A Class Blog exploring American literature and the American experience.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
"Spin"
In the chapter "Spin", O'Brian insists that sometimes war is sometimes less violent and more sweet. Why do you think he says this? If you can, try to use textual evidence to answer the question.
Being in war means facing death every day, waking up in the morning and not being sure that the same night you will still be alive. Soldiers are forced to live in these conditions, with brutality and violence, and the normal world becomes something really far away. That is why when something normal happens to them, that doesn't deal with war, soldiers are able to appreciate the moment, or the gesture and for a moment they can "taste something sweet": in that sense war is nor just violence. Examples of happy stories that sometimes make war a little sweet are: a boy asking a soldier for chocolate and two soldiers digging a foxhole and play checkers every. night.
I think that Vale is exactly right. Everyday these soldiers face violent and terrible things that come with war and being a solider. They learn to appreciate the little things and their fellow soldiers whom anything could happen too. I think that O'brien wants to convey this sense of enhanced appreciation because the soldiers know that they might not be able to appreciate those things tomorrow.
I agree with you guys. When you are fighting in war you know that any minute of your life can be your last. Therefore you start to appreciate even the most unimportant things in your life. You might not like someone but then you see them die and you realize that you actually liked them. The war also makes you appreciate moments like giving a little boy a chocolate bar or talk to a monk in a church. Every day in a soldier's life is a some kind of a war story and sometimes the better memories like eating canned peaches with other soldiers get more important that the horrid ones.
What you guys are saying makes complete sense. In a time where no one can truly be happy and there is fear and danger all around. The little things of goodness brighten the mood of the soldiers. The littlest acts of kindness in a land without security make the soliders especially attentive to sweetness in the war. The little things they carry are beacons of happiness in the midst of a terrible war. The Bible that Kiowa carries around gives him some happiness and the stockings that the other guy wears as well.
Being in war means facing death every day, waking up in the morning and not being sure that the same night you will still be alive. Soldiers are forced to live in these conditions, with brutality and violence, and the normal world becomes something really far away. That is why when something normal happens to them, that doesn't deal with war, soldiers are able to appreciate the moment, or the gesture and for a moment they can "taste something sweet": in that sense war is nor just violence. Examples of happy stories that sometimes make war a little sweet are: a boy asking a soldier for chocolate and two soldiers digging a foxhole and play checkers every. night.
ReplyDeleteI think that Vale is exactly right. Everyday these soldiers face violent and terrible things that come with war and being a solider. They learn to appreciate the little things and their fellow soldiers whom anything could happen too. I think that O'brien wants to convey this sense of enhanced appreciation because the soldiers know that they might not be able to appreciate those things tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you guys. When you are fighting in war you know that any minute of your life can be your last. Therefore you start to appreciate even the most unimportant things in your life. You might not like someone but then you see them die and you realize that you actually liked them. The war also makes you appreciate moments like giving a little boy a chocolate bar or talk to a monk in a church. Every day in a soldier's life is a some kind of a war story and sometimes the better memories like eating canned peaches with other soldiers get more important that the horrid ones.
ReplyDeleteWhat you guys are saying makes complete sense. In a time where no one can truly be happy and there is fear and danger all around. The little things of goodness brighten the mood of the soldiers. The littlest acts of kindness in a land without security make the soliders especially attentive to sweetness in the war. The little things they carry are beacons of happiness in the midst of a terrible war. The Bible that Kiowa carries around gives him some happiness and the stockings that the other guy wears as well.
ReplyDeleteTitanium White wheels for the modern gaming wheel - Titanium
ReplyDeleteThe first-generation ceramic wheels in the titanium cerakote industry were micro touch hair trimmer designed in titanium eyeglass frames 1999 to be capable used ford edge titanium of providing the optimal performance, quality, and titanium symbol serviceability