Speaking of Courage

O’Brien is telling the story from Bowker’s point of view, and Bowker is still devastated by the incident of Kiowa’s death.  Bowker feels as if he is a coward because the guilt of seeing Kiowa die before his very eyes has driven him into a deep depression as well as suffering from PTSD.  However, by successfully telling the story to O’Brien, Bowker conquered the fear of telling anyone else how the event affected him.  This in itself is a courageous act.  This is in part related to a scenario told in “How to Tell a True War Story”, where a man jumps in front of a grenade in an attempt to sacrifice himself to save his friends, but the blast of the grenade kills all of the men.  Even though the person was acting somewhat foolish, sacrificing himself to attempt to save his friends, albeit unsuccessfully, is also an extremely courageous act.  It seems that O’Brien sees courage as dropping everything you stand for to do what you fear most, as Bowker did by retelling the story of how he felt about the death of Kiowa, and the hypothetical situation of the man killing himself to save his friends’ lives.

Memoir Response

The memoir, “A Guarantee in Life”, overall fit every good quality of a memoir.  It develops the main character, Justin, in a way that you see his maturity despite his age.  His dialogue with his mother and separated father are quite realistic for how a 5-year-old would speak.  It definitely contains the realistic elements of what happens, and the plotline is interesting and easy to follow.  It contains both what happened in terms of the plotline, as well as the author’s feelings and thoughts during the events of that Friday night.  The storytelling was so compelling and realistically detailed I felt as if I were in the room with him feeling exactly what he was feeling at the time.  It is obvious from reading the memoir that this event has been clearly etched within his mind, giving him these vivid memories.  He remember where exactly he was when his father called and the excitement he felt as a result.  13 years later, he reflects on the event of learning how immature the dad was and why they separated.  He explains concisely and in detail how he learned and matured as a result of that experience.  It is also possible to infer he will try not to end up like his father; a drunk, irresponsible, and negligent father. 

http://teacher.scholastic.com/writeit/readpoem.asp?id=28&genre=Memoir&Page=1&sortBy= 

Vietnam War Blog

After World War II, the United States was finished being allies with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.  They supported another form of government where all are equal, known as communism.  Because this new form of government threatened Democracy, the form of government Americans hold dear and tend to take for granted, Senator Joseph McCarthy began accusing random people of supporting the communist regime and against the United States.  The mentality of the situation was: if you support communism, you are an enemy and a traitor.

In addition, because Communist China was aiding the spread of communism in Vietnam, the United States Army aided the civil war between both sides of Vietnam.  Vietnam was formerly a French colony, and the French were ousted from the country.  As a result, the army entered Vietnam to aid those fighting the communism.

However, this was not very well-received by the American people, and youth groups such as the Youth International Party, known more commonly as the Yippies, held public protests against the war.  Sometimes, however, the protests result in fighting and attacks by the police, similarly to the 1968 Democratic National convention protests in Chicago.  There were mixed opinions to which side was correct, but the strife of the war within Vietnam and outside of Vietnam were evident.

http://asianhistory.about.com/od/asianhistoryfaqs/f/whyvietnamfaq.htm

http://www.questiaschool.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=22778085

Rewritten Scene

When Tom came to visit, I was glad to see him and I also noticed his friend, Nick.  He seemed like a moderate gentleman, but of course, I was mostly interested in Tom.  As usual, I enjoyed gossiping with the McKee’s and the rest of them about how bad my current husband is and also about Gatsby.  Nobody knows very much about that new money foreigner, and because we are all curious about him, we all spread rumors about that freak.  He is completely insignificant to the rest of us just because he is new money.  Also, I heard he got rich by working with the guy who caused the Cincinnati Reds to win the 1919 World Series, which was a huge deal in the Midwest.  Otherwise, I really don’t know that much about that guy.  Anyway, we all got really drunk, and I noticed Nick passed out for an hour there.  Eventually, we were all so drunk the group got to the topic of Daisy, Tom’s wife whom he is cheating on with me.  Who cares?  I’m much better than her anyway.  And so what if what I was telling about her were lies, anyway?  She doesn’t know about it, so she can’t hurt me.  Eventually, I started repeating her name annoyingly to Tom to bother him uncontrollably.  It was a bad idea in the end, of course, but I wanted to bother him.  After all, I’m drunk anyway.  Nonetheless, Tom hit me square in the nose, and he broke it.  I was bleeding all over the place, yet I still loved Tom a ton.  However, he doesn’t seem to like anyone bringing up his current wife.  He does think men are superior to women anyway, but so does everyone today.  I still love him though, and I don’t care at all about my current husband.  I hate him.

American Dream and Gatsby

Gatsby, after being a janitor to pay his way through college, was an assistant to a rich man with a yacht, where he was inspired to become rich and realized the American Dream.  Gatsby's American Dream was to be wealthy, have a huge house, and all the fine things that money is physically able to buy, such as expensive clothing, cars, parties, and multiple homes.  In his mind, attaining all of this would help him get his true love, Daisy.  In many respects, Gatsby's vision of achieving the American Dream still rings true today for many Americans.  Unfortunately, the economic realities Americans are faced with today are making the American Dream less achievable for young people today.  In the article, "Great Recession Means a Diminished American Dream for Young Adults," the author describes that "the house, the 2.5 kids, the stable career path might not be possible for an entire generation of Americans".  Faced with high unemployment, many people in their 20s and 30s are still living at home, renting apartments instead of purchasing homes, and putting off marriage and children.  According to this article, people will be occupied with their financial problems, and will focus less on the American Dream, which could be a huge cultural change for American society.  The optimism and persistence Americans like Gatsby once had to achieve this dream is now potentially less important to young people.


http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2011/10/19/great-recession-means-a-diminished-american-dream-for-young-adults_print.html