Topic Proposal

This novel is confusing to say the least. If there was one thing that I want to focus on in this novel, the one thing that I want to learn more about would be how the women were put into that situation in the first place. My main research will be about the history of a handmaid. What are they historically and was it the same as in the book by Atwood? I hope that my research will help me discover exactly what a handmaid is, so that I can fit it into the context of the book. Was Atwood writing a fictional book about real experiences, or real things that happened? These are the guiding questions I hope to answer to really and fully dive into the text. I feel that with more knowledge I will be able to understand exactly were Atwood was coming from, when she wrote this book. I choose this topic because it was the most interesting. There are other places I have read about handmaidens, like the Bible, but from what I always understood they were not the same as they are portrayed in this book by Atwood. This is by far however, the hardest book I have had to read and analyze. I do hope to learn more about the language she uses to write this book, and I hope to overcome this challenge and learn to analyze even hard to understand texts.

A link that I found that talks a little bit about Atwood’s life can be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Atwood

A visual that I found for this blog post was on YouTube from the user, writersFESTIVAL. It is of Atwood doing an author's reading! Enjoy!

Thesis Excerise and Thesis for Essay #3

Identify the Weak Thesis Statement Exercise:

1. The weak statement is statement A. The reason that this is the weak thesis is because it is a generalized statement. It involves process writing, and it doesn’t raise any questions or it is not assertive, just general fact.

2. The weak statement is statement A. This is weak, because it is just generalized fact. There is nothing more to it, everyone knows that in college you need to understand other points of view.

3. The weak statement is statement B. The thesis in statement B, again just deals with nothing but fact. Everyone knows that the jean’s industry targets young people as their audience, its obvious in all commercials.

4. The weak statement is statement A. The author of this thesis is just stating what Othello is about, which you can get from reading the play. It doesn’t explore any depth into the story or pick out certain aspects to raise questions about.

5. On this one, I feel like I am being tricked a bit. I am going to say that statement B is the better thesis because I was told once that you should leave out the words, I, Me, You… those kinds of personalized words. In statement B, the author gets right to the point, telling you exactly how it is, I feel that is more assertive, thus it is better.


My thesis for Essay #3:

Tim O’Brien wrote, “The Things They Carried,” not only to express the trials he faced in the Vietnam war, but also because he was spiritually lost and was searching for redemption.

This thesis is arguable. I make an assertive point that a big reason he wrote the book was because he was in search of a something spiritual. That is a bold claim, and can raise many questions. He also gives examples of what I am talking about in the sources that I have read and I plan on using. So I should have plenty to back up the content of this thesis. It is a bit specific but I feel that it is better to be overly specific then too broad. That is why this is a strong thesis.

Source Paragraphs for Research Essay

Timmerman, John H. Tim O’Brien and the Art of the True War Story: “Night March” and “Speaking of Courage”. Hofstra University. New York. 2000. Print.

This source offers a critical look into two short stories written by Tim O’Brien. “Night March” which was written first as its own story and then later appeared in the novel “Going After Cacciato” and “Speaking of Courage” which was a short story and later included in the novel “The Things They Carried” were two of O’Brien’s famed stories. Both are based on the author’s experiences in Vietnam, with some added flare thrown in to make it interesting. I am going to use this article, because it gives us some insight as to why the author wrote these two stories and what events inspired them both. Using this as a source, will help me gain more insight into O’Brien’s life and help me analyze why he wrote these stories. I found this source by searching JSTOR.

Smith, Jack. The Things He Carries. Kalmbach Publishing Company. Boston. 2010. Print.

This source was found using ProQuest. It is an interview with Tim O’Brien on his Vietnam novels. The author of this particular article is Jack Smith who writes for “The Writer” in Boston. The Writer is an online site that helps amateur writers with tips and insights with author interviews as well as other tips and hints. The site is updated regularly as there are always articles being added, but the information on Tim O’Brien is not required to be current for this project. The site is credible as it is a reliable source that is used web wide for authors and amateur authors to gather insightful information from others in the industry. The interview will also give me an insight into the life of Tim O’Brien and his writing style.

Mid-Term Check In Letter

Dear Professor Cline,

I want to open this letter to you by first saying thank you for making this class fun and exciting. The things I have learned from this class will definitely help me throughout the rest of my professional career. I have learned about more things in this class than any other English class I have taken. I am very appreciative.

Although, I have loved this class so far, I have had my fair share of challenges. Probably the most challenging thing I have come up against so far would be learning literary analysis. Everything that I have had to write so far for any class including high school and college has always been summary. This was a huge switch for me, and it really took a lot to switch off my summary thinking cap and put on the analysis cap. It was very challenging but very good for me as well, as it will only further help me understand literary works and help me become a better writer. Another big challenge for me this semester was to open my mind up to other literary works. All of the books required for this class, I would have never picked up if it wasn’t for this class, I would yawned and called them boring, but I do know now, up to this point, that other works of writing can be just as interesting.

My goals for the second half of this class would be to improve my writing techniques, improve my critical reading and thinking abilities and to really keep on doing more of the same. I am very happy with the grades that I have at this point, and I hope to only get better as the second half of the semester plays out. I am looking forward to the next essay as we attempt to mix analysis and research. That should be another great challenge!

Thank you for the class, I look forward to the challenge ahead!

Sincerely,

Heath Midkiff

Summary vs. Analysis, "The Ghost Soilders" by Tim O'Brien

Summary

The chapter entitled “The Ghost Soldiers” from the book “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien is about revenge. This is clearly the motive behind the entire chapter. First the author tells us what caused him to want revenge. He talks about the incident of being shot and not being tended to until he was almost dead. The new medic messed up and that is who he wanted to gain revenge against. The setting of this story takes place in Vietnam at a resupply post for the US Army. The character, Tim, was sent there after being shot twice and pulled by the army from the war front. Throughout the chapters the characters are pretty much all the same, with the exception of one new face. He is the medic responsible for the near death of Tim and his name is Bobby Jorgenson.

The chapter plays out with telling the reader how everything unfolded. We read the story from Tim’s point of view and he talks about how he was shot, the first time and the second time. He talks about how the new medic almost didn’t save his life. Tim also tells us, how he doesn’t really like being on the safe base and how he has been called names because of his wound to his buttocks. The chapter tells about his plans to strike back and gain his revenge and he does so very tactfully one night while the medic is on night guard duty. He plays tricks on him in the night, feeling sad that he is doing it but satisfied and after the night is all over with, Bobby and Tim make a truce; the score is finally settled.

Analysis

A certain chapter inside the book “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien opens up a discussion about human morals and ethics; the author is conveying how hard it is to forgive and forget. When the main character in the book, Tim, is shot in the line of duty, he expects his medic to be there to help him. He cries out for a medic yet almost dies because of the medic’s inability to conquer his fears. We can see that clearly human morals are the topic of this chapter because the author conveys it to us through his language and word choice. Tim wants to forgive the medic, but he can’t because he hates him and that is where the exploring of the human heart begins. We see from these passages the battle that is fought inside the character’s head. First we see the hate forming with this passage, “But it made me hate Bobby Jorgenson the way some guys hated the VC, gut hate, the kind of hate that stays with you even in your dreams” (O’Brien, 182) Obviously, going against human moral to hate so much, but it was only present for a while because over time O’Brien started to struggle over these feelings as we can see here, “Granted, I didn’t hate him anymore, and I’d lost some of the outrage and passion, but the need for revenge kept eating at me” (O’Brien, 192) The hate is gone, but the revenge is still there or the need for it. You can see just from these two passages how emotions switch and how this story is really about morals.

The link for this week’s blog post is: http://www.emotionalcompetency.com/revenge.htm

This link takes a look at revenge and lets you learn a little more about it.

The visual for this week is a YouTube video posted from the user “Myearbot” it is a video about Vietnam Vets. Enjoy.