McKenzie Cooke

Accel English 12

A block

The Things They Carried: Pages 1-38

Assignment #1

1.) Lt. Jimmy Cross and his men brought a few items with them as they journeyed through the jungles of Vietnam. They brought items that would be useful to them against the elements, and items that could be used to keep themselves sane and in control. These physical items included bug spray to repel mosquitoes, and thick ponchos for the rain that doubled as sleeping surfaces. Also, one of the men brought marijuana and pills so that he would feel better and stay calm. If I set out to travel into the jungle, I would be sure to bring a knife. A knife is a physical item that can be used for many different jobs in a jungle setting.

A knife is the most logical tangible item one could bring on an expedition. A knife brings forth many opportunities to accomplish tasks in the jungle that one would probably not be able to accomplish with a different tool. For example, knives can cut branches and materials to clear a path, or build a fire for warmth and for cooking. With a knife you would have protection from wild animals and people, and you could use it to sharpen spears or other hunting tools. You could kill an animal for food, clean it out, and cook it all because of one tool.

Knives don’t have any deep significance to me at all. However, I know that they are probably one of the most practical tools to bring into the jungle. I would like to travel with the comfort of knowing I could catch food if I needed it. I would also feel a lot safer to know that I could protect myself against a number of different creatures that live in the jungle. It would be important for me to have a knife in order to feel safe and more prepared for whatever obstacles I may come across.

2.) Aside from the physical items Lt. Cross and his crew carried, like pocketknives, compasses, and extra food, they also carried items that are considered intangible. These items included letters and sweet memories. An intangible item I would bring with me into the jungle would be the smell of home. Almost every house has a certain subtle scent, and I would want to be sure that I wouldn’t ever forget the way home smelled to me.

Just the smell of home would bring so many memories to me. By remembering the way home smells, I think I’d be able to picture what being back at home felt like. I could use this to reminisce on good times with family and friends and bring these memories everywhere I went. I could also imagine how comfy my bed would feel in my own room while I was lying on a hard ground trying to catch some sort of sleep. I think that by just remembering the scent of home, I would have more drive to continue on in my trek through the jungle.

            Assignment #2

                        Love (27-30): Although the chapter “Love” was short, it was a little more light-hearted than the previous chapter. In the chapter, Lt. Cross and Tim O’Brien get together and look back on the time they spent in the war. The two men talk of their sad times, and then switch over to the happier times. They drink and laugh about silly things like Henry and his girlfriend’s pantyhose, and Cross even shows Tim a picture of Martha when she becomes the conversation topic. This reminded me of being a senior. It seems like an unconnected comparison, but I remember talking with my friends this past summer of all of the memories we have had. We spoke of fights, of fun times, of old crushes, and could not believe all that we had been through together up until this point in our lives. Cross and Tim O’Brien reminiscing about the war reminded me a lot of looking back at old memories with my friends - minus the gin.

At the end of the chapter Tim tells Lt. Cross that he would like to write a story about “some of this.” Jimmy Cross goes along with this plan and jokes about wanting Tim to make him out as a really good guy in case Martha were to ever read it. I like the way the writer hints at the fact that we are actually reading Tim’s book already. The reader now knows that The Things They Carried is probably the story that Tim had been planning to write in this chapter. He is the narrator of the book, so we can assume that this is his point-of-view of what happened in the time he spent in Vietnam, as well as the things he did and thought about after the war was over.

Spin (31-38): This chapter gives Tim O’Brien’s memories about how the war was not all violence and terror. He shares random thoughts of sweet moments that occurred within his time served. On page 32, I like the way the writer used the metaphor “On occasions the war was like a Ping-Pong ball. You could put fancy spin on it, you could make it dance.” I like this because ping-pong and war are two things I would never imagine comparing. However, when you analyze this metaphor in the sense that you can potentially turn anything, even parts of a brutal war, into something less awful, the comparison seems to fit. The author used the metaphor to show that he and his men made some happy memories while in Vietnam, just as one could make an ordinary ping-pong ball move in a special and rewarding way.

Tim O’Brien talks about how he is now a 43-year-old writer and that the war has been over for many years. He narrates that the bad stuff never stops happening. He says it plays over and over in his head. I pictured in my head how insane it would make me to see these bad things without having any control over it. I cannot compare anything I have been through to what a soldier goes through in war, but I know that when something negative happens in my life I can’t stop thinking about it. I can’t imagine the things some veterans have lived through, and probably re-live daily. Upon reading this all I could picture was one of the most heinous scenes from a war movie like “The Gladiator” being rewound and played repetitively.