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
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This whole section is really intense for me.It was hard for me to understand what was going through his head when his best friend was yelling and screaming trying to get out. I can't imagine going through that. But if it was me, i would have stayed to help my friend out. Even if i was going to die for it, i think it would have been worth it.
ReplyDelete-Catalina Nunez