Update!

One week until the beginning of summer vacation! I have a pile of papers to grade and a few more boxes to pack, and then I am officially on vacation. I am currently working on cleaning up, and I have a project going to digitize some of my teaching materials so they will take up less space.

I spent yesterday handing out yearbooks, and it was very nice to get rid of them all. It was one more right of passage...a little bittersweet, but good to be done.

This afternoon, we took a break to plant our garden...I have several pumpkin, a zuchinni, 2 Roma tomatoes, 3 heirloom tomatoes, a couple jalapeno plants, some lettuce, radishes, carrots, and herbs. Oh, and a watermelon plant, which I don't have high hopes for, but thought I'd try. We are getting very inventive with space to fit everything in.

Huck Finn

I do not think that tom should have made Jim do all the things he did to escape. He was having fun, but Huck and Jim don’t have imaginations, so they don’t understand why. Also, he almost got them in major trouble several different ways. It was also hard on Jim to put him through all of these things when they could have just let him out.
Huck likes to be with Tom, so he didn’t mind doing all of these things to let Jim free. Jim has no idea why he is doing these things and doesn’t know Tom well enough to “have fun” with him. It is just a burden on him, like when he says “I jis’ ‘s soon have rattlesnakes aroun’”, but he thinks white people know best, so he doesn’t argue (Twain 275). It added lots of unnecessary work to all three of them and almost didn’t work.
Huck and Tom were almost caught taking the spoons and sheets and clothes. They barely got all of the letters to the family warning them, and then tens of farmers came to stop them. They couldn’t do the full plan without getting caught, so they shortened it. Then Tom got shot in the leg. They could have just slipped away with him and avoided all of this trouble, but instead it backfired on them jus for Tom to have “fun”. I think Tom takes it way too far.

Endding to Huckleberry Finn

In the story “The adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, I think the ending could have been a more exciting. There could have been many, many different ways the good book could have ended. The ending was to plain. There wasn’t any “cool” or something that we didn’t expected to see happen at the end. Through out the whole book I was on the edge of my seat reading every word because there were a lot of things I didn’t see coming in the book. When I was reading the book I was thinking about all the possibilities of how the book was going to end.
I was disappointed that the story ended the way it did. I was thinking that Jim was going to die or he would be sold as a slave for the rest of his life. I didn’t want him to die because he is a African American, I thought that is how Twain was going to end it. I didn’t think that there was going to be a line in the story saying the “Now, old Jim, you’re a free man again, and I bet you won’t ever be a slave no more”. (Twain 289) I think Mark Twain could have credited a cleverer ending. There’s nothing I can do to change the ended because the man is dead and he wrote a pretty good book.
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn .New York: Penguin Book, 1986, 1884. Print

The Catcher in the Rye- Sarah Waltman

In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden ends the story with saying that he was “sorry that [he] told so many people about it,” it meaning his problems, and also just his life story (214). He also states that he “sort of miss[es] everybody [he] told about” in the story, which was ironic because most of the people he described throughout the story he was always annoyed with, but these people also seemed to be his closest friends, such as Ackley (214). Holden, in my opinion, always seemed to be sort of lost with who he was as a person, and also with what he wanted to do with his life.

Holden had many people supporting him, and giving him advice to “have a fair idea where [he] wants to go,” and then his “first move will be to apply [himself] in school” (189). Holden gets advice about school from not only Mr. Antolini towards the end of the story, but also from Mr. Spencer in the very beginning of the story.

One thing that I have noticed throughout this story is that whenever Holden is around younger kids, like his sister Phoebe, or whenever he remembers times when he was little and playing with Allie, he is always “so damn happy” to see how happy the kids are, or remembering them happy anyways (213). For example, when Holden watched how happy Phoebe was when she was riding on the carrousel, “[he] was damn near bawling, [he] felt so damn happy, if you want to know the truth” (213). Holden was also somewhat happy whenever he would look at Allie’s baseball mitt with poetry written all over it, and he would remember how “he had poems written all over the fingers and the pocket… so that he’d have something to read when he was in the field and no one was at bat” (38).

Throughout the story, Holden’s self discovery was what really interested me, and in some ways I can relate with him about the troubles of trying to be free in your own world, but I don’t think I would run away like he did! Overall I really enjoyed this Novel.

Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Little, Brown, 1951. Print.

The Things They Carried

The book I’m reading, The Things They Carried, is a good book as I’m nearing the end. The author continues to talk about the friends that he lost while he was a soldier and what it was like for him to get wounded. He gets injured and is sent back to a safe environment. While he is there, his old platoon comes back to where Tim is to enjoy some time away from the brush. This point in the book is significant in many ways. While his old platoon is in the rear, Tim wants to get back at the rookie medic for making Tim suffer while he got shot in the hind quarters. The rookie medic, Jorgenson, tries to apologize to Tim but he refuses and still wants to get him back. When Tim goes to ask his old platoon for help in getting Jorgenson back they refuse. They say that Jorgenson was a new guy back then but now he is one of them. This angers Tim so he gets the help of Azar who is a “fun loving” kid who is always up for a trick. This made me feel sorry for Tim because his old platoon had moved on and he was no longer part of it. He felt abandoned and the author really makes you feel it.
Stephen Bradley

Catcher in the Rye-Aleia Amaya

Holden ends the story of The Catcher in the Rye by saying "Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody."(214) This shows many of Holden’s emotional and physical mind sets. He has attachment issues to anybody and everybody who enters his life, even for minutes at a time.
Throughout the story symbols similar to this are shown. The ducks constantly leaving widely catch the interest of Holden because of their flight pattern. He is constantly asking strangers if they know where “the ducks go in the wintertime?” (80). Then we see his attachment again while talking about the museum because “nobody’d move…nobody’d be different”(121)
His attachment to his little sister, Phoebe, is what brings him home in the end. This goes back to both the duck and museum symbolism. Holden is constantly lonely and having Phoebe back in his life made him “so damn happy all of a sudden”(213). Finally, Holden found his happiness and his comfort back in the people he had been avoiding. His family.
The Catcher in the Rye story Holden talks about catching all of the kids coming out of the rye as his job. He wants to keep all of the bad things from getting in the way of kids lives. Just like how he sees the F-word throughout all of the walls and gets angered because of the corruption it could cause for his sister and her friends. Holden is growing up, and realizing that obstacles come in life no matter what. All he wants is to protect who he can, because he’s tired of losing people in his life.


work cited:
Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Little, Brown, 1951. Print.

This is ALI KIRKPATRICKS TTTC

Good afternoon. I am currently reading the novel The Things They Carried. Today I plan on blogging about the horrible ending of this story. If the last chapter can even be considered an ending. “Timmy’s life with a story.” (246) is not considered an ending. I think that Tim should have created a much better ending. It seems like it just cuts off in the middle of a story or thought. When someone is writing a novel on the supposed events of a war it is completely necessary to have an ending that sums up the topic of the story. I think this should have ended by him describing life back at home after the war or a really interesting story that he heard while over seas but not just leave people hanging. I see this as the author not being creative enough to create an ending. Almost like when a song artist just lets the song fade out instead of having a fitting end. The only possible reason for this is that the author wants the reader to use their imagination to create an ending of their own but I still believe that if this was the case then Tim would have left us with something similar to a cliff hanger. However this is not here.

O’Brien Tim, The Things They Carried, Boston, MA. Broadway Books, 1990. Print

The Things They Carried Irony

The end of the novel in The Things They Carried is very ironic. The chapter “Night Life” is one that really sticks out to you and portraits what really happens to people who are in the war. The war can just do horrible things to you physically and mentally for the rest of your life. The war can even drive you crazy. As we saw in the chapter Night Life this can drive you crazy. Rat Kiley went crazy after being in the dark on a mission. Rat finally sits down and just sobs. Rat starts to go crazy at this point. Kiley thinks about all of the grotesque things he has seen throughout the war. He vividly remembers all of the dead men he has seen inspite of the war. The irony of this is that night life is supposed to be fun and have a party. But in the story Rat goes crazy instead of having a good time. This chapter is named this for almost a joke that’s why it is named why its named. “Rat Kiley finally hit the wall. He couldn’t sleep during the hot daylight hours; he couldn’t cope with the nights.” (O’Brien 222).

The End

The end spiraled down and went very fast. A lot went on during the end of the book. The fishing trip really effected the patients and showed them that life goes on. It almost helped them come to a realization that the world doesn't stop and it keeps going with or without them. The patients needed that awakening. McMurphy and Chief get put in the disturbed ward for protecting George from soap. They start a riot and fight with the black boys and this doesn't go over well with the hospital. This fight sparks the want to get McMurphy out of the ward to escape, but McMurphy doesn't want to escape because he wants to stick around for Billy's date with Candy. He also feels the need to stay and leave his loyalty with the patients. I feel like he does this and thinks this because he doesn't want to give the Big Nurse the last of the satisfaction of winning.

Billy is just one of the patients who has been changed by McMurphy, he has his little date with Candy and is caught but he isn't afraid and he doesn't stutter, this is apparent when he greats the Big Nurse, "Good morning, Miss Ratched," Billy said, not even making any move to get up and bottom his pajamas. He took the girl's hand in his and grinned." (Kesey 263). Chief changes as well, when he is faced with choice to have to decide what the fate of McMurphy's body is, he decides to put him out of his misery and kill him. I didn't expect him to have the courage to do this, but I also believe that he felt like he had to honor his friend and do what was best for him and the hospital. Chief didn't want McMurphy to end up being the example of what happens when you go against the rules of the hospital. It was hard for him and it showed when he was crying. At the end I believe that Chief finally becomes himself again, or at least he is trying to find himself. For the first time in the book we see some sense of clarity in all the "fog" (Kesey 14). The Chief is back, back and thinking like a real person, "I been away a long time." (Kesey 272).

Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. New York: Penguin Book, 1962. Print.

The Things They Carried

The ending of this novel was really weird and sort of depressing. Rat Kiley, one of the soldiers, is now going insane in the membrane. He is acting quite crazy. He’s at a point where he is now scratching himself all over his body. When he gets a scab he just scratches it and then it starts to bleed. Then a new scab forms and it’s a process all over again. He gets so crazy that he ends up shooting himself in the foot! I think that this is very significant because this shows the shock that the soldiers went through during the war and it only get worse after they get back home. Watching a lot of people die in front of you can truly make you go insane just like Rat Kiley did. Another puzzling story that was told in this last section was about a memory that Tim has when he was a kid. He talks about this little girl named Linda. She is made fun of for wearing this red stoking/cap. The reason she needs to wear it is because she has scars and stitches that go all around her head. The reason she has all these markings on her head is because she has cancer. This is a form of symbolism to me because it represents the soldiers going to the war. I think this because when she finds out she has cancer, she knows now that she is going to die soon. This is like the soldiers because once they find out that they are going to war, they know that they too will die soon in combat.
-Catalina Nunez

The Things They Carried.

Fighting throughout the war was horrendous and awful. Men were killed all over during the war. Linda was a symbol for me showing that life is not always fair and neither is war for that matter. Linda was very odd and the fact that she wore the hat was odd to me. It tells me that she is insecure about what she looks like. She should not worry about what she looks like on the outside. Although Nick was very mean about the hat he should have been more sensitive. Tim is some what the same as Nick. When he says “Not Linda,” he doesn’t want to go to the movies with her and didn’t want to be seen with her (Obrien237). She symbolizes the war. It is very hideous and doesn’t want to be seen. Linda doesn’t want to be seen without her stalking cap. War is the same way when the news is now posted today they take out all of the gory details. When back during Vietnam the media tried to show all that they could. The government now is stricter about what is released to the public. The dangers have changed and need to be treated better for the soldiers and what the public sees.
By Ryan Barber
O’Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. New York: Broadway Books,1987, Print.

The Things They Carried

Throughout these last few chapters, there was one part that stood out to me as being very ironic. There was a point in the war when Tim O’Brien was shot, but there was a new medic who had just came into the war that day. Bobby Jorgenson, the new medic, was scared and was forgetting all of the important lessons he learned in med school on how to treat a patient. Tim was suffering from shock and the lack of attention to his wound caused him to later develop a fungus that almost mutated into gangrene. Regardless of Jorgensen’s situation being the new guy, Tim had no sympathy. He wanted to get back at him and there was nothing Jorgenson could do or say that would make the situation better. Even though Bobby tried to apologize for his mistake, all Tim could think was “I’ll get him, I’ll get him” (O’Brien 200). Tim wouldn’t accept a handshake from Bobby because he knew that was a sort of truce between them and Tim wasn’t going to give up. Bobby had caused him so much pain and he wasn’t going to let him get away with only a handshake. The traumatizing event O’Brien went through really effected him and he wanted to blame somebody even though he knew it probably wasn’t all Bobby’s fault. He was the new guy, and his apology made Tim say he “hated him for making me stop hating him” which only goes to show that Tim somewhat forgave Jorgenson, only he wanted to blame his injury on somebody. O’Brien was finally able to get his way and got back at Jorgenson by scaring him while he was out on guard late at night. About ¾ of the way through their plan for revenge, Tim wanted to be done, but Azar wouldn’t have it and kicked him in the head. After this was all over and Bobby found out who it was who was playing tricks on him he brought Tim in and fixed up the wound on his head where Azar kicked him. They were able to have a normal conversation and then Bobby asked if the men were “even now?” (O’Brien 217). They shared a handshake and were able to feel the “human closeness . . . almost war buddies” (O’Brien 217). I think it is so ironic that Tim can go from hating Jorgenson and Jorgenson can go from being afraid of what Tim is going to do to him to both being able to fight it out and get to be friendly to each other. I don’t know if is the stresses of war that caused the men to act out in such irrational ways or if it is just the man kind in general, but either way I will never understand their logic in these situations.

O'Brein, Tim. The Things They Carried. New York: Broadway Books, 1987. Print

The Things They Carried; Scraine Griffin

In the last chapter of The Things They Carried, Tim told a story about a girl named Linda. Linda was a really close friend of Tim’s and was only nine years old when she died. I thought Tim’s story about Linda was randomly thrown into the book because she doesn’t really have a whole lot to do with the war itself, but at the same time she makes a connection all her own. I thought that she made a connection to the war because she was so close to Tim and he had to watch her die much like all of the friends that he had to see die in the war. Sometimes it is really hard to see someone so close to you die so abruptly. Also, Linda was the first dead person that Tim saw which was significant because no matter what happens, his reaction to a dead person will never change. Tim “loved her [when] she died” and even though the story about her is a story that involves a “made up” Linda, it is still a story that keeps him hanging on because he sees himself as the “young and happy” Timmy (O’Brien, 245, 246) .

O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. New York, NY: Broadway Books, 1999. Print

The Things They Carried: Linda!

As we got closer to the end of the book, a new character was introduced. Her name was Linda. Linda was a very odd character to add in at the end of the book. I was confused as to why he just threw her in when she had no relativity to the war. Tim was in love with Linda when they were nine. Why does he put in a young girl he loved in 4th grade that dies of cancer into the end? He says that he even has dreams about her still to this day. “She had poise and great dignity. Her eyes, I remember, were deep brown like her hair, and she was slender and very quiet and fragile-looking” (228). This quote describes how he’s forty-three and he still remembers what she looks like. He has dreams about her almost every night he said and she talks to him. As he got older, he made up how she matured and the qualities that she possessed. Why he still has dreams about her is a mystery to me. Tim is not scared of her, or what she looks like. He wants to talk to her and they even go ice skating in his dream. To me Linda’s stocking cap symbolizes the cover up of the hideousness of war. She wears it cover up her bald head and the stitches and scars. This is also true with war. We try to cover it up to make us think that war for us was a win, but when really we were losing and everyone loses in war. The stoking cap was a big symbol for the hideousness of war.


O'Brain, Tim. The Things They Carried. New York: Broadway Books, 1987. Print.

The Things They Carried

At the end of the book we get introduced to a girl named Linda who is nine years old and always wears a red hat. Tim meets Linda when he is with his parents at a movie theatre when he was nine years old. She then dies of a brain tumor that spread through out her brain. I personally think that Tim O’Brien should have added Linda earlier into the book because to me it seems too late to introduce another character that late into the book. Even though I thought the character should have been introduced earlier this character is very important. This character represents what war can eventually do to a person involved in the war. The war spreads and doesn’t just affect you physically but also affects you mentally and leaves vivid images of war. If this is not dealt with the war can spread and soon control you life and may even lead to suicide. This is what happened to Norman Bowker because he didn’t deal with the memory of not helping Kiowa and maybe even saving his life. “She died, of course. Nine years old and she died. It was a brain tumor” (236). I think that this character was important to the story.

O’Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. Boston: Broadway Books,1990

By Taylor Perdue

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest there is one obvious point in the plot line when most everyone changes in some significant way. During the fishing trip we see McMurphy start to lose his strength. He still has just as much power over the other patients as he did before, but as the Chief observed, there is a now quite weakness he struggles to hide from the others. Chief first sees this in the reflection f his face when he thinks no one is looking, saying “the windshield reflected an expression … [that was] tired and strained and frantic…” (218). This perception of McMurphy being tired and pushing himself for the others continues one after the party when the Chief realizes that McMurphy’s like “[a] movie-picture zombie, obeying orders beamed at him from forty masters” (267). Bill Bibbit also gains more confidence during the fishing trip, seeing that he did have a chance to get a girlfriend like he had said he wanted after his x-ray and see that there was a reason form him to live and get better. Chief himself was also changed; he had seen the world outside the Asylum for the first time in years and realized there was beauty that he had forgotten in the decades he had been locked inside. He basked in the sudden awareness of the things he’d forgotten, saying “I had forgotten that there can be god sounds and tastes … [I looked] around me to see what else I had forgotten in twenty years” (202). He wouldn’t have been able to remember some of the sights, sounds and feels that made life good if he had never gone on the fishing trip; and because he remembered the good in the world, it gave him a reason to escape later on.
- Kelia Murata

Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. New York: Penguin Book, 1962. Print.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

The end of my book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, was very interesting and surprising to me. I was not expecting the outcome that came. For one, I did not ever expect that anyone would kill McMurphy, let alone Chief. McMurphy was like their saving grace and the one who was going to get them out of there. I wasn’t expecting Chief to do it either because throughout the book, Chief has been the quiet, shy one that never really said much. I still don’t really understand why he even did it.
One event that I saw coming from the beginning was Billy Bibbit killing himself. I didn’t know that he was going to “cut his throat”, but I did know he was going to do it sooner or later, (Kesey 266). He gave little hints every now and then that made me think he was going to do it. Also, he was very self-conscious and was embarrassed of himself. When the nurse caught him with Candy it was what pushed him over the edge.
I also knew that eventually the nurse would get revenge on McMurphy and damage him permanently. When he “grabbed for her and ripped her uniform all the way down the front,” I knew he was going to have serious consequences that would hinder him for the rest of his life (Kesey 267). I was not surprised when he had the surgery done, but I was very angry when the nurse left him lying in the hallway for everyone to see.
Overall, I am very glad I got to read this book. It was very intense and interesting after you made sense of it. It is the best book I have ever been assigned to read for school.

Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. New York: Penguin Book, 1962. Print.

The Things They Carried

As we are now within 20 pages of the end of The Things They Carried, the overall style of the writing has changed. Tim O’Brien has been moved from the frontline chaos of the Vietnam War, to the relative safety and monotony of the reserve corps. The writing has changed to where we are getting more facts, and ideas are being fleshed out more fully than before. In the first part of the book, reflecting of the chaos, Tim said “in a true war story, nothing is ever absolutely true”, but now with the war a mere memory in the back of his mind, he can be absolutely true.(82) He doesn’t have that uncertainty that comes with the faced paced action and terror of the war. He tells the stories with more clarity and doesn’t have to constantly remind us of the fact that there is never a true war story. He knows that he is not even in the war anymore, evidenced by when he says “It was anger, partly, but it was also a sense of pure and total loss: I didn’t fit anymore”. (198) He is talking about how he feels when his old buddies come back on R&R to his base, where he can no longer relate to them. Overall there is a total change in the style of the writing and how these stories are told, with more clarity and certainty.

O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. New York: Broadway Books, 1990. Print

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest: Fight
One day while the patients are taking showers and baths, a black boy was harassing George. McMurphy helped him out by starting a fight with the black boy that was harassing George. Chief Bromden saw this and decided to jump in and fight another black boy that tried to get McMurphy off of the other black boy. This caused McMurphy and Bromden to be sent to disturbed for shock therapy. This started because George does not like soap because he thinks it is dirty and would rather use just water to get clean. The black boy went over and started to harass George by throwing soap on him because he didn’t like it. McMurphy saw this and even though he has been trying to stay out of trouble, he had to jump in. McMurphy wanted to be good so he can be released from the hospital instead of being kept their by the Big Nurse. McMurphy jumped in because I think that he feels that he has the responsibility to protect the patients because they are weak and scared. Bromden jumped in the fight because he knew McMurphy could not handle it on his own.
CRAIG NOE

One flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

We have finished the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and I think that there a lot of symbolism that was talked about and was described by Chief. The first one that was stated toward the end of the book was the electric shock table that was described. The shock table is in the shape of a cross. This is a form of symbolism because Christ died on the cross and many of the men in the institute feel like they had died on the table. Another form of symbolism that I have found was the fog machine that was talked a lot about by Chief. The fog machine makes people “can’t see” and they feel “scared” (13). This is like being lost. The fog machine is actually the men on medication. The last symbolism that I have found at the end of the book was “Mrs. Tingle Tangle toes, catching hens” (239). I think this is a form of symbolism because it is like McMurphy getting the men and the Big Nurse on his side so he can take over the institute.

Courtney Kjeldgaard

Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. New York: Signet, 1963. Print

The Catcher In the Rye ~Abriana Moreno~

As the story progresses, Holden seems to come across several peculiar events that have happened all in one day. Could it be just his luck? Or does his persona throw him off a bit? All of these instances seem to have one thing in common; Holden's poor attitude that seems to drive others away.
This fiasco begins when he spends his day with Sally Hayes, a girl whom Holden has had a previous relationship with. Everything is fine and dandy at first, but when his emotions rage, he explodes and takes out his emotions on Sally by asking her many odd questions and proposing that they should "get the hell out of here [New York]" and just begin to live their lives down in Greenwich Village (132). Sally was a bit confused and astounded by Holden's attitude and left the skating rink without him in a huff.
The next event that happened pretaining to his proposition would be his conversation with Luce at the Wicker Bar. Holden tries to hold a conversation with him, but unfortunately, it doesn't turn out so well. Holden explains that Luce is a very "intellectual guy" but knew plenty about sex (147). So Holden decided to carry out the conversation in a way that might appeal more to Luce. Sadly, his plan had backfired and Luce left him in the bar alone.
Holden often acts before he thinks. I believe that if Holden thinks before he acts, he will have more positive feedback from people he is conversing with. Thus, he may feel a bit more wanted and less depressed with his life.

Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Little, Brown, 1951. Print.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Tori Fisher

I am coming to the end of my book. There are things happening that I would have never expected and things that will happen I am very excited about reading. McMurphy and Chief Broomden started a fight with Washington, one of the black boys, because they were trying to defend George from doing something he did not want to. When McMurphy is protecting him and trying to defend him because George clearly cannot protect himself, the Chief comes in to help as well. Then what happens next is the two get handcuffed and sent to the Disturbed. When they get there they walk in and there are depressed people. They are just walking around pacing back and forth and the two do not know what to do. "McMurphys the name pardners, an the thing i want to know is who's the pekkerwood that runs this establishment?"(232). Doing this I think McMurphy is just trying to show Chief he is not scared, however, I believe he is. Shock Treatment. This is the next thing that will come from this situation they are put in. So the question i am asking is what will happen? I do not think McMurphy will let himself be put through that, or Chief. Will McMurphy get out? Will they stay there forever and continue rebelling until the Shock Treatment kills them? We can not know until we finish the book. My assumption is is that someone will get out and that McMurphy and Broomden will find a way out of the situation. Also, has the Big Nurse won? Has she finally defeated McMurphy? We will not know until we finish the book.
Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. New york:Signet,1963.Print.

The Things They Carried

The chapter in which Tim and Azar prank Jorgensen during his night post really shows a lot about Tim’s personality, as well as irony about the situation. It appears that Tim is out for revenge on Jorgensen for leaving him behind when he got shot for the second time, but Tim already feels he has been apologized to and says “I hated him for making me stop hating him”. Jorgensen felt pretty calm the whole time and showed no resentment towards Tim, however Tim still felt guilty for how he reacted towards Jorgensen although they had already forgiving one another. This guilt and some sense of revenge brought him to pull the prank on him during that night. Truly he still feels empty afterwards and Jorgensen still keeps his cool, and by the end they resolve their tensions for the most part.

The end of the book The Things They Carried really reflected upon Tim’s childhood and his reflections on the war and on his relationship with Linda when he was very young. He sums up all these events as his life story as he goes back to his childhood and the war he feels like he is in a place, a sort of serene place “where there are no brain tumors and no funeral homes, where there are no bodies at all”. (245) He realizes in the end that the reason he wrote this story and wants to share it with all is that he doesn’t want the story of Tim’s his own life’s story to die out.

Andy Jones

O’Brien Tim, The Things They Carried, Boston, MA. Broadway Books, 1990. Print

Eddie P.- The Catcher in the Rye Blog #3

After a few sections after my previous blog, Holden's emotional strength is decreasing and he is starting to contemplate about death. His sister Phoebe is running through his mind so he decides to go home and visit her, but Holden is afraid. He is afraid that his parents will catch him. But most of all, he is afraid how his parents will take the recent news about his expulsion from Pencey. He is afraid to disappoint them yet again. So he visits his sister Phoebe in the middle of the night while his parents are away at a party. His sister is very shocked to hear about Holden getting kicked out of school so she repeatedly and frantically shouts "Daddy'll kill you!"(165) Holden takes this non-literal threat from Phoebe very seriously because he is already dangerously depressed as it is, and he has been thinking of dying. He actually thinks his father will kill her.

Soon, Holden goes to Mr. Antolini's home after calling him from his house. Mr. Antolini offers a place for Holden to stay. Mr. Antolini begins to lecture Holden how his life will take a dive and he will be unhappy. "If you go along with any considerable distance, it'll begin to give you an idea about what size mind you have."(190) This means that Holden's fear of letting people get close to him and not being able to use his knowledge to his advantage will only make his life a failure. Using those ideas in a positive way can go a long way for him. Holden realizes that Mr. Anotlini was right. Holden was paying attention to the conversation and it affected him greatly. The reason he respects Mr. Antolini so much is because of the tragic death of James Castle at Whooton. Mr. Antolini was the only one to actually care for him and carry him to the hospital while the others watched. It shows that Mr. Antolini knows what its like to be near death like that of Allie's death.

After the conversation, Holden falls asleep and is woken up by Mr. Antolini petting his head. His reaction is to freak out about it because of the policy that Holden has to not let people get close to him, which Mr. Antolini might have been doing. He feels bad for Holden so that's why I think he was trying to be a father figure by petting his head(Plus, he was drunk!). Only time will tell if Holden will emotionally ever let somebody near him.

Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1945. Print.

THe Catcher In The Rye (The End)

While thinking of what to do Holden had know choice but to go back to his house. He was out of money and needed some food. When he first walks in he goes straight to Phoebe's room. He sees that she still has D.B.'s desk in her room. He mentions that the desk is big. When Phoebe wakes up the first thing she said was "Holden! You're here!" She was so happy to see him. He had first aksed her if he can barrow some money. He didn't tell her why though. Phoebe thought that Holden wasn't supposed to be home until Wednesday. She was still happy anyway. Holden was nervouse the entire time while he was talking to Phoebe. He kept asking when Mom and Dad would be home?
I don't know was Phoebe's reply they didn't say.When the parents arrived home Holden got really nervouse. He jumped right into the colest. Phoebe was trying to not talk a long time to her mom because she wanted her to not find Holden in the colest. As the parents went to bed Holden got up and left. Holden went over to Mr.Antolini's house to stay there for the night. This didn't end well though.
During the conversation between Holden and Mr.Antolini was not good. Mr.Antolini was asking Holden what he was going to do with his life? Why did he flunk every subject? When they went to bed Holden had awanked to Mr.Antolini petting his head. He was so freaked out by this.
He wrote a letter to Pheobe saying to meet him at the muesum so he could say goodbye. When he was walking through the school many memories came back to him. There was a piece of writting on the wall that Holden wasn't happy about. How could someone write the word Fuck on the wall? Little kids would walk by and see that everyday. He didn't want his sister seeing that on the walls. So when Phoebe meet Holden at the meusum he told her goodbye. She wanted to go with him but Holden got upset and told her no. So they went to the zoo.
I didn't like the ending of the book at all. It ends where Phoebe was ridding the caresol and Holden was thinking back at his life and what had happened. Now Holden has changed a little I think. He has seen what has happened and his mistakes made him a better person.

One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest- Amy Hunter

In part two of One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest, McMurphy finds out that some of the other men are not committed to being in the hospital, they are there voluntarily. This upsets McMurphy in many ways. He is very shocked that many of them are there by choice. At one point when he was talking to Billy, he says, “Then why? Why? You’re just a young guy! You oughta be out running around in a convertible, bird dogging girls” (Kasey 167). Most of the men there are not committed to the hospital; most of them are just scared to leave. They think that they will not survive out in the real world. They are scared to open up to reality because they may have a disability or be slower then normal people. This really surprised me to know that most of them want to stay there even though they are not treated very well. I think this could also be why McMurphy had been so upset when he found this news out.
Also, in part four, McMurphy takes some of the men on a fishing trip. None of them talk until they finally get out into the ocean and start the fishing process. To me, it seems like they are scared to be themselves when they are out of the hospital. Before they got to the ocean they went and to the gas station. The gas man was asking about their uniforms and why they were wearing them. At first the doctor lied to the man to make them look better, but then McMurphy jumped out and told and even worse lie. He told him that they were psychopaths and the others seemed to like telling people that. Another guy had come up to them and one of the other patients added on to what McMurphy said in enjoyment. I thought this was cool that they finally had a different perspective of things and that it’s not always a horrible thing to have a disability.
Kasey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest. New York: Signet, 1962. Print.

The Things They Carried

The Things They Carried overall is an interesting and different kind of book from other books. Throughout the entire book it would go back and fourth between the present and past. Also, O'Brien shares random stories that happened in the war. I was really going with it and I thought that most of them was true, maybe with some exaggeration to it, but I really did think that the stories he is sharing in this book was true, until he told us that it wasn't. Most of the stories and pretty much this entire book is made up, which really disappoints me. It changes my point of view on this book. I mean it's still an okay book, but it just makes me upset how it's not non-fiction. Although, Tim O'Brien is a pretty good author and the creative way and style he wrote this book in was pretty cool.

Tim O'Brien wrote this book in a way that's also pretty easy to analyze. There was many kinds of symbolism throughout the entire book. I think the main kind of symbolism was at the beginning of the book where he describes the items each of the soldiers carried, because that represented something precious to each one of them and something they don't want to lose or ever forget. Also, at the last chapter he talks about the girl Linda who was his crush when he was a kid, which I think is also symbolism in this book. Her spirit and the connect he had with her helps him get over and not take the deaths of the other soldiers, people and his close friends too hard. The fact that he was there when she died made him stronger in this war and helped him keep moving on after a experience of a person's death. There was another kind of irony in this book which was at the end. In the chapter "The Ghost Soldiers," him and Jorgenson got in this fight and Tim decided to do payback on him, which I think was kind of stupid and unnecessary. It surprised me though on how he decided to that, because that's unlikely of his character. The irony of that chapter was that Tim says how he doesn't want to be in the war, is sick of it and can't wait to be done, but yet he gets jealous of Jorgenson taking his position. It upsets him and he feels left out just like he shares in the book when he says, "A funny thing, but I felt betrayed" (O'Brien 198).

I'm glad I choose to read this book, even though it was kind of boring. The fact that it's not true makes me upset, but the way he wrote the book, the creativeness and style of it made up for it.

By,

Anastasia Ditter

O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. New York: Broadway Book, 1990. Print.

Catcher in the Rye-Holden's Lack of Comfort-Maddy Kemme

Holden's obvious immaturity stretches into several different levels. One of the most prevalent of his immaturities is that he is uncomfortable with his sexuality. You can tell he is uncomfortable with this in the way he talks about sex and how girls affect him like the nuns, and waiting at the station. "Women kill me. They really do." (54)

Also, when Holden is faced with some sort of sexually challenging activity, he simply avoids dealing with it. A time when he was faced with one of these challenges was when he thought he was "sexy" (95), he was actually quite depressed, so his ultimate lonliness kicked in because he just wanted to talk.

Another time when Holden maybe overreacts too much because he THOUGHT there may be some sort of possibly sexual content coming from his ex- English teacher, Mr. Antolini, touched his head while he was sleeping. Instead of thinking this gesture was fatherly, Holden automatically thought it may be a more inapropriate situation.

Catcher in the rye mario melendez

In this book I don’t think Holden is comfortable with his own sexuality. For example at the end of chapter twenty four when Mr. Antolini patted Holden on the head when he was sleeping. Holden freaked out when he woke up to this and left Mr. Antolini’s house. I think Holden just freaks out to easily because he doesn’t know how to handle anything. I also don’t think Holden is comfortable with his own sexuality because when he was talking to his old friend Luce, he only talked bout girls and sex. Then Luce told him that he hasn’t matured since the last time he saw him. If you ask me, these 2 situations tell me that Holden isn’t comfortable with his own sexuality. Why would he freak out that Mr.Antolini was touching his head when he was sleeping. I think Mr.Antolini was just acting as a father figure to him. Also why would he only talk about girls and sex with Luce. The only reason for these 2 situations is because he isn’t comfortable with his sexuality. But I do believe Holden is trying to find himself in life, because right now he doesn’t know who he really is.

Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Little, Brown, 1951. Print.

The Things They Carried

This section of the book talks a lot about the events revolving around Kiowa’s death, and Norman’s reminiscences about this tragedy with his father. He starts by telling his father about how he was awarded 7 medals in the war and that he could have won a silver medal but for the fact that he was unable to save his friend in the field. The actual event took place in the field that Lt. Cross had given orders to set up camp in. Later though Cross would realize it was a terrible choice, for the field was flooded with mud and waste which became a huge burden to all of his soldiers and in the end be the death of one. One night when things seemed fairly quiet a mortar strike hit their base causing everyone to take cover under the sludge in the field. Norman was near Kiowa when this happened and heard a mortar hit loud and close to himself and heard a scream coming from Kiowa. He quickly ran over to where Kiowa was but could barely see anything but his boots poking out and bubbles where his head would have been. He began attempting to pull Kiowa back out to safety but began being sucked in himself and soon the smell of the sludge began to overtake him and he backed off allowing Kiowa to sink in and perish. He reflected on this moment a lot and thought about how he would have saved his friend and won the silver medal had it not been for the smell of that field. (134)

The section also talks about the man that Tim kills in the book. It tells of how Tim tossed a grenade at the slender man walking down the trail without thinking about what he had done, his body had just reacted. After the event he goes down to the corpse with Kiowa and just stares at it trying to take in what he had just done. He stares at it for a good long time and Kiowa is trying to convince him it wasn’t his fault or problem and he should stop starring and leave this behind him. Tim also reflects about this event when he is talking with his daughter. Both of these events however really reflect on both characters thoughts about the war and about themselves. Both events really shook them up and made them consider what had happened then and after the war. They contemplated whether it was their fault or the war’s fault. Tim used to and still thinks about this a lot but it proved to be too much for Norman whom later in the book hangs himself. (160)

Andy Jones

O’Brien Tim, The Things They Carried, Boston, MA. Broadway Books, 1990. Print

The catcher in the rye Mario Melendez

At the end of chapter 18 when Holden saw that movie about war he thinks that he wouldnt want to go to war. But then he goes on to say if he was in the army he would want to just die, or sit on top of an atom bomb. But then in chapter 21 of the book when he goes to talk to his sister she tells him that their dad will kill him if he finds out he got kicked out of school. But he insistes that he wouldnt kill him. i guess i dont understand, why would Holden insist that his dad isnt going to kill him but then he is so willing to die when he talked about being in the army. It seems to me that a theme in this novel is death so it doesnt make sense he would feel so strongly about his dad not killing him.

Works cited:
Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Little, Brown, 1951. Print.

Catcher in the Rye- Aleia Amaya

A symbol that has been seen widely throughout the book has been the ducks. Holden always seems to ask taxi drivers or new strangers; “you know the ducks that swim around in it [the lake]? In the spring time and all? Do you happen to know where they go in the wintertime, by any chance?” (81). Which to most people, this wouldn’t even be a logical or relevant question to be asking anybody. But, every time Holden asks this question he gets a “sore” reply similar to; “How the hell should I know a stupid thing like that.”
When I read about Holden’s utter curiosity with the ducks it tells me two things. One, that Holden doesn’t understand why the ducks keep leaving. Then, two, that the ducks represent all the people in his life that have left him without him knowing where they leave to or understanding why they left in the first place. It bothers Holden to not know, it’s an emotional and a mental discomfort that affects him immensely.
While in the museum Holden expresses himself by saying “The best thing, though, in that museum, was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move…Nobody’d be different. The only thing that’d be different would be you” (121). This shows that Holden’s extremely “lonesome” (149).
The ducks, the museum displays, and the desperate attempt to make friends (i.e. Sunny, Sally, Luce, The Nuns, etc.) all symbolize his sadness towards the people who left him behind.


work cited:
Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Little, Brown, 1951. Print.

The Catcher In The Rye: Sarah Waltman

In the story of “The Catcher in the Rye,” Holden Caulfield, the main character, seems to be a very lonely and depressed person. In this novel, he constantly refers to the people around him as “phonies,” and he can’t find anyone he can really trust (126). The only people he feels like he can trust are his brother Allie, who is dead, and his little sister Phoebe. The rest of the people around him, he can’t stay very close to for very long. His friend, Stradlater from Pencey, and Holden got into a huge fight just before Holden left the school entirely, and they were close before. In the dorm next to him at Pencey, there is a Guy named Ackley that “[dang] near made you sick if you saw him,” but Holden only trusts him right before he is about to leave the school, and even goes to sleep in his dorm to stay away from Stradlater (19). Holden has him as a friend, but the friends that he does have in this story, he doesn’t like all that much.

When Holden does leave to go to New York before he returns home to his family, the loneliness he feels only gets worse. He seems awfully desperate to find some one to talk to, about anything. When he gets to a hotel in New York, he even invites a prostitute up to his room. When the two of them are sitting in the room, Holden says that he only “feel[s] like talking for a while” when the prostitute is with him, which basically shows that he doesn’t know how he should act in public, and also how desperate he is to find someone to talk to (95). Later Sunny, the prostitute and her pimp, Maurice show up to collect more money for him, in which he argues about, and eventually gets beaten up for it. Later, all he wants to do is just lay in bed alone. He also mentions that he “felt like jumping out of the window,” but the only reason he didn’t was because he “didn’t want a bunch of rubbernecks looking at [him] when [he] was all gory,” which is a scary thing to say (104). This shows that he doesn’t really have much to live for anymore, and feels too lonely to even be alive.

I honestly think that we, the readers, should be worried about Holden, because he has talked about committing suicide several times throughout the story. I think that he needs to find someone that he can really trust, and just give them the chance to be his friend. From what I see happening in the story right now, he really needs someone he can talk to, besides his dead brother Allie. This may help with his depression in many ways.

The Things They Carried

Tim O’Brien has written a lot of stories about the Vietnam War. He writes with such vivid descriptions that the stories seem so real. I just read a chapter that was about a situation that is hard to understand about whether it is good or bad. Norman was in a predicament where his friend, Kiowa, had gotten stuck in muck that was boiling hot. Kiowa was screaming out trying to get himself out. Norman turns on his flashlight and ends up giving away their position. While he was pulling Kiowa’s boot trying to get him out, shots were aimed at them and mortars were shot as well. Norman got too scared and left Kiowa there. Now he feels really bad about it because he could have saved him if he wasn’t too scared to. But at the same time, he ran to save himself. It was a natural instinct for him to run for his own life. But is it bad that he left his best friend there? Should he have tried harder to save him when “he pulled him hard but Kiowa was gone” (O’Brien 149). Then when Norman goes back home to Iowa I think he is really in shock about the normalcy of it all. Guns weren’t being shot at him, grenades weren’t being thrown, and she didn’t have to watch his comrades die before his eyes. I think it was hard to adapt from one extreme to another.

O’Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. Boston: Broadway Books, 1990.

-Catalina Nunez

The Things They Carried Works Cited :)

O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. New York: Broadway Books, 1990. Print.

Works Cited for CHELSEA STRANG's last blog post on 5-7-2010! :)

Chaos in the Things They Carried

The Things They Carried is written in a unique style that lends itself perfectly to a war story. The book is written in a slightly disjointed style and skips around a lot. This fits with the line “Often in a true war story, there is not even a point”, because many of these stories may or may not be relevant to the entire book. (82) Many times in the book Tim O’Brien references the fact that war is chaos, and the book is written the same way. The ordered chaos makes it seem like you are living the authors’ memories that have suddenly been jogged, then hastily written down in no particular order. He will skip from present day to the war from one chapter to the other, furthering the illusion that the book is written chaotically. The stories also may or may not be true, which complicates reading, but also enforces his statement that “in a true war story, nothing is absolutely true”. (82) This means that in the midst of all the chaos, what you saw can be very easily mixed up with what you thought you saw. The book is written the same way in that he keeps repeating that parts of the stories may or may not be completely true.

O’Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. New York: Broadway Books, 1990. Print

The Things They Carried

In the past sixty pages of the book a lot has happened to the men and there have been many events that hold symbolism. The first major event that happened was when Martha flew in on a helicopter. At first she doesn’t do much in the war but then at night goes on raids with other soldiers. Before long she starts to run away for weeks at a time and when she came back one time she has a necklace with human tongues around her neck with people that she had killed. Then one night she left and never returned. Then they stumble upon a small church. This church doesn’t seem like a big deal but holds some big symbolism within it. It symbolizes righteousness and forgiveness for the soldiers that have fought in the war. Another big piece of symbolism is when Norman Bowker drives around the lake over and over but doesn’t ever talk to anyone. “Out on the lake a man’s motorboat had stalled; the man was bent over the engine with a wrench and a frown” (140). This reminds him of his old life that the war has stripped him of and that he will never be able to obtain again.

O’Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. Boston: Broadway Books,1990.

By Taylor Perdue

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's

Analysis of McMurphy's Conversation with the Lifeguard

"He was talking to the lifeguard, and I was standing a few feet away... I heard him tell McMurphy that, for one thing, being committed ain't like being sentenced. "Your sentenced in a jail, and you got a date ahead of you when you know you're gonna be turned lose," he said." (Kesey 147). This quote is significant to the role change in McMurphy's character because it dawns on him that he is stuck there. He is committed to the mental hospital and the only person who can decide when he leaves is the Big Nurse.

After this hits him he realizes that maybe he shouldn't be playing with fire and messing with authority. During his talk with Harding he also comes to the knowledge that most of them are there on their own free will and not committed like him. I believe that this conversation really hits home with him because now he ponders why these people would be here voluntarily. Up until this point of the novel McMurphy has always thought of the patients as people who were forced to be there against their will. But now after this new discovery, it's almost as if he feels like they are more insane for going there intentionally.

In my opinion, McMurphy is now wondering how long he'll be there and if the Nurse will allow him to leave. I also believe that he regrets going there to get out of work. McMurphy wonders if he will go crazy from being there so long and what will happen to him if he stays there.

Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. New York: Penguin Books, 1962. Print.

The Things They Carried

Throughout this novel I have felt like the war is described very well. I felt this because of the form O'Brien has used to write this book. As we reach the end of a chapter we do not know what is going to happen next. Every chapter is so different from each other. Some of the chapters are connected, but they have a span of pages between them. I feel he wrote using this style to show the chaos of war. In war you never know what is going to happen next and that what makes the chapters exciting and random. You feel you are going through what he has been going through. To a certain extent I believe that O'Brien purposly wrote the book in this form, but at the same time I think he did it because as your telling a story you go on and on and on but then once you move on from one point to another you come to realize that you forgot to say a detail about the last story. He shows how he does this by stating:

"Often in a true war story there is not even a point, or else the point doesn't hit you until twenty years later in your sleep, and you wake up... and you forgoten the point again" (O'Brien 82).

This statement was a bold statement that stood out to me and showed how even after war the soliders still think about the stories and want to "wake up and start shaking [their] wife" so they can tell them the story, but their wife doesn't know what the point of the story was and in the end of the story the solider doesn't either (O'Brien 82). Us as the reader's of The Things They Carried, are in the same boat as the solider's wifes because we don't know what the point is half the time, but I'm sure by the end of the book we will have an explanation for it all and understand how the chapters go together.

Posted By: CHELSEA STRANG :)

The Things They Carried

I believe that there are many forms of symbolism embedded into the text of the book The Things They Carried. One form of symbolism I have realized throughout these last few chapters is in the story of Norman Boker’s life. He was forced into the war at a young age when he had so much life in front of him. He had friends and a family and once he was forced into the war all of their lives moved on without him. Now, his family and friends are all married, moved, and no longer in the same stage of their lives as they were when Norman last saw them. What does he have now? He drives around Sunset lake where he remembers so many good memories he had there when he was young and with his friends, but the only difference now is he is alone. The fact that he is driving in circles represents the fact that he is stuck in the war. He is in the never-ending circle and he can’t pull his head out of the war especially if he has nobody to talk to about it and tell his stories to. War is a traumatic experience and after going through that kind of experience you need somebody to talk to, but there is nobody left. Norman wants to tell somebody he “almost won a silver star for valor” and the sad story to go with it, but there is nobody around to tell (O’Brein 140). Everyone he remembers talking to and having important conversations with such as this one are either married, dead, or are moved away. He remembers driving around with Sally and thinks about going to talk to her, but then realizes times aren’t like they used to be and talking to her will never be the same. Due to this, he ended up committing suicide. Sadly, even though this is a fictional story, soldiers who come back from the war have to deal with this kind of situation every day. They have to risk their lives for years and then come back to a normal life only to find their friend’s lives have progressed, their old girlfriends are married and gone, or their parents are older and different than how they remember them. I wish there was some way these poor men could have their live back to normal after they spend so much time risking their lives for our freedom.

O'Brein, Tim. The Things They Carried. New York. Broadway Books, 1990. Print.

The Power of Charismatic Speaking (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)

In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, McMurphy is a fabulous public speaker, convincing the other patients of the ward to start small scale rebellion in defience of Big Nurse. McMurphy is able, it seems, to make friends across the board with the farthest gone of the cronics all the way to the head doctor. However, this power of his ennds a a brick wall; Big Nurse. It seems this woman is the only one with the strength to resist McMurphy's words. As Harding said, McMurphy "may be a wolf" (Kesey 63). This statement has true significance when compaired to Big Nurse, who is also a wolf. In the eyes of the patients, the power strugle they see before them is a fight among wolves, one "rabbits" cannot participate in (Kesey 63). Based upon the strengths of McMurphy and the reason for his being commited to the ward, it may be inferred that he is a Hitler-like figure. Known as a charismatic speaker and a popular figure, Hitler rose to power in a democratic nation, freely voted by his people. His message, while insane, was a popular one and captured the hearts and minds of Germany, becoming their hero. McMurphy has taken on a role similar to this but with one minor difference; the men McMurphy is leading are good as children for all they can take care of problems on their own. This makes his method of manipulation almost useless, meaning he must take care of many problems on his own with hopes that his followers wont turn on him. Though now disheartened, I believe that McMurphy will find a way to gain power and keep it, defeating the Big Nurse once and for all.

TTTC by ali!

In my lit circles group I am reading The Things They Carried. The notion of being a coward can be debated and ultimately it comes down to how much an individual values their life versus the life of others. There are many situations in a war where the outcome is completely out of the hands of the people who inherit the situation. Such is the instance when Kiowa and Norman discover themselves under ambush, however though, while Kiowa is in, what I would consider to be the worst death, Norman wimps out. Kiowa drown in “this deep, oozy soup” (145) of human feces. He saw his life as being more important than that of his fellow comrades. Some may argue that he had no choice or that in the situation he was put in there was no way he could have saved Kiowa so the best thing to do was to preserve his own life. If he had made the choice to try harder or longer to save the life of his friend I believe that Norman would never have committed suicide. There are many other outcomes, they both could have died, Norman could have died but Kiowa could have lived, and many more outcomes but the only way they would have been possible if Norman was not a coward.

The Things They carried

Over the course of the war men found a large amount of difficulties before during and after the war. Many of the men thought that after the war life was hard and feel that they need help to cope with the burden of having blood on their hands and what they should do with the blood. They want to feel mercy from someone to understand the feeling of pain being lifted from them. If they could receive that they would feel so much better about what they have done and who they have done this to. For Norman the lake was a symbol of peace where he can drive around and visit memories that he has had with his friends in the past. When after the war he has lost his friend and does not know what to do or where to go. While also his old girlfriend has moved on and left him before he went to the war. Norman wants that experience that he can feel the mercy of talking to someone. Then he could find a way to live with himself and not feel the full blame of Kiowa’s death. Men would find ways to cope with the realism, but Norman could not before he committed suicide.
O'Brien, Tim "The Things They Carried"
By Ryan Barber.

The Catcher in the Rye- Eddie P. :D

As the story continues on from the point where he is depressed, Holden begins to take us on a journey deep inside his mind in what he is thinking about others abd their way of living. He is always pointing out the negative things in other people and showing that he doesn't care. He thinks the people he doesn't even know are phonies when he hasn't even had the chance to communicate with them. The only people that will ever be true to Holden as I learned through my reading are his siblings. Even though he thinks the people he talks to are phonies he still has the need to talk to them. Holden is starting to feel really lonely and goes on this quest to call up prostitutes or anyone that can meet him at the nearest bar to have a cocktail. Deep down inside Holden needs someone. Holden is spending all sorts of money on different people. He eventually meets nuns having breakfast and really seems to have enjoyed the conversation he had with them. Talking about Romeo and Juliet really seemed to brighten his morning. I think these were the only non-related people in the whole book that Holden didn't think negatively of because the nuns were respectful and didn't say anything that "killed him." "I offered them a 10 dollar contribution" obviously showed that Holden respected these kind women enough. I thought thi part of the book was really interesting. The walk at the park means a lot to Holden also. He bought a record he had wanted to guive his kid sister Phoebe. But she is not there so he ponders the idea that she might have went to the museum. The museum symbolises a lot to Holden. It symbolizes the place that Holden used to go to as a child. A place he really used to enjoy. He rambles on about the many cases and displays within the museum which obviusly means that he loved it as a kid. But Holden decides not to go in there and I think it's because he doesn't want to remember his happy times as a kid. He doesn't want to change within that museum. He really misses being happy when Allie was around, and before his academic achievements went downhill. Still I wonder, If Holden will ever let go. But I know he does not want to because the times of being a child were the tme of his life.

Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Little, Brown, 1951. Print.

The Catcher In the Rye - The Thoughts of Holden

The mind, thoughts, and actions of Holden can be found quite stirring yet insightful. In the story, Holden often thinks about saying things to other people, but never really puts these actions forward. The smallest details about a person tend to annoy or depress him as well. Even though he may project derogatory forms of comments toward others, if readers think deeper and read between the lines, maybe there is a hidden message beneath those eerie remarks and thoughts.

Even though Holden claims that a good percentage of society that surrounds him are 'phonies', Holden has encountered several people whom he thinks fondly of and genuinely has positive thoughts for. When he eats breakfast at the train station, he comes across two nuns with suitcases. He tells the readers that he "hate[s] it when somebody has cheap suitcases" because it depresses him and makes him think of past memory of rooming with somebody who couldn't afford a more luxurious brand of suitcases(135). Fortunately though, as the story carries along, readers are able to view a more likeable Holden.

Among all of the hateful remarks and terrible thoughts that come across Holden's mind, Holden still has a good side. You can see examples of this when he walks into the park and tells about the amazing aspects of children and their innocence. Maybe, just maybe, his integrity and terrific well being will imbue as the story progresses.

Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Little, Brown, 1951. Print.

-Abriana Moreno

The Things They Carried EDITED

So far in The Things They Carried, the story has jumped around from pre to post to right in the middle of the war. There are a plethora of different stories that he tells throughout the story. Some of the stories that he mentions really jump out at you. Some of these stories would be; when Ted Lavender is killed, or the story about the boy that Tim killed. The one that really stands out to me the most is about Mary Anne Bell, and when she comes to Vietnam. This story is very interesting because in the first place, who let her go? Did her parents know about this? Did Marks officers know about this? Why would they jus let this girl come out to Vietnam in the middle of the war just to see and be with her boyfriend? Why does she do this? This passage is very interesting because she is a women and she goes to this war all the way across the seas. The other thing is what happened to her that she just turns into this “war girl.” She wears a necklace of tongues and she cares for injured soldiers. To me this section the most because of how much she changes during a short amount of time spent at this camp.

O'Brian, Tim. The Things They Carried. NewYork: Broadway Books, 1990. Print.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 2 - Kelia

Chief Bromden may be reluctant at first to admit it within himself, he makes sure to point out that McMurphy has begun to change the ward by changing the way the patients think and ultimately how they act. It isn't intil McMurphy convinced the other Acutes to vote on watching the World Series that the Chief shows out right that he has been affected by McMurphy's presents. When he raised his hand, it proved that he connected enough to the outside world outside of his fog to register and form an oppinion to vote. This may not seem like a big accomplishment to many people but the Chief hasn't talked nor truly interacted with the other patients for many years. There is also the fact that he didn't deny the fact that he was the one to choose to raise his hand, at first he blamed McMurohy claiming "[he] did something to it that first day... McMurphy's got hidden wires hooked up to it, lifting is slow," but in the end, he outright admits to it, saying "No. That's not the truth. I lifted it myself"(127). The Chief changed after that day, the "fog" didn't come around anymore after the day they beat the Big Nurse andi t didn't return until after McMurphy started to follow the rules. Once McMurphy stops sticking up for them and challenging the nurse he felt they were starting to fix the fog machine. McMurphy is what clears the Chief's mental cloak of fog even though he doesn't realize it, saying the machine had broken. Now that McMurphy is no longer being himself to insure he won't be stuck there longer then he needs it's effecting a much wider circle of people then he could ever realize.

- Kelia

Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. New York: Penguin Books, 1962. Print.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Throughout the book McMurphy tries to get the Big Nurse out of the institute. He wants everything in the institute to go his way. McMurphy says he wants to go to the bathroom more than “two times a day” to Cheswick (146). This makes everyone wonder why they don’t get that. McMurphy also tries to get the dorms unlocked on weekends, change the time of watching TV and also to have more cigarettes per day. All of this he thinks is making Big Nurse upset when actually she doesn’t show any emotions about it. She will sit at the doctor’s meeting and not say anything to them. So in the end I don’t think McMurphy will be able to get the Big Nurse out of the institute. She may end up taking him out because he will become a disturbance to the other patients. McMurphy doesn’t listen to the Big Nurse. She says that it is a “group therapy” and McMurphy doesn’t listen to her he wants everything to goes his way (123). Since the Big Nurse is trying to control McMurphy, he just comes up with other ways to make her upset by asking the doctor who sometimes will go with McMurphy’s idea and she still doesn’t get upset about it. McMurphy I think will end up having to go to another institute because he is a disturbance to the other patients.

Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. New York: Penguin Books, 1962. Print

Courtney Kjeldgaard

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest - Kelia

In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest it is obvious that if it's set in a mental hospital and the narrator is a patient in the for mentioned mental institute, that he's not going to be completely stable. Chief Bromden appears sane enough at first, more stable than some of his fellow patients at the very least, but it becomes apparent that the information we get through his view point isn't always going to be very reliable. You get a firsthand account of his delusions when he describes the Big Nurses transformation in the hall, saying she "Swelled up, swells till her back's splitting out of the white uniform and she's let her arms section out long enough to wrap around the three of them five, six times"(11). We know that a small women in her fifties can't transform into some sort of beast that can swell into a monster that could constrict three full grown men five or six times. It brings up the question why does the Chief see the nurse as this fantastic beastly creature even when she puts on the face of innocents when all the other patiets come out of their rooms. He even states "...she has to change back before she's caught in the shape of her hideous real self" (11). Chief Bromben seens to act as if he has an over active mind in a way from looking at his throughts and seeing how in a metaphorical sense they are right yet in comparison with the real world he is delusional.
- Kelia Murata
Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. New York: Penguin Books, 1962. Print.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

In this section of the book, McMurphy does many things to try and upset Big Nurse. He often challenges her authority and gets the men to back him up. He tries to push his limits as far as he can. However, he has realized now, that Big Nurse is the one who decides how long every one stays at the asylum. In realizing this, he has also come to find that it probably wasn’t a very good idea to get on Big Nurse’s bad side. In my opinion, he is finding out that working in the fields could be better than being in the asylum. I think he made a big mistake pretending he was insane so he could get out of working in the fields. At least then you have some control over your life and you might be able to decide when to leave. In the asylum, he has to deal with all the rules he sees as stupid and he doesn’t have a way of knowing what his future might hold. Big Nurse is the one who decides his future. Once McMurphy realized this, I think he went into denial. He immediately blamed the men, especially Harding for not “tell[ing] [him] what a risk [he] was running,” (Kesey 166). I think he knows it was his fault, but he doesn’t want to admit it. However, I don’t know if it is his pride or a different reason.
With this section, I also had a few questions. First, what does it mean to be “committed” at the asylum? (Kesey166) I know that McMurphy was really mad when he found out that most of the men there weren’t, but I don’t really understand what it means. Second, why did Cheswick kill himself? I know that he didn’t like it at the asylum, but is that the only reason? Finally, why did McMurphy act so weird at the therapy session? It seemed like he just broke the glass out of nowhere and nobody even gave him a reason to.

Works Cited: Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. New York: Penguin Books, 1962. Print.

Huckleberry Finn, duke and king foil

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn The Duke and the King are major rolls in the book. The king and duke are big, big foils. We thought that Huck and Jim were really bad characters in the book. The two boys stealing objects like dresses and money from houses and ferries. Another example is that Huck didn’t turn Jim in for running away from his house so he didn’t have to sold.
Well the true bad guys are the duke and king. The duke and king are con-men trying to make money to get alcohol. One part in the book Huck says “The duke and king begun to lay out a plan for working them towns” (169 Twain). They have many plains on what they will do to the next towns. They would do anything to get money. The duke and king make Huck and Jim look like good kids. That why they are foils. Foil is a character that makes the main character look better. That’s what the duke and king do.
The duke and king make Huck a better kid. He see that bad of stealing and that it wont get you anywhere in life. He realize that he if he kept up stealing things that him and Jim would turn out to be just like them. When he goes and steals Jim back from where he was sold to isn’t going in the right way but he is only doing it to save his friend.

Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn .New York: Penguin Book, 1986, 1884. Print

Catcher in the Rye Analysis

Thursday, April 29, 2010-Eddie Prieto


Holden Caulfield is just another teen trying to survive school and become somebody. This statement is completely false. Holden is the complete opposite because he does not really care about school and is not paying much attention to his clouded future. In recent chapters we have found out that Holden had a brother whom he cared for very much and was the only true person to him. He refers to everyone as "phonies" because there will never be anyone down-to-earth like his brother Allie. Because of the death of his dearest brother, I think that Holden is afraid to reveal his true feelings and emotions because it might be a sign of weakness. The baseball glove that Holden was describing in Stradlater's essay is a symbol of his brother because he always had it with him. It is the only object that brings back reminisces of Allie.We also found out that Holden used to have a bond with a girl named Jane Gallagher. In one chapter, Stradlater took her out on a date. He was terribly worried and anxious because he knew Stradlater's tactics for going further with women. Talking about Jane Gallagher really showed that he actually cared for someone and had a heart because Holden seems like he is hard core and he is not the person to mess with. Deep down Holden cares for only certain people. Everybody else is a phonie to him.When Stradlater is talking about hanging out in Ed Banky's car with Jane, Holden keeps questioning him nervously. "All I remember is getting up out of bed and I tried to sock him," (43) clearly he cares about what he does and says about Jane. I predict that further in the story we will get deep inside Holden's thoughts and feelings about everything.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest: Suicide or Accident
While you are reading, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, there is a dilemma where Cheswick, a patient at the mental hospital, dives into the pool and does not come up. Some readers may imply that he committed suicide. Others believe that it was merely an accident.
What I believe is that Cheswick committed suicide. My reasoning for this is that before he dove into the pool, Cheswick said, “I wish something mighta been done, though” (Kesey 151). If I was there, I would take it that Cheswick was threatening his life and was going to commit suicide. Another reason that I believe that Cheswick committed suicide is that he did not want to go back to the Disturbed ward. He was afraid that he would do something wrong and he would be sent to the shock room again. He committed suicide to avoid that. Another reason to believe that Cheswick committed suicide is that when the lifeguards finally released him, they saw that his fingers were rapped around the drain like he was gripping it to stay underwater.
For those of you that believe that Cheswick did not commit suicide, I totally disagree with you. Most of the events that occurred to Cheswick could lead to possible suicidal attempts. Cheswick actually completed his task by gripping the drain until he drowned himself.
This is a confusing part in the book and can cause a lot of dilemma between both sides of the argument, like in my group. Mason and I believe Cheswick drowned himself on purpose, while Tori and Amy believe that it was just an accident that caused his death.
By Craig Noe

One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest- Amy Hunter

In the book One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest has so many different events that happen. This makes there be so many different themes for this novel. The one theme that I think fits most of the story is to not judge others just by how they act or physically are. The nurses treat all of the patients disrespectfully in my eyes. For example, Harding is a very intelligent character and yet the nurses do not treat him that way. They make them feel like they are worthless and can not do things that normal people can. Particularly how they put the patients in different groups like the acutes, chronics, etc, this was just to make things easy for them; they do not care how the patients feel. Everyone should be treated equally even if they have a disability or act a certain way. They are all people and should not be put into groups like the nurses do to them. Another thing is they treat them like children. One of the acute patients asks the nurse what is in the pill they gave him and she talks to him like he is a young child. She says, “It’s just medication, Mr. Taber, good for you. Down it goes, now” (Kasey 35). Then after they blame him for acting like a child, when really they were just treating him like one. I believe this theme really fits the story as to how they treat there patients like they are dumb just because they have some sort of disability.

Kasey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest. New York, New York: Penguin Group, 1962. Print.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Tori Fisher

This book has a lot of different things going on that may be difficult to understand. One is if Cheswick commits suicide or just drowns. When all of the Acutes take a trip to the swimming pool and McMurphy decides to stop rebelling. This causes some of the Acutes, like Cheswick, to become depressed. He was sent to the disturbed after rebelling all by himself with no help from the others. He had no help because most of the oatients follow McMurphy's example. Cheswick says, "I did wish something mighta been done, though."(151) and then he dove into the water.
So did he do this on purpose to drown because he was hurt McMurphy gave up on him or for any other reason? Or was it all an accident and did his fingers just get caught in the drain? At first I did not think that he committed suicide but all things considered, it is starting to seem very suspicious. I think that Cheswick might have actually done this by choice, he was upset at McMurphy, he had just been sent to the disturbed, and he probably did not want to go back. As a reader we can not be sure yet we can only assume, what is your opinion?
Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. New York: Signet,1962. Print.

The Catcher in the rye-Holden

Holden is in a really rough time of his life. He has failed out of his 4Th school and he is starting to realize he does not want to keep failing at everything he does. He is always thinking about Allie and that could be making his life a little harder on him.
All he wants is to have a close friend and somebody to talk to. Its hard for him to find friends because he thinks everyone is phony. He gets so dispirit he gets a prostitute to talk to. This shows us that he is a really lonely kid. He just wants someone he can talk to. He is also a really shallow kid and judges everyone off the first thinks he sees or thinks of them. I think that he is finally starting to realize that he is not living the right way and is going to change his ways and be a more open person. He even goes and talks to nuns. He probably feels like they are not phones because the are nuns and he thinks that makes them the best people. Which is not always true. Then when he goes to the park to see if he can find sister he gets really sad. This made me think that he really just misses his family and wants to be back close to them. In the next chapters i think he will try and get closer to his family and work more on his life.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- Jordan Perkins

Huck Matures throughout this entire story, and can be seen in many instances; but I will show two. In the beginning when Huck finds Jim on the island he always planed to turn Jim in. As the story progresses, Huck finds himself becoming less racist, and starting to believe all people are equal. Even when Huck places the dead snake in Jims sleeping bag, which gets Jim bit by the snakes mate. Jim always was able to forgive and forget, show that he was just as big a man, or bigger man than Huck is. When Huck and Jim travel down the river, and the steam ship clips the raft; in which Huck and Jim are separated. Jim gets supplies for them to keep moving, and try’s to get Huck to stay with him. Yet if Huck was placed in the similar situation some might believe he would leave Jim at that point in the story. Yet the main point where it is evident that Huck has changed is when Jim was sold by the kings, and turned into a slave again. This tears apart Huck on the inside, and makes him want to try anything to get Jim back, even going to hell.

The second evidence of this is when Huck finds the “king” and “duke”. Even though he can tell they are complete con-men, he lets them travel with him, and even is told to call them “sir” and “your lordship”. But almost as soon as he met them he remember things he has learned from his dad, “The best way to get along with his kind of people is to let them have their own way,” (137). This second point shows how throughout the story Huck puts up with them just so there is now trouble on the raft. If Huck had been put into this situation when he was still in town he would have right away called them out and let the trouble begin, but with all of these new experiences and life changes, he has grown and see’s how thing will turn out. -Jordan Perkins

The Catcher in The Rye~ Holden

Everyone goes through rough times in their lifes. Right now Holden can't seem to get his life straight. He keeps pushing people away from him. In the book Holden has just left Pency Prep right after the fight with Stradlater. When he starts walking to the train staion he is cold. On the train Holden starts talking to the lady next to him. Her son also goes to Pency Prep.
During their conversation Holden lies about her son. He says that the son is a nice kid and that everyone loved him. He even didn't tell her is correct name! When Holden reaches New York he gets in a cab and doesn't know where to go. The first thing that came to his mind would be who could he call? He didn't want to call his parents or his sister because he is afraid that his parents would answer the phone. So he ends up going to a hotel.
While staying at the hotel Holden starts to think about his past and a girl named Sally Hass. Holden starts to think about her and wants to call her up on the phone. The second night at the Hotel Holden is lonely and wants something to do that night. So he ask Maruice if he knew any one who would sleep with him. Maruice is a guy who runs a buissness with a gal named Sunny. When Sunny came to the room Holden couldn't go on with it. All he wanted was someone to talk to.
After this Holden was in a heap of trouble. As he was walking down to get brakefest he ran into Maruice. Sunny wanted the $5 that Holden had owed her, but Holden already gave it to her.
I think that Holden needs to change his life a little. He is a very trouble boy and he will push anyone away when they want to help. When ever Holden is lonely all he wants is someone to talk to. So when he clled up Sally Hass he asked her on a date eventhough he doesn't like her. Why do you think he did that? Now Holden might actually have someone in is life. If he keeps this he might be happy. If not then he might fall down the same path before.

Work cited
Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Little, Brown, 1951. Print.

The Catcher in the Rye and Loneliness - Maddy Kemme

Holden the troubled teen has just left his boading school called Pency, and is now on the road before he returns home. For many of us, this would be a blast, with no adult supervision, but not for Holden. He has admitted several times to "feel sad as hell." (96) But why is Holden feeling this way? Why does he feel so terrible everywhere he goes and to everyone he talks to? I think the answer is that he is very lonely

Holden really just seems like he is in the confused crosswalks of life. He wants to be independent, but at the same time he is unable to comprehend his surroundings. He doesn't seem to like being with his fellow peers, but as we see with Ackley, Holden couldn't help but be drawn to him because Ackley was one of the only living people (regarding Allie) Holden could talk to. "I got so lonesome and rotten, I even felt like waking Ackley up." (50)

Holden shows how torn he is when he talks to people, especially women. "Women kill me. They really do. I don't mean I'm oversexed or anything like that- although I am quite sexy. I just like them, I mean." (54) Holden seems to wish he had somebody to talk to, and he has all these sexual tensions that he seems to be uncapable of showing.

Holden is desperate for company. That is why he gets a prostitute, but he can't do anything with her bacause he is too depressed and all he wanted to do was talk to her. "'Don't you feel like talking for a while?'-'What the heck ya wanna talk about?'-'I don't know. Nothing special. I just though perhaps you might care to talk for a while.'"(95)

Works cited:
Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Little, Brown, 1951. Print.

Themes from - One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest

During this book we come to a bit of a dilemma. The reader has to figure out what they think happened to him. The part of the story that I am talking about is when Cheswick went to the pool one day and didn’t return alive. After leaving the disturbed Cheswick went straight to the pool. He said that he wanted change and dove into the pool. Then Cheswick got his fingers stuck on the grate at the bottom of the pool in such a way that the black boys and the life guard couldn’t get him un stuck but when they pulled him up finally they saw that he was actually holding himself there. The book says so, “ brought Cheswick up, with the grate still clutched by his chubby pink and blue fingers, he was drowned”(Kesey 151). This proves that he was actually clenching the grate to hold him under the water. I know that studies show that you cant actually drowned yourself on purpose, but we have to remember that he was insane. He probably didn’t know what he was doing or maybe he did but we wont know. It’s very sad that he did kill himself because of how he did it; the other patience might be traumatized by this because he did it in front of them. I think that he did kill himself just to get away from the disturbed.

Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. New York, New York: Penguin Books, 1962. Print.

The Catcher in the Rye - The Life of Holden

In the eyes of Holden Caulfield, life isn't just a walk in the park on a Sunday afternoon. As any reader can see, Holden has endured a lot in his short time of existance and it seems to be weighing him down. By treating his 'friends' with terrible, rude comments and portraying a pessimistic attitude, Holden is sliding by through each day with a corrupt yet mysterious lifestyle.

At this point of the reading, Holden's attitude consists of ignorance and insincerity along with many other characteristics as well. Clues such as "people never notice anything" can indicate that he feels that nobody is ever concerned with his well being or whereabouts (9). Holden says "I [he] don't give a damn" about many important events in his life such as schooling (9). Instances include attending four different schools due to his attitude and faulty grade circumstances can also prove that Holden believes he has better things to do than to care for his academic achievements and further schooling programs in the near future.

There is one factor, so far, in the book that has changed his attitude momentarily; the thoughts of his brother, Allie. Holden explains his deceased brother's well being with much passion and enthusiasm by stating "you'd have liked him" and giving examples of the sincerity Allie's teachers would give when praising his academic exellences (38). Allie's death hurt Holden very much. Holden was so vastly devastated that he "broke all the windows in the garage" the night that Allie died (39). Even though Allie was two years younger than Holden, the two brothers held a special bond that connected them so powerfully deep.

Many questions and thoughts come to mind when passages such as "I'm seventeen now...and I have gray hair" enter the text of the book and into the mind (9). What would make Holden worry and fret so much to cause his hair pigmentation to deplete and lose color at his young age? Could it be the death of his brother had shaken him so much that it has caused somewhat of an emotional breakdown? Further reading and insightful thinking may provide answers to the questions and thoughts that come to mind.

- Abriana Moreno