When Wes Hamilton came to talk to us he told us that he doesn't know the names of the people he was with in Vietnam and this really got me thinking because it shows the change that war can bring upon you. The alter ego of war is that not of a man but a shell of a man masking for what is supposed to be more of a man, an exterior of a tank but the engine of a Vespa. The change seems to be that of a dramatic change in the psyche of the mind because they have to put up this shell and long enough they start believing it and then when they leave they realize they are not that and it changes them and so as Wes explained someone is not John Doe they are something like hamhock. In the things they carried i see the similarity in this, although their names are mentioned it is very possible he only knew them because of the writers state of mind or he went back to find them. In the book all of them changed like Tim O'Brien himself he went from a scared boy who ran from his problems into the shell of a hard man with the same little kid inside, like a kitten inside a lions body. I can tell it hurt Mr. Hamilton when he said that he didn't know their names but thats the choice he made then not to get to know them because he could have but the thought of loss, then, was worse than the regret that he feels now.
Women not being able to serve in the military is a Façade mostly because the battle for the rights of women have come so far and the have acomplished many things even in just the last thirty years. But during the Vietnam war it is a very different story, because then it was taboo for a women to do it especially sucsessfully because it was so hard for it to be done. Tim O'brien introducing a strog women into the mix did many things for the story. Adding the women first showed that it wasn't just men that were changed while being involved in the war but it was everyone and anyone that is able to withstand can be accepted because it turns from the obvious sexism to a united from. Also having a strong women in the book took away from it just being a Mens club to seeing it from the perspective of a momen or atleast being as close to that perspective as possible and made it possible to see it through the eyes of someone besides a 20 year old guy.
In the end Fiction and Non-Fiction fade into one, a famous quote by a famous man, Me. The realm of obscurity and exaggeration in a story only extend so far, and as he said sometimes you just have to make up a good war story. I do believe that most of the story's in there have at least a basis of truth, like many story's i tell, when i come up with them on the spot i base them upon a true event in my life and build upon that. In the story it seems like alot of what he said was made up but im sure most of it was true because crazy stuff happens in war and im sure a little embellishment is a good thing.
To be to fact based takes away from the allure of a story, yet another quote from a famous man, Me. That is the fallacy of the human working, we are so bogged down with paperwork and facts that we have no time for reality, we are concerned with what did or what might happen next that we are so cautious life at some points isn't even worth living. Living through the day and age of the computer and all of the agree to this so we don't get sued bull shit and the are you 18 or older websites it seems as if they have taken the fun out of being a human and being a person. Even though some or even most of Tim O'Brien's stories seem fabricated that is the best thing about this book because you can see what was in their heads and what they either wanted or wanted not to happen and that is what makes these things amazing stories to gain knowledge from.
I, a stranger and afraid in a world i never made.
-Housman
This poem shows how i think they felt out being in Vietnam they weren't in their comfort level and were scared for their lives every day so a woman, Wes Hamilton and Tim O'Brien can all say they experienced all the same and even though they weren't there together (although some were) they can say they did make that world because their choices brought them to that point.
Questions:
1: Why do you think that they allowed Mary to be with them all of that time?
2:Do you think they agreed with all of this or not
3:What did they do to cope?
