Fire and Forget Reponse

Tips for a Smooth Transition,Character and Perspective. Character helped me understand the poem the most because it showed the difference in personality Evie has from her husband and how they like the opposite things but are still motivated. “She knows she ought to put as much distance as possible between her and her husband. But Evie gets back in bed.” (Fallon 38) Evie reads a handbook throughout the story which she bases most decisions and but in this instance she reads that she should put distance between them but she decides to get closer to comfort him. This represents her character. 

“His eyes still on Evie’s, never hesitating, he climbs up on the boat railing and, before anyone can even think to stop him, he steps off, right into open water, sinking into the center of the feeding animals.” (Fallon 34) This shows character. By climbing on the railing and not hesitating to jump off in the water full of sharks it shows who he is as a person and how he feels about these “Feeding animals”. 

I think the author sees war as an all changing life altering thing. The message I took away from this was that “War takes readjustment”.

In "The wave That Takes Them Under" the literacy term metaphor is most common to me. The author seems to use metaphors to explain more perspective or elaborately. He also refers to the sand being like water, or the ocean, causing him to have a flashback to when he almost drowned as a kid

" He speaks the grammar of sand now, Henderson thinks, and the wind will break him down to dust." (Turner 57) the author use's this quote to show the intensity of the sand storm by referring to a squadmate speaking of sand.

"Henderson remembers a time from 20 years back when he was just a kid. Poolside"  The flashback starts off with Henderson remembering back home when he was a kid playing at the pool but soon after remembers the part where he almost drowned." And Henderson, not knowing how to swim, fell backward wheeling in slow motion. The old man had turned away, not recognizing how cool waters of the deep end displaced Henderson's small frame before curling back over to push him down, as deep into that blue and the unliveable world as his body could go" Turner 58

The author's message on war is referring to it to be uncomfortable and unsure all the time. It also seems that his message is that more soldiers often cope with emotions and moments by remembering the past or joking to relieve the pressure

When Engaging Targets,Remember the lit terms that I found were imagery and plot. “But instead of stopping, the BMW driver steps on it and speeds past you in the next lane.” (Kovite 167). This quote helps me understand and imagine what is happening in the story so I could better understand what is going on.“Do you: Crouch down in the turret and pop up to scan every twenty seconds? turn to section  (2) Remain Standing and scanning as before? Turn to section (3) (Kovite 160) This quote helped me understand the lit term plot because I was able to pick what was happening to the story. I think the authors sees war as anything can happen in a split second and it the second you need to choose the right choice. I took away from this story that sometimes if you make the wrong choice it can affect a lot around you. 

In Tips for a smooth transition the two most significant literacy terms I believe are Plot and Perspective. These two helped me under stand the poem the most because the there were many examples of plot that lead to the story and perspective because of how the reader see's what both characters are thinking. 

"I've seen kid toys loaded with explosives...That was nothing but a bunch of fat fish having lunch" (Fallon 36). This quote shows Plot because this event helped with the story and it is a very important one that teaches us a lot about our characters. Evie and Colin are out swimming with sharks when they are about to get into the cage Evie backs out. Colin wasn't so happy about this so he decided to jump into the open water with the sharks to prove to Evie that they are harmless. Evie is very mad at this and tells him how she can't loose him and that it was stupid. Colin comes back with the quote talking about what he thinks about life and how he should be able to enjoy it with his Wife while he can. 

“‘You’re OK. I’m here,’ she says over and over like a lullaby. She’s not quite sure when the refrain changes to, ‘I’m Ok. You’re here.’’’ (Fallon 38). This quote shows perspective because we see it in Evie's perspective and this helps us understand the story from how they were struggling at the beginning. Evie dealt with hard times and regrets while Colin was gone but she got into this book about how to help when your Husband comes back from war. But I think the book was a waste of her time and that Colin was the reason she finally figured out how to comfort him. She was stressing this whole time when all she had to do was spend time with him and make him feel happy they were together again for the time being. So this quote shows her comforting him while he's asleep. 

The literary terms helped me understand that war can test a relationship. 

Simile and character are the literary terms that stood out to me in “Tips For A Smooth Transition” by Siobhan Fallon. “She knows her husband is a man full of energy, his body an animal that must be tended, fed, groomed, and put out to run.” (Fallon 24) is an example of character, it gives you an idea of who her husband is as a person. 

“After all those months apart… the true return boiled down to two bodies snapping together like puzzle pieces, still fitting, new and familiar all at once.”(Fallon 26) is an example of a simile, their bodies aren’t actually puzzle-pieces although they’re getting compared to them. Due to these literary terms, I believe that the meaning behind the text is war brings families apart, hard work and commitment helps keep them together.

Tips for a Smooth Transition plot and character. These two literary terms stood out to me the most because there were a lot of examples of each of them throughout the story. 

“This is how it’s been since he’s been back, a sudden mauling as if Colin is a teenager with no control over his urges.” (Fallon 25) This quote is a good example of character because it describes how Colin is acting since he’s been back from the war. This quote can also tell us the author's perspective on war because he’s describing how soldiers act after war.

“A week after his return from Afghanistan, they are already on a plane to Hawaii.” (Fallon 21) This quote is a good example of plot because it’s setting the storyline for the story. This quote is also telling the reader what the rest of the story will be about. This quote can tell us the author’s perspective on war because it’s telling us that most soldiers go on vacation after war to get their mind off of the bad things.

“At last she is certain of what she needs: her arm around her husband's chest, his warm breath on her wrist.”(Fallon 38) is an example of perspective because we are seeing things from Evie’s perspective and we are seeing the change from the beginning of the story to now. This shows that when a loved one gets deployed it is hard on everybody including the family. 

“I’ve seen kid toys loaded with explosives, snipers hiding in an elementary school.”(Fallon 36) is an example of imagery because it is very descriptive and Collin was telling us exactly what he saw so we could get a glimpse/idea. This shows that War is overall unsafe and things will pop up where you least expect them. 

Overall the message of these 2 quotes seems to be that war is very unforgiving, unpredictable, and hard. 

Perspective and Character is the most significant in “On The Rainy River”. Perspective stood out because it shows a lot more detail and it helps me understand what's going on.

 “I would go to war – I would kill and maybe die– because I was embarrassed not to.”(O’Brian 59). This quote explains perspective because it is showing how this character is thinking and how feels he needs to go to war. This shows that the author is showing what goes through these guys' minds and how they debate going and then feel regret if they don’t.

“He didn’t speak. He was simply there, like the river and the late- summer sun… He was a witness, like God, or like the gods, who look on in absolute silence.”(O’Brian 60). This quote shows character. It helps show us what kind of person the older man is. This helps me understand the author's perspective on war because being calm and quiet is what people need during war. 

I think the author's perspective on war is that people go through life-changing experiences during and after the war. I took away that war is very complicated and scary.

The main two literary terms that stood out to me from Tips For A Smooth Transition are character and plot. The story is about Evie, a military wife to Colin, who just returned from Afghanistan, and they go on a vacation to Hawaii for their anniversary. There, they notice that Colin's return won't be as easy for them as they may have initially thought.

For starters, they had very different ideas of what "vacation" meant. "This is what she wants to do... This is what Colin wants to do..." (Fallon, 23-24). Literary terms in this are juxtaposition, character, perspective, and plot. It's comparing their different ideas and how they clash and how that could lead to some things where compromise will be needed.

Next, Colin is having a nightmare and Evie is trying to comfort him by following the book, but ultimately winds up getting back into bed with him and trying to let him know by her holding him that he was alright. '"You're OK. I'm here.' she says over and over like a lullaby. She's not quite sure when the refrain changes to, 'I'm Ok. You're here"' (Fallon, 38). Literary terms in this are simile, character, perspective, and plot. This shows how despite their differences, at the end of it all, Evie and Colin have each other and that their love is stronger than their differences and Colin's post-war struggle.

Overall, I believe the message about war is that war is difficult, and that in the aftermath, no one is really the same, whether they fought or were a family member of someone who fought. It's still a difficult experience for anyone.

In “Tips for a Smooth Transition” by Siobhan Fallon, the two most significant literary terms that appear are Imagery and Perspective, they helped me understand the poem the best, and visualize what I was reading. One quote that stood out to me was, “ ‘I’ve seen kid toys loaded with explosives, snipers hiding in an elementary school. I’ve been in a Humvee with soldiers singing ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ and a second later it was upside down, full of fire and screams.’ “ (Fallon 36) This shows imagery, and it helped me picture and understand what these men , specifically Colin in this case, had to go through and see everyday. This quote helped me understand the author's perspective on war as he knows that the things they have to go through to keep civilians safe is terrible, but they’re willing to put their life on the line for us. 

Another quote that stood out to me was, “ ‘If one of your soldiers did that, you wouldn’t be smiling.’ “ (Fallon 35). This shows perspective as it's in second person, but it also shows how Evie feels about Colin jumping in with the sharks in open water by comparing it to his situation. This quote helped me understand the author's perspective on war as he understands that these people have to see terrible things in war, and we can infer that by him comparing Evies situation to his. In Colin's mind, it is nothing because of what he has seen, but in Evie's mind, it is the equivalent to what he has seen in war. 

“‘Everybody always says it’s like a bad dream,’ Royce says. ‘But it ain’t like that at all. I mean, if this was a dream, there’d be all kinds of weird shit out here, you know?’”(Turner 55) This quote is an example of perspective as it is talking about Royce's take on war. This helps me understand the story and understand what was going on in the minds of the troops during the sandstorm. 

“05:00…11:40…19:07…The turning of day is nearly indistinguishable from night. Oh-dark-thirty. Oh-dark-hell. Bringer of the wave that takes them under.”(Turner 56) This quote is an example of an understatement because the author isn't telling us whether it's actually day or night. This helps me understand the longevity of the sandstorm and how the characters lost track of time. 

These two quotes helped me understand the author's perspective on war because they describe the mental stress of being on a war mission. Out in the middle of nowhere, like in a desert, anything can turn for the worse at any time. The author's message tells us that when these wrong turns occur, troops may struggle to stay sane and push through them. War causes emotional and mental stress.

Tips for a Smooth Transition  Was a short story explaining the different behaviors “name” partner returning from deployment. There are examples of the difference between the two after he comes home, like the moment when he wants her to go one the shark encounter with him. She is too scared to, so he jumps right into the water, not in the designated cage. Which kind of gets him in trouble. Afterward, he totally disregards her concern for his safety, by asking 

“‘Did you take a picture?’ He asks, unable to stop grinning. ‘Take a picture? I thought you were going to die.’” (Pg 35)

This could be an example of the juxtaposition between the two. How he is very calm and collected after he just jumped into the shark infested waters, and she is very unstable after she thought he was going to die. This is also an example of character. How he was gone for so long and his behavior completely changed . 

Another moment is when he is back at the hotel, and how he does not really want to spend time with her anymore. “‘You want to sit out on the lanai with me? We can watch the sunset while we eat.’ ‘I’m great here,’ he says, tuning in to a football game.” (Pg 36)

Another example of juxtaposition, where they have differing thoughts in what they want to do. How, ever since he came back, he does what he wants to do, just, not including Evie. He would rather sit and watch football until he falls asleep rather than spending time with his wife. Also a good example of plot. Where ever since he comes back, he seems to be slowly growing apart from his wife, and does not want much to do with her anymore. 

These moments express the author’s view on partners’ relationship after coming back. It shows that people can be very distant to their loved ones, and how it takes time to “get to know” your partner again. 

       The two most common literary terms in the short story The Wave that Takes Them Under is metaphor and character, but character helps me understand the story better because it helps me understand the characters of the story better. “He thinks of home, of Anna, of sand pouring in their bedroom window.” (Turner 57) This quote is an example of metaphor because it could be interpreted as the sand that is coming through the window is symbolic of the main character going under the sand and losing conscience. “Punching the god-damned clown” (Turner 54) This is a good example of character because it gives the character Gould the trait of being funny and builds his character. Both of these terms helps me understand the author’s perspective on war because it shows that the author thinks that friendships aren’t broken in war and that war can be disorienting. The message that I took away from the story was that in war, friendships don’t die.

In the story, “Tips for a Smooth Transition” the two most significant terms that stood out to me were character and imagery. I think a lot of the story is about Evie, her character and how she feels. Her actions and what she does, trying to help her husband, and along with that there was a lot of imagery to help visualize the things she did. “Evie’s fingers are still on her lips, her tongue feeling around her teeth to see if she is bleeding (she is not), and he turns back to his window, not even noticing if she is hurt.” (Fallon 23) This quote simply describes what is happening, but gives enough detail for us to be able to visualize the whole scene. “At last she is certain of what she needs: her arm around her husband’s warm chest, his warm breath on her wrist.” (Fallon 38) This quote, I consider character. As it finally shows Evie accepting that even though things are hard, she can be content with her life in the moment. These two terms help understand the message of “War doesn’t leave you life because you are home.” It shows the battles of both Evie and Colin. How Evie seems to be the one having a hard time adjusting. Reading the book about soldiers coming home, trying to get Colin to talk about his experiences, war never really leaves either of their lives.

In the short story The Wave That Takes Them Under, by Brian Turner. The two most common literary terms that come up during the story are Metaphor and perspective. I think both of these terms stood out the most because all the quotes we found that had these as a term, seemed to be important to the story and show how the main character felt throughout the story about war. A quote that has a good example of metaphor is, “5:00…11:40…19:07…The turning of the day is nearly indistinguishable from night. Oh-dark-thirys. Oh-dark-hell. Bringer of the wave that takes them under.” (Turner 56). This quote is a good example of a metaphor because he is comparing how slow his time passes to saying that he can’t tell the time difference between day and night, it's just one long time. This isn’t true because he can tell day and night, but that's what makes it a metaphor. It helps the reader understand how he feels about the war, that time passes so slow and it's all the same. An example of perspective is “Everybody always says it’s like a bad dream,’ Royce says. ‘But it ain’t like that at all. I mean, if this was a dream, there’d be all kinds of weird shit out here, you know?”.(Turner 55). I think this is a great example of perspective, it’s the main character's friend basically saying how they all feel and what war is like. It's slow, boring and repetitive. The author is trying to get us to take away from the war that its war is repetitive and is really not ideal.

In the short story The Wave That Takes Them Under, by Brian Turner, I think the two most common literary terms are Metaphor and Imagery. The Metaphors in this story help me understand it better because he is comparing what is going on to him to things he has lived through before war, these things we could relate to. Imagery helps me understand the story because I can really picture in my head what is happening to him and understand more what he is going through. I think the authors' viewpoint on war is that it isn't easy. Even if you arent getting shot at you still are going through things physically and mentally. This shows me the message to never underestimate things. 

"He thinks of home, of Anna, of sand pouring in their bedroom window."(Turner 57) This quote is an example of a metaphor because it compares the amount of sand he is interacting with now to a bedroom and he continues to say it fills up and just keeps coming in waves. 

"Poolside. An apartment complex. Summer smoke and distant helicopters...as deep into that blue ad unlivable world as his body could go."(Turner 58) This quote is an example of Imagery because it shows me something that happened to him in grave detail and it really helps me see what happened to him. It also compares to the book as a whole because he always talked about the sand drowning him and I think he felt this way because he actually drowned before. 

In the short story Tips For A Smooth Transition the two literary terms I found was simile and imagery "I've seen kids toys loaded with explosives, snipers hiding in an elementary school..." (Fallon 36) This is a good example of imagery because when you hear what he is saying you can picture exactly what he means without a lot of detail. This quote helped me better understand the story because Colin has given us a glimpse into what he had to live through.

“After all those months apart… the true return boiled down to two bodies snapping together like puzzle pieces, still fitting, new and familiar all at once.”(Fallon 26) This is an example of a simile because when being described the author uses the word "like". He is comparing their connection to puzzle pieces. This helps me understand the story better because the whole time they were struggling with their connection since Colin was at war for so long but then we hear that they are being compared to puzzle pieces which are meant to go together. 

These lit terms helped me understand the authors perspective on war because we get to see a glimpse into what really was going on, for example bombs being hidden in kids toys or disguised as them. The author knows that in war there is nothing that can be overlooked. The simile shows us that after a soldier is deployed for to long it not only affects him, it affects those in his life. 

The message from these two quotes are that war is very unpredictable and when you get home life won't be how you left. 

In The Wave That Takes Them Under I found the literary terms understatement and metaphor.The turning of day is nearly indistinguishable from night. Oh-dark-thirty. Oh-dark-hell. Bringer of the wave that takes them under.”(Turner 56) This is an example of understatement because we never find out of it's actually day or night.  

“He thinks of home, of Anna, of sand pouring in their bedroom window.” (Turner 57) This quote is a metaphor because the sand isn't actually puring into the window, he is mixing up memories with reality. 

These literary terms help me understand the authors perspective because for him the days are one long day, we don't know when it's actually day or when it's actually night. Just like he is blending his memories into reality. We know Anna isn't there with him and we know sand isn't actually puring into her room. He is in a sand storm and is trying to think of his love. 

These messages show that war is exhausting and the conditions that you are in mentally and physically are not good. 

The story that I picked for this is “The wave that takes them under” By: Brian Turner. “He thinks of home. Of Anna. Of sand pouring in their bedroom window”. (Turner 57) This quote best represents perspective because he’s thinking of his wife while he’s dying and she's pretty much in his shoes. If we got this perspective from a brother or a son it would be totally different. This helps me better understand the story because while he was going through this pain and suffering he was thinking of the one person he loves most. He didn’t think about himself, he thought about her.

“05:00…11:40…19:07..The turning day nearly indistinguishable from night. Oh dark thirty. Oh dark hell. Bringer of the wake that takes them under”.(Turner 55) This quote best shows Metaphor because it’s not really a dark hell and they can tell night from day. This helps me better understand the story because there in this sand storm having these obstacles trying to make it back they push forward but in the end they don’t succeed but they don’t just give up. 

The author's perspective is better understood because he wrote it as he’s the main character, he's the one going through all these hardships. His message I believe is they never stop fighting, the only thing that will make them stop is death. The author's perspective on war is these soldiers are tough to crack and they don’t stop to end the war.