Tim O'Brien Review

Tim O'Brien Response

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-zBIqqA32c

Sean Huze, "The Sandstorm"

My first response while reading the play was sadness. It was very disturbing reading about all the deaths and casualties. SGT Casavecchia was like a narrator for the eight Marines and their stories. The two stories that stuck out to me were LCPL Dodd’s and SRG Casavecchia’s. LCPL Dodd’s story made me the saddest because it was about killing hundreds of innocent people of all ages. In the beginning of his speech, he had no feelings to what he or others were doing. That all changed when he was walking through hundreds of dead bodies and came across a little boy. It made my stomach clench reading that scene and did now writing about it. SRG Casavecchia’s is about protecting a town and how gracious they were of the Americans. The way he described it sounded like a little town somewhere here where kids played soccer and no war. The people their accepted and went out of their way to accommodate the Marines in any way they could. He said that it was hard leaving because it was like saying something is more important than those people’s lives.
Each story had a different meaning and point to prove, and all in the end were very sad. People hear about the war daily and say how much they support it. I honestly don’t know if I support it or not because I am not clear on what is going on. Why? No one talks about it. Yes, it was hard for me to read each of their stories, but it brought to life what is going on over there. Yes, I understand there are bad people there, but is their life worth hundreds of innocent ones? I don’t have an answer to that, and if I did I am not sure it would make a difference. Don’t get me wrong I don’t want our troops of any group to be killed, but did we get victory when thirteen of our men were killed and hundreds of their people were killed? How many of those people have done something to harm us, or agree with the people that have? Those are questions that cannot be answered, and never will be. What had that little boy done that had to be repaid with his life? Or the families that so kindly allowed our Marines’ hospitality? It might seem as if I don’t support war, but I don’t think that is entirely true. I know that my freedom right now is from people losing their lives, and I cannot ever repay them. Yet, I believe that for everything there is a limit. If we are killing more citizens then the bad people who started this, is it worth continuing? How many innocent lives are we going to surrender to these evil people? I don’t want to have to do that anymore.
Sean Huze did a great job with portraying stories that even though might be upsetting, we needed to hear. Those eight Marines went through hell and lived to tell about it. I believe they should tell anyone who listens. They did things that I cannot even imagine in my wildest dreams. Were they the right things, or wrong things? There is no answer because at the time, to them they were probably doing what they thought was right. This play is very heart-breaking, but is beautiful in its own way.

Responding To A Poem

One of the poems that stuck out to me was Photograph from September 11^th by Wislawa Szymborska. It made me remember that horrid day and the days that followed it. The way Szymborska described the people in mid air just made me cringe. The opening of the poem read,

“They jumped from the burning floors—

            One, two, a few more,” (Szymborska Line 1-2)

In my mind I could visualize the people jumping for their lives and feeling remorse about it. It seems so unfair that they had no choice but to burn alive or jump. The author described that by catching them in mid air they weren’t gone yet and time would always stand still. The way Szymborska closed the poem I felt was the most appropriate, when she said,

“I can do only two things for them—

Describe this flight

And not add a last line.” (17-19)

By not giving the poem or picture and ending the lives in the picture were saved, they were free of death. It gives a warm feeling in my heart that in that picture the poem gives they are still alive.  

                The poem Song of Napalm by Bruce Weigl was a very sad poem. I have always heard that when people come back from a war they have flashbacks and have a hard time coping with them. This poem is a veteran looking out at his land and it turns into a horrid sight from when he was at war. This poem is for his wife and I feel as if he is trying to free them both of this image and how he behaved. I know that this vision of the little girl on fire has haunted him, but I don’t believe he could have done anything. So instead of thinking the worse he gives the little girl the best. In the poem Weigl says “I try to imagine she runs down the road and wings beat inside her until she rises above the stinking jungle and her pain eases, and your pain, and mine,” (30-33). He tries to imagine the best for the little girl because thinking that can allow him and his wife to move forward and put this behind them.  The closing stanza of the poem,

“Burning bodies so perfectly assume. Nothing   

Can change that; she is burned behind my eyes   

And not your good love and not the rain-swept air   

And not the jungle green

Pasture unfolding before us can deny it.” (41-45)

     is Weigl saying that although he can imagine the little girl was saved from the pain it didn’t actually happen and he will always remember what he saw. All veterans that go through war have similar flashbacks and probably wish they could erase things that they saw. This poem was very touching and sad.

Works Cited

Szymborska, Wislawa. “Photograph From September 11^th.”

Weigl, Bruce. “Song of Napalm.”

.

Sam Hammil Response

I felt that Sam Hammil was saying that we are killing ourselves by not speaking, that we are scared of speaking up because that would make things real. I agree with him because I fall into the category of people doing that. I sometimes hold back things I would like to say because I am scared of the consequences. I feel that Mr. Hammil’s work relates to the poems because he is a witness. Each poem was a witness of some kind, they had had something done to them or were on the outside watching. He is a witness to prison, to rape and his assaults on a woman. He believes that writing is a way of speaking and goes around teaching people how to write. He teaches creative writing at prisons because he has been there and it helped him to speak up about how he was feeling and what had happened. He helps battered women because he can relate to them because he has once done the battery.

            A realistic, scar and sad fact that he mentions was that 3 of 4 women go back to the people who beat them. When it comes to women being beaten I never could understand how they could allow that or even go back to it. I have always said that I would never allow myself to be put in that position and take it. Yet, I think how many of those women had said that? Many. It amazes me how large of a roll emotions have in our lives. Love, fear, and guilt are some of many emotions that cause these women to go back to people who hurt them. Sometimes our minds don’t really comprehend what is happen or chooses to see it a different way because of our emotions.

            Mr. Hammil mentions, “Knowledge is the loss of innocence.” I have never thought about knowledge in that particular way, but he is spot on. Instead of using knowledge to our advantage to learn and prepare we don’t use knowledge properly then wonder how things got this bad. Important people only tell us what they think we should know what if we had the knowledge of everything that was going on around us? Would things be the same? Would we still be at war or feel the way we feel towards it? We as people are constantly living in a fear of the unknown. If we spoke up, whether we used our voice or writing, how much different would the world be? Sam Hammil wrote many things that people are afraid of saying and afraid of learning. I learned from him and saw things that I believed in a different perspective. We need more people to do and say the things he said because we need to make it known how important speaking is.