales is a separate, socialist nation. The book's fictional version of Jane Eyre ends with Jane accompanying her cousin, St. John Rivers, to India in order to help him with his missionary work. Literary questions (especially the question of Shakespearean authorship) are debated so hotly that they sometimes inspire gang wars and murder. While regular law enforcement agencies still exist, new ones have also been created to deal with situations too specialized for traditional police work. These agencies fall under the single organization SpecOps (Special Operations), with more than 20 branches, including SpecOps 12, the Chronoguard, who police all events related to time travel, and SpecOps 27, the Literary Detectives, or "LiteraTecs", who deal with all literature-related crimes.
Karina Le, Tamaron McKnight, Isabella Watts, Deja Simmons
ReplyDeleteDiscussion Questions :
“In the Field”
1. Briefly summarize the plot and style of the story. Is this story more of a “true” war story than the account in the chapter “Speaking of Courage”?
The plot of “In the Field” is about how each man deals with Kiowa’s death as they search for his body in the shit field. The style of the story is unique in comparison to the other stories in that it jumps perspective in a narrative way, rather than how smoothly it does in other stories. The style is something that makes it seem the story is routine. It’s not a story to tell, like in “Notes”, it’s an event that’s going on. It doesn’t have this pang, one should feel after a true war story, because of its style. And that’s what is mystifying about it.
2. What point of view is used to narrate “In the Field”?
The point of view of “In the Field” is third person limited. Between Lieutenant Cross and the person who “killed” Kiowa; the young man.
3. Why is the young man not identified in the story? What is the character’s purpose in the narrative?
The reason why the young man is not identified in the story is because it continued the trend of ambiguity in “Speaking of Courage” and “Notes”. The character’s purpose is to continue the framework of a true war story because of his apparent guilt over Kiowa’s death.
4. In “In The Field,” O'Brien writes, “When a man died, there had to be blame.” What does this mandate do to the men of O'Brien's company? Are they justified in thinking themselves at fault? How do they cope with their own feelings of culpability? Consider all of the characters.
The mandate sent all the men into grief and guilt. In accordance to “How to Tell a True War Story” they are justified in feeling at fault for their friend’s death because they weren’t there to see Kiowa off themselves; they didn’t do anything to stop his death. Each soldier deals with this culpability in a unique way. Some try to logically arrange the event in that they will honor the soldier’s death rather than cause misery over it. Some keep it to themselves until the time is right and the Watergates break. Some try to get rid of the pent up guilt through action. Some hyper fixate on something else. Some die because of it.
5. What, in the end, is the significance of the shit field story (or stories)?
The significance of the shit field story is to create this theme of guilt of how it evolves to juxtapose the beginning death of Kurt Lemon.
“Good Form”
1. In “Good Form,” O'Brien casts doubt on the veracity of the entire novel. Why does he do so? Does it make you more or less interested in the novel? Does it increase or decrease your understanding? What is the difference between “happening-truth” and “story-truth?”
The reasoning of why he creates doubt on his own stories is because even if it’s not his story, it’s someone else’s. It makes it more interesting to read, because despite the fact that all of these stories are false, they feel real. The characters, the story, it brings about the sense of true beauty that doesn’t exist. Seeing these stories can increase one’s empathy for a soldier—which is the sole purpose of the novel: to have people who didn’t participate in war understand war. The difference between the “happening-truth” and “story-truth” is that has been experienced with the story teller, while the “story-truth” is something that happened elsewhere, and not personally by the story teller.
NASMERE-SAMMY
ReplyDelete1.) The story revolves around Tim O’Brien’s personal war account, in which conversationally, he tells of his journeys in the Alpha Company during the Vietnam War. The story seems like more of a true, more realistic sense of war than the account in the chapter “Speaking of Courage”.
2.) “In The Field”’s perspective is in the all-knowing third person narrative voice.
3.) The young man is not identified in the store to represents the soldier’s woe and guilt during the war time. It was an allusion to the soldier’s personal beings. The purpose is to subconsciously tell the story of the war.
4.) The mandate shows that all men are equal in the extreme conditions of the war. To think themselves at fault, in my opinion, is not justified. There seems to be a sort of umbrella effect, and it shouldn’t necessarily apply to each individual. To cope with their own feelings of culpability, they either talk about it, drink to ease the pain, or ignore it.
5.) The significance of the shit field is to simulate the dismal feeling of guilt; relating to the death of Kurt Lemon.
6.) O’Brien casts doubts because of the contrast between happening-truth and story-truth. The context of the novel doesn’t necessarily reflect his experiences in the war, which is why he casts doubt. It helps to increase my understanding of the novel. Happening truth is what really happened, story truth is fabricated information in an already true story.
. Briefly summarizes the plot and style of the story.
ReplyDeleteThe plot of “In the Field” is about how each man deals with Kiowa’s death as they search for his body in the shit field. The style of the story is unique in comparison to the other stories in that it jumps perspective in a narrative way, rather than how smoothly it does in other stories.
2. What point of view is used to narrate “In the Field”?
The point of view of “In the Field” is third person limited. Between Lieutenant Cross and the person who “killed” Kiowa; the young man.
3. Why is the young man not identified in the story? What is the character’s purpose in the narrative?
The reason why the young man is not identified in the story is because it continued the trend of ambiguity in “Speaking of Courage” and “Notes”. The character’s purpose is to continue the framework of a true war story and to connect back to the main plot.
4. In “In The Field,” O'Brien writes, “When a man died, there had to be blame.” What does this mandate do to the men of O'Brien's company? Are they justified in thinking themselves at fault? How do they cope with their own feelings of culpability? Consider all of the characters.
The mandate sent all the men into grief and guilt.
5. What, in the end, is the significance of the shit field story (or stories)?
The significance of the shit field story is to create this theme of guilt of how it evolves to juxtapose the beginning death of Kurt Lemon. The shit field is a great metaphor for the war and how much Tim O'Brien hated it.
“Good Form”
1. In “Good Form,” O'Brien casts doubt on the veracity of the entire novel. Why does he do so? Does it make you more or less interested in the novel? Does it increase or decrease your understanding? What is the difference between “happening-truth” and “story-truth?”
The reasoning of why he creates doubt on his own stories is because even if it’s not his story, it’s someone else’s. It makes it more interesting to read, because despite the fact that all of these stories are false, they feel real. The characters, the story, it brings about the sense of true beauty that doesn’t exist. Seeing these stories can increase one’s empathy for a soldier—which is the sole purpose of the novel: to have people who didn’t participate in war understand war. The difference between the “happening-truth” and “story-truth” is that has been experienced with the story teller, while the “story-truth” is something that happened elsewhere, and not personally