Unitt III Final project

Max Clare UNIV 231.01 Professor Lucas 14 December 2014

A Graphic Adaptions to Tim O’Biens The Things They Carried

    “Often, they carried eachother, the wounded or weak they carried infections.”(1072)       “They carried diseases, among them malaria and dysentery. They carried lice and ringworm and leeces and paddy algea and various rots and molds”(1072) “The things they carried were largely determined by necessity. Among the neccesities or near neccesities were p-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wrist watches, dog tags, misquito repellant, chewing gum, candy, cigarettes, salt tablets, packets of kool-aid, lighters, matches, sewing kits, C-rations, and two or three canteens of water.” (1066)                   “They carried the sky. The whole atmosphere, they carried it, the humidity, the monsoons, the stink of fungus and decay, all of it, they carried gravity.”      (1072)      

A Graphic Adaptions to Tim O’Biens The Things They Carried

        The Things They Carried is a novel written by Tim O’Brien that was made to give its audience a detailed description of the experiences one goes through who are called up to fight in wars; this story takes place during the Vietnam war in the 90s. It is told from a soldiers point of view, Jimmy Cross, in order to give the reader an idea of the struggles and horrors one deals with mentally, physically, and emotionally while placed in that environment. The purpose behind me choosing to do a graphic adaption for this story was to link images with certain quotes used to describe the environment in order to put emphasis on these depressing scenes. Everything a soldier carried or obtained was vital to their survival.  Each imaged used was an actual photo taken during the Vietnam War. The first photo shows soliders attempting to carry and aid other soldiers who appear to be injured. “Often, they carried eachother, the wounded or weak they carried infections.”(1072) This potrays the fact that you soldiers cannot just worry about their own survival while at war, but make sure their comrades are aided as well. “They carried diseases, among them malaria and dysentery. They carried lice and ringworm and leeces and paddy algea and various rots and molds”(1072) In this picture you can see the wild environment that the soldiers are living in. Living outside comes with a lot of illness, yet these are things that these men had to deal with while worrying about killing the enemy if they wanted to keep there lives. “The things they carried were largely determined by necessity. Among the neccesities or near neccesities were p-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wrist watches, dog tags, misquito repellant, chewing gum, candy, cigarettes, salt tablets, packets of kool-aid, lighters, matches, sewing kits, C-rations, and two or three canteens of water.” (1066) In this second photo you can see that these soliders carry a great deal of objects on them while they are constantly on the move. These soldiers did not have and particular shelter that they could keep their belongings and valuables. Their own bodies and bags were like there houses, they had to keep everything they needed with them at all times. This added extra weight and hassle to fatigue these solders had to deal with in their long journys. You can see the tiredness on the faces of these soldiers. “They carried the sky. The whole atmosphere, they carried it, the humidity, the monsoons, the stink of fungus and decay, all of it, they carried gravity.”(1072) In the last photo you can see these men walking across a hill, once again with a lot of objects being carried, with a very cloudy backround. This relates to the quote above because it shows how these soldiers had to deal with what ever climate or atmosphere that surrounded them. Whether is was blazing or or freezing rain, whether they were walking up hills or through monsoons, these soldiers had to accept whatever they were surrounded by. This obviously can lead to illness and health issues added to the mental stress and physicall fatigue they were already dealing with. Details given in these type of stories show why and how it is so difficult for soldiers to come home alive after experiencing a war .Altohugh those of us not involved in this type of environment can never have a true understanding of what it is like to go through these struggles, this story definitely gives us a better idea of what actually goes on. This gives us knowledge that media or news cannot provide.

Work Cited

O’Brien. “The Things They Carried.” The Story and Its Writer. Ed. Ann Charters. Compact 5^th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014. 0-704. Print.

photos from:  www.warhistoryonine.com/war-articles/photographer-collection-horst-faas-warning-graphic-images.html

Unit II Essay

Makonnan Clare

ENG 231.01 or 2

Professor Lucas

23 October 2014

The Obstacle of Pregnancy:

“Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat,” and “Hills Like White Elephants” Comparative Analysis

There are many topics that cause conflict and debate in the United States. One of the popular topics is abortion. There are many that believe that abortion should never be encouraged because they consider it as murder. There are others that believe that there are certain situations where abortion is justified and that it should be up to the woman to make the decision. For an issue that causes so much controversy and conflict, one can only imagine what this concept is like to deal with first hand. Russell Banks’ “Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat,” and Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” are two stories that deal with the conflict of abortion. Although the situations in each story are quite different, they both allow the reader to see the struggle and controversy that people go through while dealing with this issue.

“Hills Like White Elephants” takes place in Madrid, Spain with a couple who appear to be on a vacation. There is not much background information given on the two main characters. All we know is that the two are a couple, waiting for a train, drinking beer, and debating on whether or not to go through with a certain action. They don’t come right out and say that they are talking about an abortion. Hemingway clearly wanted the reader to read in between the lines to try to figure out the issue.

“You’ve got to realize, that I don’t want you to do it if you don’t want to. I’m perfectly willing to go through with it if it means anything to you”                                           “Doesn’t it mean anything to you? We could get along.”                                                              “Of course it does. But I don’t want anybody but you. I don’t want anyone else. And I know it’s perfectly simple.”(419)

This is the point in the story where it becomes the most obvious that they are talking about abortion. You can see from these lines that clearly the man is trying to convince the woman that she should go through with an abortion. Majority of the story is the man explaining that it is the best thing to do while the woman appears to be indecisive on what she wants. She is not necessarily against it or for it. She just wants to do whatever will make the people around her happy.

“Then I’ll do it. Because I don’t care about me.”

“What do you  mean?”

“I don’t care about me.”

“Well I care about you.”

“Oh yes, but I don’t care about me. And I’ll do it and then everything will be fine.:

“I don’t want you to do it if you feel that way.”(418)

These lines point out how the man doesn’t just want her to go through with the abortion; he wants her to honestly believe that doing so is the right choice. Clearly the couple aren’t exactly on the same page with their opinions on this situation. When the man makes comments like “We’ll be fine afterward. Just like we were before,” she responds with “What makes you think so?” Her boyfriend then makes the statement “That’s the only thing that bothers us. It’s the only thing that made us unhappy.”(417) Throughout the story, the man repeatedly expresses his belief that the couple would be happier if she went through with the procedure, yet his lover cannot help but question if this is actually true. He makes the argument that the only thing that is hurting their relationship is this pregnancy and that they will go back to the great relationship that he claims they had before. The story carries on at this pace until the very end, when the woman gets tired of talking about the subject and ends the topic of conversation. There was no real conclusion or resolution to this story. The story just points out the challenges and conflict individuals must go through when dealing with a decision like this- especially for the woman. No matter how old you are, if you are not ready to take on the role of parenting, this situation can be very overwhelming and frightening to those that have to deal with pregnancy.

Russell Bank’s short story gives us a different setting to the same topic. “Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat” gives the reader more information about the characters in this dilemma. In this story we have a young couple around the age of 20 who are dealing with an unexpected pregnancy. The girl lives near a lake where her “boyfriend” has a hobby of fishing. They go out on a boat ride where she enjoys sun while he casually fishes. Like the last story, this story’s main setting is a couple discussing the conflict. She breaks the news that she “told mother.” As the reader, you can conclude that she is talking about the pregnancy after she states that she is “already gaining weight.”(64)

“Actually mother was a lot better than I expected her to be. If daddy were alive, it would be different. Daddy….”

“hated niggers”

“Jesus Christ!”

“And Mother loves ‘em”(64)

Describing her parent’s racism gives the reader an idea of what time period this story takes place in because racism was a lot more common and accepted in the past. In the last story, the reader had no idea when the story took place. There is quite more of a background story in this compared to Hemingway’s story. She then breaks more news. “I’m going to do it. This afternoon. Mothers coming with me. She called and set it up this morning.”(65) The man makes it obvious that he is not happy with her decision when he responds with silence and then states “I hate this whole thing. Hate!” The man is upset with the fact that the woman he laid his seed in has decided to go through with the process of abortion; opposite of what we saw with the last story with the man trying to persuade an abortion. They carry on with their entertainment but the man is still clearly upset. The woman also shares the same idea(with the man in the first story) that their relationship will improve with the statement “I know you do. So do I. But it’ll be all right again afterwards. I promise. It’ll be just like it was.” The woman is describing the same kind of outcome that the man in the first story believed. The man eventually rows her back shore. We have more of a conclusion in this story than the last due to the fact that the reader knows the girl returned in order to make her appointment for the procedure.

Although the stories have different factors in their situation, both stories help the readers comprehend the struggle of the concept of abortion. Societal factors play a bigger role in this story than the last due to the fact that the couple was interracial. The woman’s decision in this story is clearly more influenced than the one in the last story. She describes her mother and father while we had no idea about any family background about the last woman. This may be why she was much more indecisive about the matter. The black man can relate more to the woman in the first story when talking about their mentalities. They both found it difficult to cope with the idea of abortion; they may have been for different reasons but this still describes the overwhelming effect this situation can have over people. From both stories we can see that this decision is much more difficult to make because it affects two people, not just one individual. In both of these stories we saw that unfortunately both members in each couple couldn’t be exactly satisfied.

Russell Banks’ “Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat,” and Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” are two stories that deal with the conflict of abortion. Although the situations in each story are quite different, they allow the reader too see the obstacles people must go through when caught up in this kind of dilemma. People who deal with a situation like this not only have to make the best decision for themselves, but the people around them; including the spouse and the child itself.

Works Cited

Atwood, Margaret. “Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat” The Story and Its Writer. Ed. Ann Charters. Compact 9^th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014. 62-67. Print.

Paley, Grace. “Hills Like White Elephants.” The Story and Its Writer. Ed. Ann Charters. Compact 9^th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014. 416-19. Print.

UNIT I essay

Max Clare

Eng 231

Prof. Lucas

16 September 2014

“Two Kinds”

       Any relationship between a parent and child can be seen as a love-hate relationship. A son or daughter often does understand why parents can be so forceful or harsh, especially at the youngest years. As we grow older we start to comprehend why parents act in the way they do. We realize as the years go on, that our parents are so strict and hard because they want our life’s to turn out the best way possible. “Two Kinds” is a short story, written by Amy Tan, that describes this type of situation. Mrs. Woo, mother of the main character Jing-mei, is a women who comes from a very troubled past in china. She comes to America with hopes that her daughter can become a “prodigy”.

“My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America. You could open a restaurant; you could work for the government and get good retirement. You could buy a house with almost no money down. You could become rich. You could become instantly famous.”(821)

This optimism and positive view of the American lifestyle what most people set themselves on achieving when they immigrate to this country. After losing her parents, first husband, and two twin baby girls, she took her remaining daughter and set out on a whole new lifestyle. “Prodigy” is the word that is used most commonly to describe what she wants out of her daughter. Nothing would make her happier than to see her daughter become a big deal in this country. She didn’t really have a particular area that she wanted her daughter to focus on; she just wanted to be a prodigy in anything possible.

Mrs. Woo attempts to get her daughter into potential things that could help her make it. The first hobby they try in the theatrical world. Mrs. Woo persuades her daughter into trying out to be a “Chinese Shirley Temple” on stage. At first, Jing-Mei was excited about this idea, her mother had her encouraged that she could make it into the Hollywood life which she found exciting.

“In all of my Imaginings,I was filled with a sense that I would soon become perfect. My mother and father would adore me. I would be beyond reproach. I would never feel the need to sulk for anything.”(821)

Jing-Mei was just as excited about being successful as he mother was at first, but as time went on she began to get more and more impatient with her mother. Mrs. Woo became more and more forceful when it came to dealing with her daughter. They eventually gave up on the acting dream and moved on to a different idea. After reading magazines from the houses she cleaned, she read up a lot about child prodigy’s and attempted to use these magazines and a model for her daughter. She attempts to use intelecutual tests from these magazine clippings on her daughter. When Jing-Mei didn’t do so well, her mother would get frustrated and punish her for mistakes. This is the point in the story where we begin to see Jing-Mei rebel from her mother’s intentions.

“I won’t let her change me, I promised myself. I won’t be what I’m not.”(822). As Jing-Mei becomes more and more impatient with her mother, Mrs. Woo puts her hopes into a new hobby: The piano. After paying a great price for a piano, Mrs. Woo start paying for lessons for her daughter. Jing-Mei is not a fan of this activity at all. She does not find it fun and does not believe she has a serious talent in the area, but her mother’s hopes and wishes leads her to overlooking the fact that her daughter has lost the motivation that she still has for her. She eventually pushes her into performing at a recital. After a poor performance, she thought that this would lead to her mother letting up on her. Yet she still attempts to convince her to continue playing. This leads Jing-Mei to completely lash out at her mother. During the confrontations Mrs. Woo states that there are two types of daughters, obedient ones and individual ones, and that she must be obedient to be her type of daughter. Jing-Mei responds with wishing she had never been born/ dead with the family left in china. This caught her mother off guard but it Jing got what she wanted. That statement lead to her mother backing off and never made her play the paino again.

Mrs. Woo’s attempt to motivate her daughter for success turned out to have a some-what opposite effect on her daughter. Her attempts to push her daughter into things that she did not enjoy lead her to rebel against her mother. Jing-Mei saw it as her mother being controlling and unfair. It was not until her mother eventually passed away until she saw the true meaning behind her mother’s ways. When she is cleaning up her mother’s things, she decides to use the piano for the first time.

Jing-Mei eventually realizes that her mother only wanted to make sure that she never had the miserable life that she went through in china. As a son or daughter, a parents actions and seem controlling and unfair when you do not consider things from their point of view. This story provides a neutral example to how both parents and children could be more considerate of each other’s actions. Even though Jing-Mei and her mother found it difficult to see eye to eye, at the end of the day the important thing to remember is that they love each other and only want what’s best for them and their family.

Work Cited

Tan, Amy. “Two Kinds.” The Story and its Writer. Compact 9^th ed. Ed. Ann Charters. Boston:Bedford 821-29.Print.