The End

So I just finished reading the book, and I have to admitt that I actually did like "The Things They Carried". I wouldn't really consider this a war book, but an inside view of how the war was. Each little story in this collection of fiction was able to grab my attention by the little details that were present. As I mentioned in my previous post, my favorite story from the book was "how to tell a true war story". Now "the lives of the dead" is another favorite. I absolutely love how O'Brien is trying to show that even though the dead are dead, they are still alive. I think O'Brien was trying to show that the everyone tries to keep the ones they love alive by keeping them in their stories, or even making up stories with them. I also think that these stories of the dead are part f the things that the soliders carried with them.

Second six chapters

From the second six chapters my favorite chapter was "how to tell a true war story". In this chapter O'Brien tells us that there are specific characteristics on how to tell a true war story including:- "You can tell a true war story if it embarrasses you"
"A true war story cannot be believed", "You can tell a true war story by the way it never seems to end", "A war story, if truly told, makes the stomach believe","You can tell a true war story by the questions you ask", and "a true war story is never about war". Those characteristics start to define "The Things They Carried".  This chapter helps the reader to understand the story.

The first six chapters

After reading the first six chapters, we get some information about O'Brien's (the character) life before, after, and during the war. The storyline is not in chronological order which makes it a little more interesting. My favorite chapters from the first six are enemies and friends. I decided to answer one of the questions that Mr,Coltrane put on moodle about these two chapters.

"Why did Dave Jensen break his own nose?"
     - this happens in the fifth chapter "enemies". Dave Jensen had gotten in a fight with Lee Strunk about a missing pocket knife and Jensen ended up breaking Strunk's nose. After Strunk had gotten his nosed fixed up and all, Jensen became paranoid that Strunk would wanna seek revenge; after about a week of being reparanoid Jensen broke is own nose. I think that he broke his own nose because he wanted to Strunk that they are even now, they both have broken noses and Jensen just wanted to get over his paranoia. War was already tough enough and having enemies on the same side as you would have caused a lot of mental damage. What I found funny was when Strunk says that he stole the pocket knife and that revealed that Jensen was paranoid for nothing, because Strunk wasn't going to seek revenge because he kind of deserved getting his nose broken. 

The Things they Carried

Just finished the first chapter of "The Things They Carried".  Tim O' Brien starts out the book by introducing Luetinent Cross talkmg about his "love". Throughout the chapter different things that the soliders carry are being introduced. Cross carries letters and photographs of his "love".  Cross keeps saying that he loves Martha more than his men, he is constantly day dreaming about her and can't keep his focus. One of his men, Tom Lavender, got shot and died instantly. Cross felt a great guilt when Lavendar died, he blamed himself for Lavenders death. If he wasn't daydreaming and thinking about Martha maybe Lavender would not have died. Cross deals with his guilt by burning the photograph and letters from Martha.

The End

A couple of things happen towards the end. We find out that Ofglen commits suicide. Serena Joy finds out that Offred secretly meets the commander. I hate the ending! Absolutely hate it with a burning fire. There is no ending! We just have to make up our own ending! What?! No just no. Offred gets taken away but by who?  That's is left completely unknown. There is mentioning of it being mayday.. But is it mayday? Is it? The book just leaves you hanging in midair! In all honesty I enjoyed the book, it's well written and it captured your attention, it's just the ending that really irritates me,

Chapters 30-39

Sorry, I titled my other post 18-39 I meant 18-29....

Okay so in these chapters, the true colors of the commander is shown. At first it seemed like the commander had a little bit of sympathy for Offerd. He and Offred would secretly meet and they would play scrabble, he even brought her lotion. But we find out that he is showing Offred that he has power and he can use it anyway he wants, because he is not afraid to break a few rules here and there. The commander takes Offred out to an old hotel, he dresses her up as a wife, in the blue cloak. When he walked around the hotel, he walked around showing off Offred.

One very interesting thing happens when Offred was at the hotel. She spots Moira and she gets a chance to sit down and talk to her. Moira tells Offred about how she ended up where she is. She tells her how she went to a house where she had memorized the address from when she was at the red center. And how there was a network of people that help people escape, some them get caught and end up on the wall. Moira told Offred that she got caught and they sent her to the hotel because they saw no point in sending her back to the red center. It's sad that Offred never saw Moira again after that,

Chapters 18-39

In these chapters a lot has been revealed. One major thing that has been revealed is the beginings of the Republic  of Gilead. The republic of  Gilead started by the government taking away all the women's rights, they did not even let women spend their own money. The republic of Gilead seemed to have happened all in one day. Once they took away the power of women, they have also taken away some of the power that the men have. If the men did not have a higher power they will certainly be turned into puppets; just like Offred's boss. Offred's boss had no say when firing his female employees. Another thing that was revealed was the secret evenings Offred had with the Commander.  The Commander is the one who asks for her to come, and Offed agrees because she thinks that if she doesn't go there will be consequences. It's a little odd that the Commander wants her so that they could play games together and he brings her hand lotion and let's her read. There must be something behind all these actions. One last thing that was revealed was that Offglen is not a believer and there is a whole group of women who are not believers that Offglen belongs to. There are many things that have been revealed but there are many that are still hidden.

Everything Up To Chapter 17

Really my first thought about what I've just read is, ummm... After getting past ummm, I finnally know the main characters name which is Offred. Then after getting past her name, I realize how much this book infuriates me! One of Mr.Coltrane's questions on Moodle was about the names of the handmaid's. Two other handmaids have the names of: Ofwarren and Ofglen. I decided I'd search the names to see if the have any relation to each other, other than that they all start with "Of". When I searched each name google would divided the name into two words, so Offred would become "of Fred" , Ofwarren would become "of warren", and Ofglen would become "of glen". Then I began to realize something, in the Republic of Gilead nobody has their real name, they all have names that are given to them. The handmaid's do not get real names! Other characters like the Martha's get names like Rita and Cora. The handmaids get names that start with of, and of signifies the property of someone.

The Handmaids' Tale

I haven't gotten very far with The Handmaids' Tale, but it seems to be very interesting. Just from the first chapter I could tell that this is a dystopian novel. The narrator (I don't think her name has been mentioned yet), talks about how she is required to wear a certain color, go out at certain times, and is told who to talk to and who not to talk to. Almost every aspect of her life is being controlled and these are all signs of a dystopian society. Lots of questions are unanswered at this moment but they will be answered when I read more in the book.

A twist

Finnally got around to reading some more of Jane Eyre. After Mason's injury from Grace Poole, Mr.Rochester and Jane start walking in the garden. Mr.Rochester starts to talk about a situation, where a mistaken was done but redemption is needed. Rochester asks Jane her opinion where she then replies that a person should seek redemption from God and not another person.

 Jane then, gets informed that her cousin John commits suicide and that her aunt is very ill. Jane goes back to Gateshead to see her aunt. While she was there she gets to see Bessie, and learns more information on her other two cousins. Georgiana and Eliza have not been talking, ever since Eliza messed up Georgiana's  plan to elope. Mrs.Reed gave Jane a letter from her uncle John Eyre. This letter is three years overdue. On the letter her uncle wanted to adopt Jane and make her his heir, to inherit his money. While Jane was at Gateshead she wanted to mend her relationship with her aunt, but her aunt makes no effort. Her aunt ends up dying. After the death of Jane's aunt, Georgina goest h to live with her uncle and Eliza ends up going to a convent. Georgina ends up marrying a wealthy man and Eliza becomes mother superior of her convent.

When Jane gets back to Thornfield, she is happy to get back to Mr.Rochester. When she arrives there, she surprises herself by expressing her happiness of returning.  After having settled in for two weeks back at Thornfield, Mr. Rochester invites Jane to talk a walk in the garden with him. There they sit on  a bench under a chestnut tree. Mr.Rochester tells Jane that he is planning on marrying Ms. Ingram. When Jane hears this, she tells Mr. Rochester, how she feels towards him. Mr.Rochester said that he only brought up his proposal to Ms. Ingram to make Jane jealous. He proposes to Jane and Jane accepts. A storm comes and Jane and Mr.Rochester go in and the Chestnut tree gets hit by lightening, splitting it in two. The Chestnut tree is foreshadowing what will end up happening to Jane and Mr.Rochester's relationship.

Preparations for the wedding go from bad to worse. Mrs. Fairfax doesn't approve. Jane doesn't feel comfortable with her status compared to Mr.Rochester, so she decides to write to her uncle and see if she could still become his heir. Jane felt like if she could get her uncles inheritance she could feel more equal to Mr. Rochester. The evening before the wedding, Jane has horrible dreams and when she awoke she saw a black figure tearing up her wedding veil. When she tells Mr. Rochester, tries to reassure her that her dreams were probably nothing and that the person who tore the veil was Grace Poole. Mr.Rochester says he will explain the events that have happened after they have been married for a year and one day.