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- Reading responses are due by midnight on the night PRIOR to our discussion of the required reading.
Chapter 3 is all about putting details to the world you create, characters, and how it is to be where the characters are and their senses. I know of this, especially looking back at vague sentences with nothing more than “He went somewhere” or “The pen is blue.” It doesn’t bother me when I have a huge paragraph full of details of an object (mostly the setting), but on the section of “Crowding Out the Reader,” tells me to go ahead and do so. If immersing and swallowing the reader into to the story by the use of images, senses, and metaphor with alright, then crowd the hell of them (to an extent of course. Come on, don’t just stay in one place for 2 and a half pages).
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of crowding, Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” is one overwhelming piece, chalk full of details. I had a hard time to read through some sentences under just one breath. I found certain paragraphs with a couple of run-on sentences, such as between 85 and 86. This could sense of burden that the soldiers had to bear with them on their back. There’s exhaustion felt from reading on. Also, there was some paragraphs with repetition of what the characters were carrying. I have a hidden passion for war stories and with O’Brien describing the varies items a soldier would carry was vivid. I know how an M-60 weighs, “The Pig” is like carry a bag potatoes and a 1000-page textbook. Well, I was weak pre-teen in a random in-post military event, curious over an obese firearm. For me, I’ve seen and interacted with some items from the book, so it was cool having to remember how they look. By the way, MRE’s have amazing side snacks. I suggest eating the wheat bread or the big saltine crackers.
Hector Dimas
Within chapter 3 of Alice LaPlante’s “Method and Madness”, LaPlante discuss the theme of details and how important details can be when describing critical moments of your writing. Using the quote “you can’t see the forest for the trees”, LaPlante explains that while too much detail could drown out the writing, it is worthwhile to describe a good amount in various sections of your work. Allocating the details throughout a segment adds the emphasis on parts that are needed and essential. This is present in the short story “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien. In his writing, O’Brien uses great detail in explaining what the various guys carry in terms of weapons, personal effects, and good luck charms. If it was all in one section, the amount of details present could be overwhelming. However, as each section of great detail is present in a different paragraph, it allows the reader the time to fully digest everything that is being described, and thus how it relates to Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’ thoughts towards Martha. Thus, by reading all of the detail added in, we are able to see how Lieutenant Cross thinks about Martha and their one sided relationship. We can understand the genesis of his realization that what matters to him at the moment is his men, and this is due in part to the amount of detail we are given as the reader towards the guilt he feels over Ted Lavender’s death. If we were not given the amount of detail of what Ted Lavender had on him, of how he acted, and of how he died, we would not be able to understand why Lieutenant Cross felt so guilted. Thus, the huge amount of detail that O’Brien gives in this story does not impede the reader at all, but helps shed light on the bigger picture of Lieutenant Cross’ feelings, and thus his relationship with Martha. Overall, by reading the section on detail paired with the short story, we can better understand how adding a great amount of detail can improve the comprehension of a story as long as it is distributed evenly and does not completely overwhelm the reader.
ReplyDeleteDavid Leal
Chapter 3 talks a whole lot about the importance of details and their relationship to imagery in writing as far as drawing the reader into the world goes. I think a lot of people forget about this kind of writing, how immersive and transformative it can be to the reading experience. There’s merit to being vague, but it’s all about knowing when to be vague and when not to be, and for the most part it looks like staying closer to the detailed kind of writing does a lot more favors for your story than giving simple, point-blank descriptions ever will. It almost seems so obvious that there shouldn’t be any sort of lecture on it, but it bodes well to be reminded that while readers don’t particularly want to be drowning in detail, they probably wouldn’t mind dunking their head below the water for a little while.
ReplyDeleteAs far as drowning in detail goes, “The Things They Carried” drops an ocean on the reader, and it gets a little hard to catch your breath. Midway through I realized that it was on purpose, that listing paragraph upon paragraph of what the men carried was supposed to burden the reader with these images so they had a comparable weight hanging off of their backs to that of the men described. The author wanted the reader to drown in the details because the men were drowning in the details, gasping for air between the weight of what they could afford to carry. Though that specific method made it a hard read to get through, I appreciated what the story was trying to do, and I’d say it accomplished it, it made me feel tired and heavy with what I had read. Besides this, one of my favorite descriptors in the story is the way he brings up how the men were soldiers for the sake of not wanting to be ashamed of dishonor, my favorite line from this part was, “Rather, they were too frightened to be cowards.”
Lauryn Flores
Soo far, “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, has been a story I thoroughly enjoyed. I enjoyed the descriptiveness and detail that comes with his style of writing. In the story you get a sense of attachment to the soldiers because of the way O’Brien tells the story, you are able to strongly sympathize with each character. I felt the strong yearning for love that the character, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross felt for Martha, a woman who had been writing to Cross. The detail gets so intense that when describing a soldier’s duty to explore underground tunnels, I felt the terrifying claustrophobia that was described. What struck me about this story is how O’Brien seems to write around his characters, he doesn’t directly write about them doing something, instead he focuses on bringing the reader into story with lots of sensory detail. The story seems to captivate you with a roller coaster of emotions and keep you intrigued with the details because they keep you thinking. The introduction of detail allows the reader to come to assumptions that are believable not farfetched from what the author trying to convey. Overall, I learned that attention to detail is what’s going to bring your writing to life.
ReplyDeleteMark Benitez
Chapter 3 in “Method and Madness” talks about how important details are in order to create a successful story. He gives examples of plain sentences without detail and he then rewrites the sentence and at one point decides to include the five different senses and with this he creates something that becomes vivid and alive as you read. Something so simple as the smell of her hair or the taste of her lips can change something so much and add a whole different emotion to it. Details trigger memories in a person. Without detail a story would be boring and would not reach the reader. The story “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien was touching and at the same time boring. I could relate to Jimmy Cross and how he felt about Martha. He loved Martha so much and yet she didn’t feel the same way towards him. This is something I have experienced before so I can relate to that portion of the story. I like how at the end he realizes that she won’t ever love him and decides to move on. Of course if Lavender hadn’t died, Jimmy probably would’ve still been stuck in his daydream.
ReplyDeleteAlejandra Rodriguez
I'll admit, when I took one look at "The Things They Carried" my interest in reading the story immediately plummeted. I'm really not into these war stories or even war movies. The movie "Hacksaw Ridge" may be one of the few movies on war that I legitimately enjoyed. But my problem with these types of stories is that usually they go into excruciating detail about what it's like to be on the battlefield or going on a mission, things I don't find exciting the least bit. And "The Things They Carried" was no exception. This story mainly consisted of long explanations and details on their adventure, most of which I did not feel excited to read. There were a few instances of casual narrative and some interesting dialogue. But it wasn't enough for me to generally enjoy reading the story. For the most part, most of the story was just dull to read. The only story I found some sort of interest in reading was the final one, "The Lives Of The Dead" which focused on the death of a classmate. Perhaps the topic of a child's death is just so heart wrenching that I can't help but feel touched at the descriptions. But overall, I can't say "The Lives Of The Dead" is one of my favorite stories.
ReplyDeleteMichael McCormick
“The Things they carried” by Tim O’ Brien is a pretty heavy story. Within the first few pages we are given brief glimpses to the characters inner most feelings, thanks to an omniscient narrator. Along with each character carrying their own personal items which gives the reader a better idea of who they really are. But not only are they carrying these physical items, but they are also carrying the “weight” of their country, the “weight” of independence”, and the weight” of personal burdens.
ReplyDeleteFrom a writers standpoint, I have to say that I love the amount of detail in this short story. The way Tim captures the moment of these mens lives by simply describing a few bits of things they carry on their person is impressive. At first I was a little annoyed with the way the weight of weapons, rations, and letters where given randomly, but as the story progressed it began to tie into the descriptions of who these men where as people. It was as if I could practically see them as they trudged in the heat on the battlefield.
Over all, this is a well written short story, that I will surely take note of. And as I begin to write my own short story I will try to focus on adding as much well crafted detail as Tim.
-Kathleen m. Salinas
I really appreciate LaPlante adding in examples and pieces from other published works into the chapter to showcase how adding details changes what "we can understand in theory, to something we can actually see and, one hopes, experience." In my Introduction to Creative Writing class, we had used a book that mentioned how one should add details in their works, but offered very few examples on how to do so. However, LaPlante provides example after example to give us an idea on how we can achieve a better quality of writing and truly immerse readers into our stories through fine details, which is far better than just being told to do so.
ReplyDeleteReading as a Writer, question 2 - "Why do you want to read on if you that Lavender is dead (i.e., you know the whole story)?" Lavender's death did have an impact in the story, but knowing that he's dead doesn't count as knowing the whole story, well to me at least. What made me want to read on was learning about what each soldier carried with them- mentally, physically, and emotionally, listening to their personal back stories, visualizing who they are, what they're doing, and what they're going through during this war.
Karla Olvera
Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" was intricately detailed in such way that the reader clearly envisioned the physicality as well as the metaphorical aspects of this story. At first, when we go on to read about the soldier's weapons and necessities, we have the perfect imagery of a group of men marching along with their belongings. It is detailed enough to not only give a vision of the men, but delve into their individuality. As the author lists off the items, every now and then he'd go out of naming basic weaponry into personal items that let the reader know the soldiers personalities and beliefs. For example, the Buddhist that carried the bible, Lavender who carried tranquilizers, Jimmy Cross and his letters, etc. The details would often slowly transform from physical baggage into an emotional kind. I think he used these specific details to gradually shift the atmosphere of physical to abstract, and finally some light to the story's actual purpose. I think he did a great job at capturing the reader's attention as well as bringing forth a new outlook on soldier's burdens and says of reacting.
ReplyDeleteDiana Gonzalez
One of the things that I liked was how the author took time to inform the readers on the terminology that he was using so we knew what he was talking about. I have found times when I am reading and the author uses a terminology that I am not familiar with, and that for me is always a huge take away and doesn’t allow me to enjoy the book because I have to constantly refer to google to make sense of what I am reading. I also enjoyed the way he worded things he was describing, he painted clear images for me. One thing that I thought was cool that he did was the way he used spacing to show how he was thinking in that moment, when I was reading I found my -self stopping for a few seconds before I moved on to the next paragraph.
ReplyDeleteSomething that I have always struggled as a writer is being able to show my reader what I am talking about and I will fore sure refer to “The Things They Carried” and use it as an example when I am being descriptive.
Jessica Guzman
In chapter 4, I found interestingly that there are a number of ways to tell a story. The book even has visual images of lines kind of like a sequence. You can do the traditional 'Conflict-Crisis-Resolution Model' the chapter provides on page 98, or gravitate towards the 'Modular' model (page 101). I personally never thought of this, I only knew of the traditional 'Conflict-Crisis' one and that one was to be followed all throughout my high school essays, but again as a writer, you're free to tell the story in any order you'd like as long as it makes sense in an organizational way, rather than chronologically.
ReplyDeleteReading "TheThings They Carried" by O'Brien , I noticed that the title of the story would also be used to start a new paragraph and within that paragraph would discuss a certain theme. For example on page 81 and 83, the narrator first talks about "what they carried as function of rank" and in the other, "what they carried varied by mission". Another example can be seen on page 85. "The things they carried were determined to some extent by superstition", and there we read what the men would carry in their bags for 'good luck'. What I also enjoyed reading about the title line, "The things they carried", was how I was able to feel almost like a character (a solider myself) and as a reader, know who these men were as the narrator mentions the items they would personally carry on the daily bases (page 79-81). One thing that was a little odd to me that started too early in the story, was Jim's obsession over Martha's virginity because it comes up a good three times how he wonders if she is one and starts talking about her knees and legs and writings in the letters as if he is certain she is one. It sounded more on the desperate side than in the romantic way. "He should've carried her up the stairs to her room and tied her to the bed and touched that left knee all night long" (81). Besides that, I enjoyed the rather well said one liners. Two examples of this are on page 83, "They all carried ghosts" and the other on page 84, "Imagination was a killer". I feel as if these one liners were well said since the paragraph talks about that certain situation and was pretty much summed up by saying these one liners.
-Illiana Luna
In “The things they carried”, one appreciates the details in different ways. I had read this story first, and then Chapter 3 by LaPlante (I had actually not paid attention). Well, I had a different perspective about the story once I read Chapter 3. When I first read the story, it seemed not boring but dull. It seemed like another vietnam movie with a different theme of a group of soldiers, their quiet frustration, and acknowledgement of wasted lives. It focussed on the details of what they carried, not just material, but what they probably thought and weighed on their soul, etc. It focuses on their trail and objects, however it does not tell more beyond that. In my opinion, I as a reader composed those thoughts by common thinking relating to other war stories. Of course, it does not compare to the real thing given I have not experienced it first hand. However, as described or presented on Chapter 3 by LaPlante, the reading by O’brien suddenly made more sense on identifying the alternations of the details from war and thoughts. From reality to fantasize about the girl. At first I thought she was not real, but a little after the story developed, Lavender died, they crossed some land, got to a village, he burnt the letters, etc. I also thought it became repetitive, the back and forward, from reality to Martha. But as I have mentioned before, after I read Ch3 it gave myself a different perspective. They’d talk about being killed. He got shot in the head, and that was it, but why did I think of that? Why did I deviate from the story and had my own perspective of how it actually happen? It was not even on the story.
ReplyDeleteFrancisco J. Aboytes
The 3rd chapter of LaPlante’s book was pretty great. Personally in my own writing I find that I can have a minimalist style or approach, which I now know, can be detrimental towards conveying a truly riveting story. In particular, I most identified with the section in which LaPlante references Richard Hugo on page 62. I thought Hugo was exceptionally elucidating on how to approach writing in general; the idea of thinking small to write “big” was very helpful to me. Another instance where I found that my boundaries as a writer were expanded was on page 67 in which LaPlante focuses on the messy aspects of writing and how a complex and muddled picture is not necessarily a bad thing. It is a habit of mine to be concise and clear in my writing and as consequence my work is sparse in details often times and not overly complicated, but thankfully I now know how that has been a handicap to the overall effectiveness of my work. In summary I found this third chapter to be very helpful and informative. “The Things They Carried” on the other hand was a masterful use of symbolism and detail. I think the story itself was not exceptionally fascinating but the detail the author provides commands the reader’s attention to the very end of the story. This work was a perfect example of what LaPlante details in the chapter leading up to it.
ReplyDeleteAndres Trevino
The Things They Carried was a heavy read. The content and the story’s structure was strong and straight forward. The ways in which O’Brien choose to spend so much time detailing the contents that the soldiers carried, was more than items, it was parts of their unique characteristics and personal/mental baggage. The ways in which Lt. Cross detailed Martha and his experiences with her, made the moments in which he escaped reality all the more impactful when Lavender dies. “By and large they carried these things inside, maintaining the masks of composure” (89) was a great line that captured the essence of their internal conflicts. They all had their struggles but in many ways this facade of maintaining their masculinity was what was the up-most important to them. Maybe by all pretending they were okay was the only thing keeping them stable. The transition of how Lt. Cross deals with the death of Lavendar by burning Martha’s letters was significant in the sense that he gave up the his most treasured possessions as a penance for his negligence.
ReplyDeleteAmanda Gonzales