War Novel Response #3

Slaughterhouse V

In the ending of the book it is 1968, According to Billy the Tralfamadores are more interested in Darwin than in Jesus christ. Darwin is a writer and the Tralfamadorians admire that he views that death serves a function and that corpses are improvements. Billy is returning to Dresden with his war buddy O’Hare, and the war is close to the end. On the way back to Dresden on the plane the men ate sandwiches and drank white wine. Bill was back in Dresden digging for bodies. After spending nights in the stable the men are put back to work excavating the ruins of Dresden. They found corpse mines, and the bodies rotted faster than they could be removed. It's soon spring and the Germans disappear to fight or flee the russians. The war finally ends after so much destruction and death. The civilized world is going to be difficult to come back to after the war. 

“There were sounds like giant footsteps above. Those were sticks of high-explosive bombs. The giant walked and walked” (Kurt 177). --Simile, Metaphor, Onomatopoeia, Imagery.

This is when Billy was in the meat locker when Dresden was destroyed. He heard loud explosions and they sounded like a giant's footsteps which is a simile. Billy said the giant just walked and walked as in the bombs just kept going and going. The explosions were very loud; you feel like you can hear them through the book.

“There was no great flow of refugees from Dresden. The clocks ticked on, the fires crackled, the translucent candles dripped” (Kurt 181). -- Onomatopoeia, Imagery.

“It had a ring on its butt. It was loaded with bullets the size of robins’ eggs. Billy had found it in the bedside in a war” (Kurt 195). --Metaphor, Simile, Imagery

“The peckers of the young men would still be semi erect, and their muscles would be bulging like cannonballs'' (Kurt 201). --Imagery, Simile, Metaphor.

The American men were eating lollipops and bananas. They kept eating them, the men had such big muscles that he had compared them to cannonballs. Compared to Billy and other men. Billy wasn't scared, just a little intimidated. 

In the last third of SlaughterHouse Five, Billy and a co-Pilot are the only survivors of a plane crash in Vermont in 1968. While driving to go see Billy in the hospital, His wife Valencia dies in a car crash from carbon monoxide poisoning. While Billy is in the hospital he shares a room with another Harvard professor named Bertram Rumfoord, who is researching an official history of the war. They talk about the bombing of Dresden, and the professor refused to believe that Billy was there to experience it. The professor said that the Dresden Bombing was justified even though a lot of civilian lives were taken and the city was destroyed. Once Billy heals, his daughter brings him home, and then he escapes and travels to NYC. That evening he was on a radio talk show and was ejected for talking about his time travels to Tralfamadore. He goes back to his hotel room and falls asleep, time traveling back to 1945 in Dresden where he experienced German soldiers cremating bodies with flamethrowers as the war was ending. At the end of the book, there were a series of events that weren’t in order. Barbara treats Billy like a child and is always monitoring him, Billy’s son Robert becomes a green beret and fights in Vietnam. Later he gives a speech at a baseball stadium where he proclaims his death by saying, “If you think death is a terrible thing, then you have not understood a word I’ve said”. He is soon after shot with a laser gun by a hitman hired by an elderly Lazzaro 

“She babbled hysterically about  Billy and the airplane crash, and then she put her car in gear and crossed the median divider, leaving her exhaust system behind.… Valencia was unconscious, overcome by carbon monoxide. One hour later she was dead. So it goes.”(Vonnegut 183) Plot, Repetition, imagery. 

“He went up to the studio on an automatic elevator, and there were other people up there, waiting to go in. They were literary critics, and they thought Billy was one, too. They were going to discuss whether the novel was dead or not. So it goes.”(Vonnegut 205)  Repetition, character, imagery, juxtaposition. This quote helps to see Billy's state of mind in the book. It doesn’t seem like he has a whole lot of direction for things to do. He’s just going through life just kind of winging it. It’s interesting to see how much of a daze he seems to be in. He keeps going into dreams and flashbacks and aliens…. This quote helps me understand his character more than anything. Just go with the flow, sleep, and remember the past.

“Billy left his room, went down to the slow elevator, walked over to Times Square, look into the window of books about fucking  and buggery and murder, a street guide to New York City, and a model of the Statue of Liberty with a thermometer on it. also in the window, speckled with fly shit, were 4 paperback novels by Billy's friend, Kilgore trout… Billy went into the store.”(Vonnegut 200) Imagery, Character, Paradox. I find it fascinating that going into a store like this is okay. It's almost like he can’t look at the bigger picture. He walks up to a window, sees one of his buddies books in the window, and walks right on in without considering his environment. I feel like this quote shows how something like war can break down someone's mental state and negatively build their character. Like Billy, they can seem to break away from the memories.

“Billy Pilgrim got onto a chartered airplane in Ilium 25 years after that. he knew we were going to crash, but he didn't want to make a fool of himself  by saying so.”(Vonnegut 154) POV

My view of war hasn’t changed a whole lot from the 2nd third of the book. The last section had a lot more of Billy just being mentally unstable. Lots of flashbacks, and weird behavior. He hadn’t changed much from the 2nd section. I think Billy would be much more polished if he had never been in the military and had seen what he did.

Slaughterhouse-five is an okay book. My main gripe is that if you lose focus for even a second, you’ll have to go back and re-read the part you missed. There is lots of jumping back and forth, the writing style is old and even now I don’t understand why Kurt Vonnegut used Aliens in a War Novel, it hurts my brain a little bit. Overall I would give it a 4.5 out of 10. If I could go back, I would probably choose a different book.

lukas bergeron

1. 1. In the ending of the book “Johnny got his gun” by Dalton Trumbo, Joe is still in the hospital. He finds himself losing his mind more and more everyday, and he’s been in the hospital for 2 years since the beginning of the novel. He’s losing his mind because he starts losing track of the time around him. Since he’s losing track of time he finds himself lost in his thoughts and he scares himself. As the novel ends, Joe gets a new nurse and he really likes this nurse. His old nurse was as patient or helpful, but his new nurse helps him learn morse code and learns how to communicate. 

• “He got to thinking this nurse is keeping me a prisoner. She is keeping me more securely a prisoner than any jailor than any chain than any stone wall they could ever build around me.” (Trumbo, 181) Imagery/repetition. This quote helps the reader understand exactly how Joe is feeling. The author really emphasizes how Joe is feeling by using repetition and imagery. “The weight grew heavier the tapping grew slower, his flesh became like the flesh of a dead person in his mind seemed to shrink and shrivel as the drowsiness swept over it.” (Trumbo, 185) Simile/imagery. This quote uses imagery/ and a simile to really help the reader understand how Joe is feeling in this moment. Joe is feeling hopeless and useless, and the author using imagery and similes really shows the reader how Joe is feeling. “It was like putting a hand near an open cancer something so terrible and sickening that nobody could endure thought much less the action. Yet this new nurse this nurse with the light happy step was not afraid.” (Trumbo, 196) Simile/imagery. This quote is important because it shows that Joe feels better about himself because the new nurse is gentle and kind. Joe is finding himself becoming less insane and the imagery and similes help the readers understand the book so much more. “Merry christmas merry christmas merry christmas. Now he understood. The old nurse had left to spend the christmas holidays away from him and this new nurse this young lovely beautiful understanding new nurse was wishing him merry christmas.” (Trumbo, 199) repetition/imagery. These literary devices help the reader understand so much about the end of a novel. It helps the reader understand that Joe is starting to be happier and more capable of communication.

• “He got to thinking this nurse is keeping me a prisoner. She is keeping me more securely a prisoner than any jailor than any chain than any stone wall they could ever build around me.” (Trumbo, 181) “It was like putting a hand near an open cancer something so terrible and sickening that nobody could endure thought much less the action. Yet this new nurse this nurse with the light happy step was not afraid.” (Trumbo, 196) These quotes specifically are really good quotes because they help the reader imagine how the main character Joe is feeling. The author uses imagery to really help the reader understand the book.                                                                                                                                                                                               really help the reader understand the book.

1. The message of this book is that war can cause a person to become mentally unstable. War can ruin people's lives and the people around them. War also can cause people to suffer with their own thoughts.
2. In the beginning my message on war was completely different than my message now. In the beginning of the book I thought war only affects the soldiers that served in war, but as i finished the novel I realized that war affects friends, acquaintances, and family.
3. Overall I would say this book can help a reader learn a lot about the importance of war. I really liked all the stories Joe would think about before his time in war, it helped me understand more about how important war is. When it came to literacy devices, they were pretty easy to find, especially imagery and similes. This book isn’t the greatest book and some parts were hard to understand, but the overall message was pretty good. This book was also pretty short so I saved some time, so I would recommend this book to future students doing this assignment.

To summarize what happens in this section. First, the bravo squad has to do a halftime show. In this halftime show they are all basically clueless and they’re just following everyone else including beyonce. What ends up happening is a group of people just get in a fight with bravo and it’s a whole brawl on the field. Next, Billy is constantly thinking about Fasion and is just thinking about life with her and doesn’t want to go back to war. But, Billy chooses his brotherhood with his best friends to finish out his deployment and he will get back to Faison when he can.

1. “This lady can really belt it out. Tears the size of lug nuts are tumbling down her cheeks but that’s the kind of thing war does to you.” (Fountain 206) Hyperbole, metaphor and imagery.

This quote shows a lady doing the halftime show and she is singing the national anthem. The use of literary devices helps me envision her emotions as she was singing. This helped me understand what’s happening and helped me build a better understanding of the scene. 

1. “What it boils down to is predicting the future, that’s what business basically is. Seeing what’s coming and getting the jump on everybody else, timing your move is just right. It’s like a puzzle with a thousand moving parts.” (Fountain 214) Plot, simile and foreshadowing

This example shows Billy starting to think about business. This foreshawdows that business could be a great part of his future. Which is moving the plot along. The simile helps show a good example. This all helped me gather a better understanding of what is going on in the chapter.

1. “She breaks down crying, an awful sound like the scraping of a shovel hitting bedrock.” (Fountain 255) Plot and simile.

1. “Bending toward a reprise of the national anthem, it could tip that way with the slightest nudge, but their voices flower into something softer, sweeter, a rain of sugared rose petals batting the ears” (Fountain 229) Personification

The literary devices give messages of war by putting them into different terms. For example when Billy thinks “I guess that’s what war does to you”. That shows a message of war that there is a lot more to it than just fighting. Billy has experiences that are personally scarring. It’s not just fighting there’s a factor of permanent pain that will never go away and that’s the conveyed message through all of the lit terms.

The way I understood war in the beginning of this story has changed significantly since I read this book. I assumed most soldiers were a lot more careless. I didn’t realize the actual way they feel. Now after reading I realize that there is this brotherhood between them all. Losing their friends is the absolute worst case to them. War is not just fighting it creates a brotherhood and it is scarring to lose best friends. 

Reflecting on this novel, I believe that this was the best choice for me and a lot of other students. It appeals to teenagers because they all act like silly immature people and it’s funny. I thought it had a great plot and meaning which I really liked. Although, I occasionally would lose track, sometimes because of flashbacks. But, Finding literary terms is pretty easy, it’s just important to follow and annotate everytime you see them. For future students, I say just keep track of your book and actually read. It’s important to stay on time with your reading and to stay up to date on your responses. Overall, I enjoyed my novel and the responses weren’t bad.

Summary: He receives a call from A-bort instructing him to return, with a frightening message as to what halftime will entail: marching on the field with Destiny's Child. 

After the show, nobody comes for Bravos. They're all shaken, and Sykes is crying. The roadies nastily yell at them to leave and then a brawl breaks out until Josh finally appears to take Bravo back to their seats. Albert meets them in the hallway outside Norm's office and tells them the news: Norm wants to fund the film, but he only wants to pay Bravos less than Albert promised. Dime refuses the deal, but Norm attempts to force Dime's acceptance by making him speak to the General. Dime speaks but leaves the office without accepting Norm's deal. 

Out by the limo, the roadies attack Bravo. Mr. Jones fumbles his gun, but Major Mac shoots it straight into the air. Right after, Billy runs out of the limo to say goodbye to Faison. He knows that their relationship is doomed when she's confused as to why he wants to run away, but they kiss passionately anyway. 

“A sense of relaxing omniscience comes over Billy as he studies the fans, a kind of clinical, gorillas-in-the-mist absorption in how they eat, drink, yawn, pick their noses, preep and primp, indulge or rebuff, their young” Pag 212 Character, imagery, metaphor,  

“Billy has never known such happiness, and if thousands of fans at his back are watching, no matter. Let the entire world be witness to his love” Pag 223 Character, perspective, imagery 

“She breaks down crying, an awful sound like the scraping of a shovel hitting bedrock” Pag 255 Plot, metaphor 

This quote is sovereign by a metaphor that shows how Kathryn is worried about the decision made by billy. The metaphor shows the pain that Kathryn is feeling after talking to Billy and it helped me to understand the strong relationship that these two characters have. 

“She’s looking from his left eye to his right, back and forth, back and forth, always her two double-teaming his one” Pag 305  Repetition, perspective

This quote is one of the final scenes of the book and it helps to understand the people and the important relationships that the main character is leaving behind him and the doubt that every one of those people will not see him again. By using the perspective the reader can feel the two characters' emotions and relate to them. I felt sad, doubious, worried and a bit disappointed reading this scene, just like these two characters.

The overall message of this last part of the book is that it doesn’t matter how difficult it is to make the right choice, how brave a person can be by abandoning all the people he cares about and go fighting for his people.

Caught in a hallowing situation, Frederick Henry makes a dangerous but courageous decision to flee. Fighting for far too long, Henry’s perspective of war most definitely changed, starting as a soldier who was committed to the cause of war, and ending as a refugee who wants nothing to do with it. All Henry is focused on, is Catherine. After fleeing the frontline, Frederick takes little time to reunite with Catherine, reuniting with the woman bearing his child. With the hopes of starting a new life, and escaping imprisonment, Frederick and Catherine flee further from war, finding sanctuary in Switzerland. Soon after, they both find a happy balance in their lives, that is, before rain sheds upon their happiness. In the blink of an eye, Catherine is in labor, in another blink, she is delivering the baby, in another, the baby dies, and soon to follow is Catherine. What was supposed to end as a happy ending, is caught in a deluge of sorrow, the price one pays in a time of war. 

1. “Anger was washed away in the river along with any obligation. Although that ceased when the carabiniere put his hands on my collar. I would like to have had the uniform off although I did not care much about the outward forms. I had taken off the stars, but that was for convenience. It was no point of honor. I was not against them. I was through. I wished them all the luck. There were the good ones, and the brave ones, and the calm ones and the sensible ones, and they deserved it. But it was not my show any more and I wished this bloody train would get to Mestre and I would eat and stop thinking.” (Hemingway 200) --------Perspective, character.
2. “In civilian clothes I felt a masquerader. I had been in uniform a long time and I missed the feeling of being held by your clothes. The trousers felt very floppy. I had bought a ticket at Milan for Stresa. I had also bought a new hat. I could not wear Sim’s hat but his clothes were fine. They smelled of tobacco and as I sat in the compartment and looked out the window the new hat felt very new and the clothes very old. I myself felt as sad as the wet Lombard country that was outside through the window.” (Hemingway 211) --------Perspective, character, simile, imagery.

This quote helped me understand the story more by diving deeper into the perspective of Frederick Henry, specifically after he turned his back on war. In this quote, I perceive some possible regret when Henry mentions his sadness, along with dissonance when he mentions feeling out of place in civilian clothing. Frederick is possible longing to be back on the front, he had spent so much time in the war that it had become routine for him. 

     3.“ ‘Don’t talk about the war,’ I said. The war was a long way away. Maybe there wasn’t any war. There was no war here. Then I realized it was over for me. But I did not have the feeling that it was really over. I had the feeling of a boy who thinks of what is happening at a certain hour at the schoolhouse from which he has played truant.” (Hemingway 213) --------Perspective, juxtaposition. 
     4. “If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.” (Hemingway 216) --------Perspective, plot, character. 

This quote provides a strong message about war, helping me understand the message that Frederick Henry’s character is trying to portray, along with the change in character that Henry went through. Henry often thought of war in a positive manner, although this quote demonstrates a different perspective that emphasizes Henry’s change in character. 

The message on war that seems to be portrayed the most throughout literary terms is that war kills both literally and figuratively. At the beginning of the story, the perspective on war was very different from the perspective on war at the end of the story. Character, plot, and perspective helped the most to envisage this message as the story went on. Events such as the death of Aymo put into perspective how war literally kills, and the decision that Henry makes to flee demonstrated how war figuratively kills. 

As explained previously, the perspective of war changed significantly from the beginning of the story to the ending. In the beginning, war was glorified. A character action that demonstrated this was Frederick’s longing to get back to the frontline after his injury. However, in the end, war was not glorified. A character action that demonstrated this was when Frederick decided to flee war because of the devastation it brought him and his fellow soldiers. A character perspective that also demonstrated the devastation of war was when Frederick explained that war kills (quoted previously). 

Personally, I enjoyed this novel overall, although the ending was not a happy one, but was predictable based on the usage of repetition throughout the story. It was fairly easy to understand and follow, however, the usage of old language and some foreign dialect did make it difficult. I do recommend this to future students, I found this to be a quick read based on the flow of the plot and the twists and turns that it took. I believe that the romance aspect also kept me engaged simply because that's what I enjoy in a novel.

Summary- Joe keeps hoping that someone will understand his pain. He lost all track of time and feels himself becoming insane because he feels more and more trapped inside his brain. He gets a new nurse and he feels that she is in more of an understanding of what he’s going through the uses morse code to communicate with each other. He tries to tao another message but he doesn’t pay attention anymore. He wonders why they won’t let him communicate or remember that he is still alive, but realizes that they are scared that he will make people less motivated to go into the military. 

• “Why didn't they want him? Why were they shutting the lid of the coffin against him? Why didn't they want him to speak? Why didn't they want him to be seen? Why didn't they want him to be free?” (239) repetition, metaphor

This quote shows that the only reason why the hospital is keeping him unseen and out of the spotlight is so it doesn’t discourage people to go into the military, which isn't fair to him at all

• “Like an eager dog spoken to by its master and trying very hard to be good and to understand he lay stiffly and concentrated on the design the nurse was making” (198) Simile
• “He felt himself sinking back back into the place where they wanted to thrust him. He felt the tingle of his own flesh and he began to see the vision.” (238) metaphor 

This quote saying he was sinking to the place they wanted him shows that the hospital wanted him to die so they didn't have to worry about him being seen by the public

• “He saw the yellow sand and he saw the heat waves coming up from it. Above the heat waves he saw Christ in his flowing robes and his crown of thorns with the blood dripping from them.” (238) imagery

These examples help show that war can do so much more than hurt someone physically. It can hurt them mentally for the rest of their lives and others around and/or connected to them. Not much changed from my previous message, the only thing would is that the effects of war are not only physical and seen by the naked eye. It paints us a better understanding of what long-term effects war has. 

I liked the amount of detail the author put into this book, and how clear he makes the message of war. I didn’t like all the repetition and parts that didn’t tie into the overall message, which made it difficult to understand at points. I wouldn’t recommend it if you are very enthusiastic about reading or if you are not patient. 

Johnny is getting more control over his life when he starts to keep track of the time and counts out the days months and years then he starts tapping out some words in morse code to the nurse but she thinks he is just being crazy and sedates him then at Christmas he gets a new nurse and she can tell he’s trying to talk to her and gets someone who can do morse code and he can talk once more.

“Tentatively raised his head from the pillow and let it fall back again. then he did it twice quickly… He Tapped Out SOS against his pillow” (Trumbo 162-163) plot, character

This quote is the start of johns reconnection with the world he has had everything taken from him and he can still get a message to someone as he gets control of his new and horrible separated life, when he does this it shows a lot of character as from the start of the book were he rejecting what he is and what he has lost to this acceptance of his new life and what he has left. 

“He awakened tapping with his head against his pillow”(Trumbo 195) repetition, understatement 

“She had already thought of a way to speak to him he knew that she would pay attention when he tried to speak to her.”(Trumbo 209)plot, P.O.V

“The finger began to tap … what do you want?” (Trumbo 217-218) understmemt, paradox

This quote helped me understand that the story was not going to have a happy ending and that there was truly no way out of this, there is an understatement in this statement as you ask a man with nothing but head and body what you want as he would want everything that has been taken from him and that just talking to someone has taken nearly five years to accomplish “what do you want” can not solve the problems shown here. 

The book did change from the previous section as in that one johnny was still refusing to admit to himself that there was nothing he could do to change what had happened to him and as he accepted that this is his life now he managed to get some part of his old life back as he stared to try to talk to others using morse code.

I liked that there was only one Characters perspective it really forced you to think of this from Jhonny's perspective and offered no insight into what was happening as I would feel for johnny in this state one thing that does not like was all the flash backs there was just too many of them and it Broke up the flow of the story and made it harder overall to follow. There were times when it was hard to find literary terms but overall it was fairly easy to get the information that I needed, I would recommend this book to others in the future unless they get a strong emotional impact from what they read as there are parts of this book that are very hard-hitting.

The last part of the novel Mash is where things started to settle down. There were fewer wounded men coming into the tents and they started to realize their time at war was coming to an end. They used football as a coping mechanism for all the mental issues they are having with how many bad things they have seen in the surgery tents. Now they are using it as more of a fun thing, something to pass time and realize their friendships. At the very end of the book, they all go home and are only briefly talked about. “Hammond was delighted… This had left him with a winning streak.”(Hooker 163) This is showing how they are having fun. They care about the game and each other whereas before they were only playing to get their mind off the war. This shows plot, pov, and understatement. I think this is a really good example of pov because it's almost like as soon as they found out their time in the war was soon to be coming over it's almost like they forgot about it, they didn’t care they were in war and only cared about each other and having fun. “ ‘If we can go that long without it we will know we aren’t dangerous alcoholics.’ said Hawkeye… ‘but it's ok with me “(Hooker 215) This quote is The swamp man talking about how drinking while in the war was another way of coping with the things they saw. This shows pov, plot, and understatement. I think this shows understatement really well because they practically joke about them being seriously mentally ill. The author does not talk about what they are really feeling from this war. “They finished the jug but were too excited to be drunk.”(Hooker 219) This shows Pov and character. “ ‘We don't seem to be acting like swamp man'’ “ (Hooker 218) This shows plot and pov. At the beginning of the story my thought of war was simply that it was bad, I now after reading this that there is so much to it. The main message I took from this story is that war in general is an understatement until you see it for yourself. The things I liked about this book are the character development with their friendships, from the beginning they were strangers to the end they were more than just friends they were a family in a way, a brotherhood. I disliked how much they talked about the work tent and the wounded men. It seemed very repetitive to me, even though it did show the plot well.

This last third begins with The Swampman deciding to join a football league. But most of them are not good so they decide to get a former pro football player turned neurosurgeon named spearchucker jones. After their victory against general Hammond, blake distribute the bets back to their supporters. Henry becomes worried about keeping duke and hawkeye happy because they are up for termination in three months so he decides to get two new surgeons. After forcing hawkeye and duke to teach them henry holds a farewell party for them. They both think they are lucky for finding people they love but will probably never be that close to anyone again. 

1. “Death is an elephant, torch-eyed and horrible, foam-flanked and terrible," Hawkeye commented” (Hooker 148)---Metaphore, perspective, imagery
2. “At the same time, any surgeon, aware of everything that's going on in his field back home, has to regret it when he's sent to a place like this where about all he ever gets to do is meatball surgery” (Hooker 189)---Perspective, character

The quote shows how Hawkeye sees death. It is as grotesque as an elephant and big and unchangeable. You can not change death no matter how hard you try and you have to learn to live with it during the war. Death is everywhere when you work in the swamp. 

1. “the baseball that the Swampmen had tossed and batted around occasionally to get some exercise and kill some time, took on air and a new shape. It became a football and an object of pursuit” (Hooker 154)---plot
2. “This last should not have surprised nor disturbed the veterans, for the surgical world changes rapidly and almost all surgical residents talk well, but the veterans had been so far removed from the mainstream of their profession for so long that, as the recruits expounded on new approaches and new techniques, at least several of the listeners wondered if, when they did get home, they would have to start all over again” (Hooker 188)---plot, perspective

This quote shows that people wonder what life will be like after being so removed from the medical ways back home that they will not know if their future would be certain in the medical field or if they would have to relearn. This can be compared to other people coming out of college and sent straight into the military just for them to go back changed and will probably never be able to pursue their original career. 

The most emphasized message about war found throughout my literary terms was War changes people no matter the job. The doctors get changed for the worse because they see terrible terrible wounds and even limbs missing that can change them mentally for the worse. It's nothing compared to back home.

My message did not change throughout the book. The plot and perspective the swampman had lasted the entire way through, no one wanted to be there and they all agreed that war is hell. It changed them in a way that they are uncertain of their future in the medical field back home and deep down are changed by the bodies and dead comrades they see come and go.   

I liked my novel because it had good humor and an interesting story about the swampman. It was easy to follow throughout there were no big jumps and there was plenty of context of things in the story. I did find literally terms fine but some parts took a while because of a continuous story about golf and football. I would recommend this book to kids that are interested in war stories that are not dark and are serious at times and funny at others. 

During the 3rd part of the book, they were playing football and strategizing about football and what to do. So they don't want to bring people home with a purple heart.  people that how to deal with the burden of killing someone or themselves.

“Duke joined the group and at the same moment, a passing truck backfired. Hawkeye and the duke hit the floor, simultaneously drawing their .45s and looking around for the enemy. (hooker 212)-Imaging it helped me understand the event because it emphasizes what they are doing but it makes you think about what they are doing and envisions what they are doing. And war can be scaring 

“Mother —------mother —------”(hooker 231)-repetition 

“A slight cold. In fact, gentlemen, the reverend, I fear, has fallen from grace with a large splash”(hooker 215)-a metaphor 

“News of the 4077th mash has not reached him”(hooker 146)-plot talks about mash which is the main part of the book and also the title of the book but it also helps that it talks about it in the middle third of the book. 

This part of the book is different from the last one because it's more intense and in the last part they were playing and talking about golf in a hospital and not being nice to the receptionist as if they were at a golf course but they were at a hospital.

I liked this novel because it was entertaining because I was able to feel and see what they are doing with the emotion they are feeling. The literary terms for me were hard to find but were fun to look for. I recommend this book to people who like reading and war.

It’s finally time for the halftime show and just minutes before the Bravo squad is told what they are going to be doing for it. Bravo ends up meeting Beyonce. Billy can’t stop thinking about Faison and the time they had spent together. Billy is also having a lot more flashbacks of the war. The halftime show was a very sexual show with all the girls in tight or revealing clothes and stripper dancing. Billy’s sister, Kathryn, is trying to convince him to go to this farm to get out of the army so he doesn’t have to go back to Iraq. Billy contemplates going until just minutes before Billy and the Bravo squad leave for the airport. On the other hand, the movie they were supposed to make ends up falling through, and they back out of the deal because they believed it wasn’t fair. After the halftime show, a fight breaks out between the stage crew and the Bravo Squad. Right before they are about to leave and get in the limo they are jumped by the halftime show stage crew. Many of them are swollen, bruised, and bleeding but none are seriously injured. Billy says his final goodbye to Faison, and as they are leaving he realizes he will most likely never see her again. 

“Billy nods and turns to the window. He knows he will never see Faison again, but how can he know? How does anyone ever know anything—the past is a fog that breathes out ghost after ghost, the present a freeway thunder runs at 90 mph, which makes the future the ultimate black hole of futile speculation. And yet he knows, at least he thinks he knows, he feels it seeded in the purest certainty of his grief as he finds his seat belt and snaps it shut, that snick like the final lock of a vast and complex system. He's in. Bound for the war. Good-bye, good-bye, good night, I love you all. He sits back, closes his eyes, and tries to think about nothing as the limo takes them away.” (Fountain 307). Understatement, Perspective, Plot, 

This quote helps the reader understand that Billy is saying his final goodbye forever. It shows understatement because it isn’t showing much emotion even though Billy knows he will never see Faison again. It also sets the end of the story when it says he is locked into war now and this adds to the plot because it is setting the rest of Billy's life in just a few sentences. He is going to war and he knows he won’t make it back alive. 

“... then the explosions start and they all flinch, boom boom boom boom, lum rounds are shooting off from somewhere backstage…A howl commences deep in Lodis’s throat. ‘It’s cool,’ Billy murmurs, ‘it’s cool, it’s cool, it’s just fireworks.’ Lodis starts laughing, gasping for breath. On Billy’s other side Crack is looking clammy and grim. If there was ever a prime-time trigger for PTSD you couldn’t do much better than this…Pupils dilated, pulse and blood pressure through the roof, limbs trembling with stress-reflex cortisol rush, but it’s cool, it’s good, their shit’s down tight, no Vietnam-vet crackups for Bravo squad!... Billy is watching for his mark and trying not to hyperventilate. Boom-diddy boom-diddy diddy-diddy BOOM. Disco strobes, hump dancing, lum rounds and flares, marching bands marking time in regal high step, and here is Billy soldiering through the vast mindfuck of it, coiled into himself and determined to deal.” (Fountain 230-231). Onomatopoeia, Character, Perspective, P.O.V., 

“...Billy sat down backstage and talked through Shroom’s death. Shroom lying there wounded. Shroom sitting up. Shroom collapsing in Billy’s lap, then his eyes zeroing in on Billy with such urgency, with so much pressing news, then the fade and his soul releasing, whoom, as if the life force is a highly volatile substance, contents stored under pressure. ‘When he died, it’s like I wanted to die too.’ But this wasn’t quite right. ‘When he died, I felt like I’d died too.’ But that wasn’t it either. ‘In a way, it was like the whole world died.’ Even harder was describing his sense that Shroom’s death might have ruined him for anything else, because when he died? When I felt his soul pass through me? I loved him so much right then, I don’t think I can ever have that kind of love for anybody again. So what was the point of getting married, having kids, raising a family if you knew you couldn’t give them your very best love?” (Fountain 218). Character, Perspective, P.O.V., Understatement, Onomatopoeia, 

This quote helps the reader understand that Shroom’s death had the biggest impact on Billy at war. It also shows how much love Billy had for Shroom and how his death took that love with it. It shows perspective because it is letting the reader know how Billy feels about the death of his best friend and how much it still affects him. It also shows a little bit of understatement because in the specific part of the quote I took Billy isn’t showing much emotion when he is talking about what happened, and he is talking in a way that its war and it’s bound to happen. 

“‘...A hundred thousand per Bravo, ten Bravos, that’s a tough nut to crack right out of the gate. We’re already looking at plunking half a million for the script, then getting a lead on the level of a Hilary, a Clooney, we’re talking multiple millions here…Well, initially it’s pretty minimal. Fifty-five hundred against profits when the option’s exercised-’ ‘Fifty-five fucking hundred?’ ‘I know it’s not what you were hoping for’ ‘No shit!’” (Fountain 268-269). Perspective, Character, Hyperbole

The overall message I got from this section of the book about war is that it takes the lives of people you love. Along with this, death at war also traumatized people whether they are physically experiencing it or emotionally experiencing it. 

My overall message about war has changed from the second reading response because in the second one the message I got about war is war can impact a person's mental health, but in the last part of the book it changed to war can be traumatizing and impact both a soldiers mental and physical health. This is shown in the book by using a lot of perspective and P.O.V. when it comes to explaining the emotions Billy and his fellow Bravos’ are feeling

Lastly, I thought the novel was very interesting to read and had some parts of it that really pulled me into the book, but along with this, there are some points in the book where I felt bored and it wasn’t really allowing me to get into the book as much. I think it was a pretty easy read though and easy to understand and follow along with. Along with this, it was easy to find literary terms because the major ones popped up very frequently and the minor ones stuck out a lot. I do recommend this book to other people who need a book to read because it is easy to read and follow and it is entertaining. 

In this final section of the novel, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk the Bravos end up having to go back to their regular seats in the cold. Billy then receives two texts, one from Kathryn and one from Pastor Rick. The texts, combined with sitting in the aisle seat and being subjected to people's thoughts and prayers, make Billy anxious and Mango is not happy either so the two leave on a walk. Billy takes Mango to go meet Faison. Before the halftime show, Billy is already freaking out because Lodis is extremely drunk. Then the pure chaos of the show begins with marching bands, drill teams, Bravo, ROTCs, Destiny's Child, and disco lights. As if it couldn't get any worse, the fireworks start which sends Lodis into a panic attack and causes Billy to start to hyperventilate. The Bravos are then shoved onto the stage where they are danced on like poles. All of this built-up madness makes Sykes sob on stage and Billy turns his face to the sky to feel the rain and sleet pour onto his face, which he finds more enjoyable than what just happened. The entire experience made Billy wish he was in Iraq instead. After halftime, the Bravos are left to fend for themselves with no orders, which causes a fight to break out between them and the roadies. They are sent to the home sideline to figure out where they are supposed to go. Faison and the other cheerleaders come over very upset about the way their guests had been treated and try to comfort them. This gives Billy and Faison a chance to exchange numbers. The Bravos receive an apology for being left stranded. Billy then tries to return a call to Kathryn but Patty answers. She says that it was sweet and cute when Billy turned his head towards the sky. Kathryn then takes the phone to tell him about a program she wants him to contact a group for soldiers who want to go AWOL. Billy refuses to leave the Bravo’s. He then talks to his mother and gives her a very worried I love you, in case it is the last she gets. The call makes Billy wonder what life would be like for his family if he died in the war, which only makes him more determined to survive. The boys go back to their seats. Lodis is passed out with a layer of sleet growing on him so a woman insists that he wear her snuggie. Billy receives a call from the AWOL group, which he ignores. Josh comes to get Dime and Billy for a meeting with Norm about the movie. 

Billy and Dime have a meeting with Norm where he tries to screw the Bravos over. Norm doesn't want to pay the Bravos the $100,000 per man that they'd been promised upfront. He said might pay that amount to just Dime and Billy if they want to cut out the rest of Bravos, which is a no. Norm, Dime, Albert, and Billy verbally argue for a while before Norm gets General Ruthven involved. Dime reassures Billy that it's okay because the general is a Steelers fan so he'll have Bravo's back. Josh follows Dime and Billy to finally give Billy Advil. After the game, Billy is wondering if he should join the AWOL group right then and there, asking himself “What would Shroom do?”, but then the roadies come after the Bravos with wrenches, pipes, and other weapons and beat them senseless. The police come and arrest the roadies which is a signal for the Bravos to leave. Billy then meets up with Faison for one last makeout, where he asks her to run away with him but she hesitates. This lets Billy make up his mind to not go AWOL but she kisses him and begs him to stay safe as he walks away. Billy gets into the car, and Crack tells the driver to go before they get killed.

“Shroom collapsing in Billy’s lap, then his eyes zeroing in on Billy with such urgency, with so much pressing news, then the fade and his soul releasing, whom, as if the life force is a highly volatile substance, contents stored under pressure.” (Fountain 218). Simile and perspective. 

“boody-Boom boody-Boom boody-bood-bood-BOOM” (Fountain 231). Onomatopoeia.

This shows me what noises everyone is hearing and how this can create bad flashbacks for the Bravo team from war. All those fireworks, marching bands, and disco lights cause the Bravo’s to think of gunfire and war. 

“Billy says, remembering something Shroom once said: Maybe the light’s at the other end of the tunnel.” (Fountain 246). Flashback and metaphor.

Billy is constantly thinking about his fellow soldier he lost at war. Ever since Billy lost Shroom he couldn’t stop thinking about him. Billy having these flashbacks makes me infer that Billy misses Shroom and he wishes he could have done something to save him. 

“He has a sheaf of manila packets under one arm, and with the other he’s reaching into his coat pocket. Something white flashes in his palm. “Billy,” he calls, holding out a small plastic bottle. “I got your Advil.” (Fountain 287) Repetition and imagery. 

War affects a person's everyday life, sometimes physically and other times mentally. War changes your view on things and makes it hard to do things other people find simple and unproblematic. 

My message changed perspectives. My message from the last section is from a citizen's point of view and at the end of the novel I changed it to a soldier's point of view. I changed the perspective so the message made more sense as to why soldiers have such a struggle coming home and fitting back in with everyone, and it explains why citizens do not understand soldier's struggles. 

I liked this novel because it wasn’t purely based on what was going on in the war, but more based on how war affects you after. One thing that I did not like about this novel is that the whole thing is based on one day but with flashbacks from war and other things throughout the whole novel. Some literary terms were really easy to find but others like paradox or juxtaposition were a lot harder to find if there even were any. I would recommend this book to future students, because it is funny, interesting, and is not strictly about what is going on in the war. 

The last third of the novel had another slight shift in the tone. The original tone was lighter hearted which shifted to darker more real subjects and the consequences of such. And in the last shift, they are more seasoned, less outspokenly resentful and troublesome being more focused on getting through it. Most of the first few chapters were lost on me as it was full of football lingo I don't understand but the gist of it is they decide to start an extremely morally corrupt football team and challenge General Hammond. They do this mostly out of boredom and the prospect of money. After they win and receive the money they don't enjoy it as they planned. They instead mope about how they were pretty screwed over by the military. Because Duke and Hawkeye's term is almost up Henry decides that getting their minds off of being restless would be a good idea. Henry brings in two new doctors as their replacements for them to train. The new doctors are meticulous and have difficulty grasping the urgency and understanding the corners they have to cut to keep the line moving. Finally, at the end of the book, Hawkeye and Duke are shipped home after their 18-month term. 

1. “‘When you live in this sort of situation long enough, you either get to love a few people or hate them, and we've been pretty lucky. I don't know. I do know that nothing like this will ever happen to us again. Never again…will we be as close with anyone as we were in that goddamn tent for the past year,’”(Hooker, 204) Plot, character, paradox

1. “‘In short,’...’ we screwed up in the wrong area. If we had dubbed along in the working time and never given it the goddamn college try, we'd be back in a stateside hospital with our wives and behaving like officers and gentlemen? Is that right?’”(Hooker, 186) Character, 

1. “‘...our general attitude around here is that we want to play par surgery on this course. Par is a live patient. We’re not sweet swingers, and if we’ve gotta kick it in with our knees to get a par that's how we do it.’” (Hooker, 195) Metaphor, Character, perspective 

Hawkeye uses a metaphor to explain to Pinkham how surgery has to work at mash for things to run smoothly by comparing it to something familiar that he does understand, like golf. One thing that this shows is how even as circumstances and the tone of the novel change, the humorous part of Hawkeye’s character doesn't change. It also showcases the difference in perspective between Hawkeye and Pinkham. Pinkham doesn't understand what needs to be done in this setting and still clings to his stateside medical teachings. He doesn't have the same experiences that Hawkeye does and therefore cannot operate the way he needs to. 

1. “Hawkeye dropped to his knees on the sand floor and, as he began to suck on the rubber tube attached to the shorter of the two tubes in the bottle, the upward flow of bubbles increased as the lung was, indeed, expanding. ‘Crude ain't it?’ (Hooker, 192) Imagery, understatement, Juxtaposition, perspective

The quote uses juxtaposition to show and compare the unrefined necessity of the army's way of surgery versus the new doctor's professional standpoint. The juxtaposition shows how surgery for the seasoned army doctors has changed to doing the bare minimum to keep patience alive from how they would have in general practice stateside. Imagery is used to show the fine details of the way Hawkeye performs surgery which stands out among the rest of the book due to the novel's understated writing. The imagery enhances the reader's understanding of the juxtaposition as well as enforces the difference in perspective between Hawkeye and Pinkham. Hawkeye has been working in an army hospital and has an understanding of how things have to work to not hold up patience from getting help. Pinkham on the other hand has been in a stateside hospital from a high-level school where he was taught to be meticulous and make sure everything is done right.  

The theme of the second to last third of the novel is still prevalent throughout the last third but another theme does become more apparent. They still find distractions as a coping mechanism but the overarching theme of the last part of the novel is focused more on the going home aspect of war. War brings people together in a way that can only be experienced through war. 

I enjoyed the novel overall. It was slightly frustrating to find meaningful literary terms that expressed the character's feelings. The overall style of writing did a good job to convey the deadpan kind of tone that the author was going for. At times the wording was a little funky since it was written so robotically. I had to read some parts a few times and pick apart the literal meaning to figure out what was happening. I wish I had read this without the background influence of watching the show so religiously. because I watched the show I had a clear image of what the setting would have looked like. Without the visuals, I think I would have been slightly bored with the only imagery being about shredded bodies. I would recommend this book to other students if they want a Novel that is literal in its wording and is not built upon the typical war novel characteristic of how war deeply messes a person up emotionally. The book does show how the war affects them. However, it doesn't focus on their internal emotional response to that. 

At the end of this novel Kate has a new friend Yvette. Naema is with her dad. Kate and Yvette are in separate trucks but there was a bombing on the side of the place they were at and thats where Yvette was. Kate has seen so many new things and plenty of dead bodys and as sickening as it is she can’t do anything about it. Kate is a very caring person and I feel like she is overthinking everything and she can’t seem to wrap her head around the possibility of her new friend dying.

The main conflict is stated in the summary and basically there is war and Yvette is in alot of danger. Kate is thinking about how she’d  feel if her friend passed. The things that led to this is war and a bombing on the side Yvette is on and she can’t escape where she is .

After seeing the ending the overall message i got on war is that you can’t care so much or let your guard down in war there is a lot of imagery with dead bodies and the bombings. You also hear a lot of POV and what other people see, think , hear , etc. 

(Benedict pg 240) “But nobody’s in as much danger as Yvette. Please I pray to mom’s crucifix, please look after my friend”  I noticed a lot of  understatement in this message because of the way of wording i feel as if there could have been more to it and been more sympathy. It shows that Yvette is in so much danger but doesn’t really give us much more details other than the fact that she's in the most danger.

(Benedict pg 248) “Yvette, I swear in my head, If you're alive in one piece and we get back to this shithole alive, I’m going to share everything I have and everything I ever get with you. We’ll help each other get through it, okay? Just be alive and whole please.”  I can point out a lot of character from this quote. You can tell Kate’s true emotion and feelings and can see right through her character as a caring sweet young girl. This quote kind of points out how it feels to be in war and it shows its traumatizing, horrific, seems not real. 

(Benedict 254) “I’m carrying the boy whose arm has been blown off and he’s shuddering with shock, his face a stretch of gray agony under the blood and soot.”  All i can do when i hear this description is picture it  so i’m seeing imagery. The way she got so into detail with it and could describe every little bad part is terrifying. This quote also shows what war is like. War is unfair, war is scary, war you don’t know what you're going to see next. 

(Benedict pg 269) “A young woman with long black hair and bangs. A big eyed woman” 

This quote points to POV really quickly .  yes you can picture it and say its imagery but it would be you picturing their point of view and how they see people. The people in war seem to be a lot more into what they see, more descriptive, more in depth with what they’re saying.

It is finally halftime and the halftime show is about to begin; it's no normal show though, loud noises all over the place and the Bravo’s are going crazy. All of a sudden the Bravo’s find themselves almost by themselves on the field with no one to tell them where to go. Some people called the Roadies get in a fight with the Bravo’s and they have to be broken up by the police. Faison meets up with Billy and exchanges numbers before she has to leave again. Now Billie's sister is calling him about trying to get out of redeployment to Iraq and she sets up a lawyer to meet with him. Billy declines that offer by not meeting with the person. Norm the Cowboys owner wants to meet about the long awaited movie and the Bravo’s gets furious with him about his disappointing offer. The game isn’t over yet but the Cowboys are leaving and the weather is horrible and they decide it is time to leave. The Bravo’s get sent to a Limo line but Billy really wants to see Faison one last time before he leaves. The Roadies come out of nowhere once again and they get in another fight. All of a sudden a gun gets shot in the air and the fight stops. Billy and Faison meet up and Billy has a big decision to make, go with Faison or go back to Iraq. Billy ultimately decides to get in the limo with the other Bravo members and they drive away. 

1. “Such an unholy barrage of noise pours forth that Billy thinks he might be lifted off his feet. It's a dam bursting, bridges collapsing at rush hour…”(Fountain 232). P.O.V, Character, Hyperbole, Metaphor 

During the halftime show there is a big band and they are making very loud noises and the fireworks are going off. This reminds me of Metaphor because a halftime show and war are completely different but Billy is comparing the noise of both of them and he might be going through some PTSD at that time. 

1. ‘“Get out your phone and I'll give you my information… Frankly I don’t wanna lose you”(Fountain 246). Plot, character, 
2. “Why make a movie anyway? It seems pointless to go to all that trouble when the original is floating out there for all to see”(Fountain 288). P.O.V, Paradox,
3. “Billy kisses her lips and pulls away, and it feels like the last thing he’ll ever do”(Fountain 306). Plot, P.O.V, Character, Simile, Metaphor, Imagery

Billy and Faison meet for the last time before Billy leaves the stadium and goes with the Bravo group to go back into war. This made me think of P.O.V because it tells the side of Billy and what he does with Faison and how he made the decision to go back with the Bravo group by himself and it wasn’t Faison telling him to go back to war. 

Because of war, war can change your daily life; PTSD is real and can mess up your whole life going forward. 

My message about war changed a little bit from each section but stayed pretty similar. My message just went deeper into context from each section. I went from very broad to more of an exact reason or message. Metaphor and P.O.V were really helpful in determining what the message about war was and what war can make you think or want. 

This novel is very long but very interesting at times; there is a lot of detail and information that is not really necessary. But that detail helps you understand what the author wants you to think about the book. As a reader your mind can go a hundred different ways and how you think war is. With this book it is easy to talk about events; there is so much going on and you don't have to talk about just one thing because there is a lot of events or plot twists that you can go off of when you talk about the book.

“He was enchanted by the architecture of the city. Merry amoretti wove garlands above windows. Roguish fauns and naked nymphs peeked down at Billy from festooned cornices. Stone monkeys frisked among scrolls and seashells and bamboo. Billy, with his memories of the future, knew that the city would be smashed to smithereens and then burned- in about thirty more days. He knew, too, that most of the people watching  him would soon be dead. So it goes.”(Vonnegut 150/151)character 

“The doomed high school teacher, lumberd to his feet for what was probably the finest moment in his life. There are almost no characters in this story, and almost no dramatic confrontations, because most of the people in it are so sick and so much listless playthings of enormous forces. One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters. But old Derby was a character now.” (Vonnegut 164) perspective 

This shows Billy's perspective of the brave high school teacher who went to war by saying he was a character he is showing that he looked up to him unlike the other people who he would not show this much admiration for due to the fact there were not many people he talk highly of and him not showing much emotion due to his past with the war and how it affected his mental state  

“My God-I thought he was about fourteen years old,” said trout “A full grown captain in the war”(Vonnegut 170) plot

“He scares me,” she whispered to her husband about Billy Pilgrim. “He bores the hell out of me!” Rumford replied boomingly. “All he does in his sleep is quit and surrender and apologize and ask to be left alone.”(Vonnegut 184)character 

This shows Billy is dreaming about something that scares him and with the book being mostly about war it is safe to assume that it is more war related trauma that billy is dreaming about and another indication that Billy's time travel  and alien talk is him thinking his dreams are real as the only time he time travels or talks to aliens after a bunch of pages it is shown that he was sleeping. 

The message the author is trying to give is going to war can be harmful to people physically and mentally to the point it can make a person think about war all the time in his head while he is sleeping and while also being so real it makes him think he is a time traveler who thinks he is right in what he thinks but most people know that it is crazy talk and that there is something wrong with Billy and he will not know why people think of him as crazy leaving his future in shambles do to the tragedies of war showing one of the many prices a soldiers might have to pay. 

The last part of the novel Eleven Days finally reveals what happened to Jason and how he died being a hero. His mother finally knowing what happened and Jason getting to come home and be buried. His mother can finally move on, and have his memory but doesn’t have to be worried about where he is. He found love, but unfortunately never got the chance to pursue it. 

“As the men keep talking, Sara realizes she has not felt this much emotion since the day Jason left on his first deployment. Before that, it was the day of his decision to join the Teams. And before that, the day of his acceptance to the Academy. And before that, 9/11. Further back than that, her mind will not go.”(Carpenter 226) - Repetition, Perspective, understatement

This quote helped me better understand how Sara felt when she was in the room talking about what happened with her son. How every big thing Jason decided to do she was emotional, She was his mother and it’s what mothers do. 

“‘Would he? He would understand how much it cost to train an operator. He would understand the percentage of the annual defense budget allocated to education. He would understand the ratio of blondes to brunettes working at any one time at Foggy Bottom. What would he understand about my son?’”(Carpenter 189) -Character, Perspective, Imagery, Repetition

This quote helped me better understand with the repetition of questions from Sara on how she felt on the godfather saying david would love and understand Jason. She was upset about it, she didn’t think it was a fair statement to say. 

“She liked the War rooms not because she liked war but because she liked stories, and she was always so struck by how an entire government had just, as it were, gone to ground in that time of crisis, arranging dinner parties and strategy sessions several levels below English streets. She loved seeing Churchhill’s bedside ashtrays overflowing with his fat cigar ash.”(Carpenter 180) - Imagery, character, perspective

“She’d briefly considered a burial at Strawberry Hill, at the Naval Academy, an admiral having offered his own plot, but opted for Arlington for various reasons, primary among them the thought that she would visit more often. She might even move to D.C., to be closer by. Sam is there. The godfather is there.”(Carpenter 259) -Plot, Perspective, Character

The last third starts off with Joe feeling like his brain is his prison and that his nurse is his jailor. Then Joe begins to compare himself to slaves and their fates in history, how he was moved from his home and forced to fight other slaves, like in the Coliseum of Rome, but it’s worse for him because he can’t die. Then Joe gets unwillingly sedated, while he’s sedated he dreams of various different things, such as the woman at the train station in Tucson and her son being Jesus Christ, and how he’s on a train with a bunch of dead soldiers who hadn’t died yet, and how he jumps off the train and throws himself at Christ’s feet. When Joe wakes up finally, he has a new nurse and it’s Christmas time. With this new nurse, he is finally able to communicate with people somewhat, by tapping SOS, this gives him new hope for life. he is asked, “WHAT DO YOU WANT?” by a morse code specialist he didn’t know how to answer because he never thought about it. He asked to be out with people but he needed money and to obtain that money he was going to sell himself off as an educational exhibit, after that the morse code guy left. When the morse code guy came back he told Joe that “WHAT YOU ASK IS AGAINST REGULATIONS WHO ARE YOU?” Joe, taken back realizes that the army wants to forget about him, after that Joe gets sedated and figures out why they did that, because they must keep what happened to him a secret so that they can still recruit new soldiers. The final part ends off with Joe imagining what would happen if the truth got out, if people knew what he knew. 

1. “... a finger so enormous that it shattered against his forehead like the crash of a pile driver… The finger began to tap…” (Trumbo 217). Plot, simile, hyperbole, imagery. 
2. “They should know what he wanted the silly bastards… he wanted the things they took for granted the things nobody could ever give him” (Trumbo 221). Plot, character, understatement.
3. “He wasn’t to blame for the trouble he was causing yet they were drawing the curtain around him stuffing him back into the womb back into the grave saying to him goodbye don’t bother us don’t come back to life the dead should stay dead and we are done with you.” (Trumbo 235). Juxtaposition, plot, character, imagery, metaphor. 

At this point in the story Joe had just been told that he basically wasn't allowed to do what he had asked the morse code guy and the morse code guy said it was, “against regulations,” he was crushed. He felt he was being punished and he even felt as if they were, “stuffing him back into the womb” taking away his life. The way Joe compares his situation to being in a womb really helps visualize and feel what it’s like to be him at the moment, this is shown as a metaphor comparing having no arms, legs, jaw, nose, sight, or hearing, and basically, having no control over his own life to being in a womb, where you can’t mover or control anything outside around you or your life, just like Joe, even the way Joe’s fed and a baby in its mother's mothers womb gets fed.

1. “Oh thank you god he thought she got it you put the idea where I asked you should thank you. Thank you thank you thank you.” (Trumbo 213). Character, plot, POV. 

This part really shows you how happy and thankful that he is to have someone who gets what he was wanting all along after trying for so long just tapping away, until the nurse finally notices. He shows you how he truly feels through POV, by putting us in his head, and telling us directly what he was thinking at the time, which was nothing but pure excitement, relief, and hope. This meant he could have a life, he could talk to people and people could talk to him. 

War has an inevitable toll on not only your body, but also your mind. You wouldn’t know how he actually felt at the time unless he used as many descriptive words as he did. One way he described things was through imagery, he described how things looked very well even when he couldn’t see he was able to paint a pretty vivid picture in my mind of what was either picturing in his mind I could picture what he was saying pretty easily. He also described both what he was seeing and especially, how he was feeling through juxtapositions, like when he says he feels like he’s in a “womb” and in a sense he is, he can’t move, he can’t speak, he can’t hear, he can’t see, he is fed through a tube, and he has no control over his life or the things that happen to him, like a baby in the womb.

The message of war hasn’t changed much from the beginning of the book but, my take on it and understanding of the actual truth of that message until I’ve read the rest of the book. At first you didn’t see quite as much of the toll it took on both his body and mind until you’re almost done with the first third of the book, when he has to have his arms removed and he didn’t want the promise ring he had with his girlfriend Kareen, to be on “rotten flesh,” the second third is when Joe learns that he’s also had his legs removed, that he doesn’t have a nose, or a jaw, and you see that he is starting to break down mentally, and he starts to compare his situation to being alive in a dead man’s body or being in a womb. But, in the last third of the book it really sinks in how he’s been affected mentally especially, after the morse code guy pretty much tells him that Joe can’t live his own life because it was “against regulations'' regulations that mean Joe isn’t allowed to be seen in public so that the army doesn’t lose out on recruits. Obviously, the army didn’t care about what he wanted and he felt a pain worse than ever before, an emotional pain. This is really where it sinks in as far as the mental toll on him. The reader wouldn’t be able to understand that without the author's choice of words and descriptions.

I do think that this is one of my favorite books that I’ve read as far as the story goes. I liked the idea of being in Joe’s head and the way he described what it was like in his situation, it really helped you understand how he felt and how messed up war can make you. What I didn’t like was the way it jumped around in time because it made the book a little confusing and hard to follow. I also wish that there was a little more focus on his actual service during the war. Although, it was pretty easy to make connections to literary terms. I would recommend this book for this assignment albeit, a little hard to follow but, literary terms are pretty apparent and the message of war is pretty consistent throughout the book.