Dialect - As I Lay Dying

William Faulkner is often praised for his raw writing style. His style allows the reader to get inside the minds of characters, and he does this through stream of consciousness writings and dialogue. The dialect of the characters is very apparent to the reader. Though, it helps the reader to fully immerse themselves in the culture of Mississippi during the 1930s. There is a sharp contrast between those who have lived in Mississippi their whole lives, like Vardaman, and those who have lived elsewhere, like Darl. Since Darl has been to war and became educated, his dialect is a bit easier to follow. He speaks with proper grammar and an impressive vocabulary. Unlike most other characters, who use lots slang and have not yet mastered the art of subject-verb agreement. 

Harkness Discussion

In my opinion, the Harkness discussion in my class went pretty well. We seemed to have a fair distribution of contributors, and no one stayed quiet the entire time. That seems to be the goal of Harkness discussions: include everyone. This goal seems like a great way to get a discussion rolling, but once the conversation begins, the problem quickly becomes too much contribution. Once ideas are flowing in the room, everyone wants to get their ideas in before the discussion shifts to another topic. This requires fast thinking, shrinking down big ideas into palatable ones, and assertiveness when more than one student begins speaking about an idea. The main issue I have with the Harkness discussion is the pressure of getting a word in. Some students speak more freely than others, and they are rewarded for their participation. In a classroom without shy students, the Harkness discussion becomes a battle for airtime and instead of learning from each other's ideas, the students begin to only hear themselves and what they plan to say next.

Timmy O'Brien and Tim O'Brien

“I’m young and happy. I’ll never die. I’m skimming across the surface of my own history, moving fast, riding the melt beneath the blasts, doing loops and spins, and when I take a high leap into the dark and come down thirty years later, I realize it is as Tim trying to save Timmy’s life with a story.” p246

O'Brien closes his story with a fascinating image, revealing his personal man against self conflict. O'Brien touches on the natural inclination of youths to feel invincible. To help distinguish between young Tim and current Tim, he refers to his naive self as Timmy. Timmy has no strong feelings about the war, other than the fact that he does not believe in it, and he has trouble picturing himself a part of it. The image of Timmy skating through his life and history reflects on his inability to accept the idea that his life is fragile. The "loops and spins" that Timmy does shows him dodging responsibilities, not thinking things through, and enjoying life without war. The "dark" that O'Brien speaks of symbolizes the war and the relationship strains that he faced because of it. This includes when he returned home, feeling alone and lost because he could not tell his story in a way that would warn others like he wanted to warm himself. Thirty years later, Tim recognizes the dark in his life and clears his problems through therapeutic writing that led to The Things They Carried.

"Church"

In this chapter, O'Brien gives the reader insight to Dobbins' life by including quotes about religion, which is normally a topic that Dobbins dismisses. However, Dobbins shares his feelings, "I just didn't have the smarts for it. And that's the religious thing, too. All these years, man, I still hate church" (121). Throughout the discussion, O'Brien develops Dobbins' character as we begin to see a sensitive side to a man who has only been viewed as another soldier who kills water buffalo and is deeply, mentally distraught. We learn that Dobbins feels that his intelligence does not measure up. He repeats his feelings of not feeling smart enough several times, "it takes brains" and "you have to be sharp" to mention the necessity of intelligence, and how he is lacking (121). Perhaps he was told throughout his childhood that he was dumb, or maybe he has experienced a lot of failure in his life, but whatever it is, the author has shown us that the man feels less competent because of it.

Contradictions in TTTC

It is human nature to look for ways to generalize or simplify complex situations. However, Tim O'Brien makes the point that with war, generalizing accurately is an impossible task, even though those uninvolved in the war generalize often. To assert this idea, O'Brien deliberately contradicts himself multiple times, "War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling; war is drudgery. War makes you a man; war makes you dead" (80). While words like "thrilling" and "drudgery" seem to be opposites, they both make sense when describing war. The paradox of war is too complex of a topic to simplify into one story. Like Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche speaks of in her Ted Talk, it is dangerous to know only one story. Tim O'Brien uses contrasting words to show various aspects of the war to his audience and by doing that he has introduced the audience to the possibility other "stories."

Senior Year

Time is a funny thing. I remember looking at the senior class when I was a freshman thinking, wow those kids look like adults- and I was right. They looked like regular people who I could envision in a business meeting or shopping at a grocery store alone. Some of the boys had grown out beards over the summer and all of them could drive. After field hockey one day, my team finished earlier than the previously scheduled practice, so my coach just told us we could leave. It was such a foreign idea to me, that when we were done working we could leave. You mean you aren't gonna wait here while my mom comes to pick me up? You mean I'm allowed to go off by myself? You trust me to choose what I want to do with my time? As a senior, I've gotten used to the freedom. Now, I even get a little angry when I am held in class after we are done working. I'm sure that the freshmen look to me the same way that I did to the class of 2014, but I'm not an adult. That's how time works. 

The Magic of a Book Response

Reading is important. This idea is well-known due to the myriad of established authors with works that we know to be valuable. Unfortunately, the act of reading has become a chore to young generations and reading will continue to lose its popularity to other forms of entertainment. As much as I would like younger kids to have the momentum and willingness to read, I don't believe that the children will invest the time that a good book is owed to appreciate it. The internet has made our attention spans short. For example, the average teenager spends 2 seconds on an internet page before clicking away. If an author cannot capture his or her audience quick enough, the reader will stop reading. Although Hesse argues that “the cinema will be no more able to damage literature than for example, photography has hurt painting,” he neglects the difference in the experience of watching a movie versus reading a book. By telling a story with audio, video, and words, a movie cuts out the work of imagining the story. This allows the audience to watch passively and sit back to watch the world that has been created for them. Also, it only takes two hours out of the day, so it is easy to commit. Movies are easier than books to enjoy because it doesn't take up as much time or mental stamina, and younger kids have already begun to notice this.