Fire and Forget Reponse

The plot of the story The Wave That Takes Them Under,  Metaphor, and Character are literary terms that appears frequently throughout the story to me. The author employs metaphors to get a more thorough or elaborate explanation. It also makes it easier for the reader to understand what it's like to be buried in sand during a sandstorm by comparing the sand to water or the ocean, causing the soldier we're following to have a flashback to when he was younger and nearly drowned.

“Henderson shakes his head, exhaling deep and slow. “I don’t know. I think our Lord Farquaad’s gonna keep pushing forward.” (Turner 55) The author refers to Lt. Novotny or Griggs as Lord Farquaad to demonstrate how ruthless and uncaring Henderson and maybe the rest of his squadmates regard Lt. Novotny or Griggs. That, like Lord Farquaad, he will most likely do whatever it takes to get them where they need to go, even if it means walking through a sandstorm.

“Henderson cups his hands over his face to block out the dust. He remembers a time from twenty years back when he was just a kid. Poolside.” The flashback begins with Henderson returning home and recalling as a child standing on the poolside, hearing distant helicopters, laughter, and smelling summer smoke. The story then goes into detail about how an elderly man named Kelmen startled Henderson with what Kelmen mistakenly took for a playful gesture, causing Henderson to fall backward into the pool, which was dangerous because Henderson didn't know how to swim. “The old man had turned away, not recognizing how the 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 unlivable world as his body could go.” (Turner 58) The story concludes with Henderson as a child, unable to push himself back to the surface and unwillingly allowing his small body to drag him deeper into the deep end.

The Short Story Tips for a Smooth Transition showcases the Literary term Point of View a lot. Evie is reading a book all about how to read Colin's behavior and how her behavior should be herself. It gives her tips on how to get him to open up and what she might experience while he is home. Evie reads; “Typically, a honeymoon period follows in which couples reunite, but not necessarily emotionally. Sexual intimacy may take time.” (Fallon 25) This then brings us to when they are both into a hotel room together, a very fancy hotel room at that. In the hotel room Colin just couldn’t hold back his excitement; “Colin’s hand is on her back, pulling her into his grip, and his lips shut hers to speech.” (Fallon 25) Of course, as Evie is reading the book she thinks it is going to take time for Colin to warm back up to her but in fact, she didn’t have to wait at all. The reason why a point of view is so important here is that we are watching the outcomes of what she is reading, how she is handling it, and how he is reacting. The message I took away from this story is, when your spouse is away it’s almost like you both are deployed. Meaning you both have to learn to live without each other for a while which means things can change during or when you both reconnect.

The quote “The dusty sea rolling to the horizon.”(Turner 53) represents imagery. Using imagery here helps because the author is improving the experience by describing the landscape making it more picturable. The next quote “It's as if the desert itself is pulling them down to an absolute low.”(Turner 53) is an example of simile. This quote represents simile because it uses “as” to compare two things to create a common ground in the setting. The lit terms helped me understand the perspective on war because they described the setting and what the soldiers were going through to give me a better understanding. A message I took from this war story is, commit to the fear of death to survive war.

In the story When Engaging Targets, Remember the two main literary devices used were Juxtaposition and Paradox. In the beginning when quickly describing your drafting it says "You're smart, and you get the joke." (Kovite 157) despite the obvious dangerous implications of war and violence it is seen as a joke. This shows the paradox between American's view on war and that of as veterans by suggesting that us as citizens would see this as serious but a veteran would learn to desensitize and play down this for humor to cope with difficult surroundings. 

Later in the story when thinking over your instructions you think this about a self defense rule,“Which is either a smart reminder of priorities or an end-run around the rules themselves.” (Kovite 166) this is an example of juxtaposition because it directly compares the two ideologies about war and the military in general. Despite this quote seemingly being about this one rule in particular is actually addresses the overall ideology of war and the military by suggesting national pride and honor are used as scapegoats and loopholes in a morally unsound practice (war). 

Both these quotes help the reader better understand that war and the military desensitize themselves and the public to horrific and unmoral acts by justifying them vague rules and loopholes. Our first quote reflects the environment and mentality pushed onto soldiers and the expectation they have to desensitize themselves to war and violence. The second quote helps us understand that the rules of combat emulate those of the bigger picture and suggest that ideas pushed about war and the military are actually ways of desensitizing the public and romanticizing unnecessary acts of violence and death. 

 “The Wave that Takes Them Under” by Brian Turner 53”

I thought that understatement was a big part of the story and imagery because in the book they didn't really explain everything that well but with how much imagery there was it was easy to understand what was going on or what had happened it let you kind of come up with your own conclusion for the story. “He remembers a time from twenty years back…” (Turner 57) It did a great job with imagery because it showed what the author thought it was like when someone was dying and their life was flashing before their eyes. “The sand buries the moonlight” (Turner 57) It does a good job with understatement with what was going on if there was a sand storm going on or not but you can probably come to with it being a really bad sandstorm in the desert enough to block out the moon. I think the perspective the author had come to was war isn't fair. The message it gave to me was: The enemy in front of you may not be the one that gets you.

“She tiptoes around the room, turning on each lamp. Colin’s legs are twitching on the verge of kicking.” (Fallon 31) This shows imagery because it gives detail which helps you picture Colin moving in his sleep as Evie gets up to turn on the lights. 

“Her palm on his skin has the opposite effect. His breathing slows, his body stills, his sleep is quiet again.” (Fallon 38) This shows plot because for some reason she has the idea to do the opposite of what the guides tell her and it helped the best and helped him the most.

Her perspective of war is only from these guides which give her ideas to use with Colin to help him transition back from war and open up to him softly. But in the end, she finds that Colin does the opposite of what most of the guides say, and when she goes against the guide it actually gave one of the best results.

The Wave That Takes Them Under

“Punching that god damn clown” (Turner 54)

This is character development and understatement. It shows guys just being dudes and it introduces you to their language and slang. 

“Sand sparkles on her red eyelashes the fine edges of her soft lips”

This is plot development. This gives a slight background to his past and how it was.

These quotes help me understand that the authors outlook on war is higlighting the chareters and their personality and how war shaoed these personality.

Nicolas Michaud 

Fire and Forget 

“You’re no fool; you’re a college kid.”(pg.157 Kovite) Imagery, paradox. This helps me understand that in the story there may be many things that have paradox in which they over exaggerate or under exaggerate.

“The protein bar is incredibly dry and needs to be washed down frequently with rubbery-tasting water from the hose of your CamelBak.”(pg.159 Kovite) Imagery, perspective.  This shows how very good detail the story is when it comes to little things showing how you need to wash down the dry protein bar but also the fact that the water tastes like rubber.

The author's perspective on war is that it is very confusing and there isn’t much time to make decisions. The message I took away from this story is that even though you have options they might not always have the best outcome.

I chose Tips for a smooth transition.

“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 helps us understand the character that Colin is. We get to see what some soldiers feel like when they get back from war.

“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 imagery because the author is explaining what the couple is feeling and explaining how they feel like there connecting again.

“He remembers a time from twenty years back, when he was just a kid. Poolside. An apartment complex. Summer smoke and distant helicopters. Laughter.” (Turner 58) Perspective, the reason it’s perspective is because he’s talking in the past tense. It helped me understand the author's stance on war because he reflects on the past a lot with longing because war has taken him from his home. “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) Understatement, this is an understatement because he's talking about how war can be like a dream because a dream has weird stuff happening in it. This is just war. Helps see their perspective on war because it shows us that war isn’t what people think it is. It’s not just a nightmare. A nightmare would be too good. So what I take away from this is that war is the most nightmarish thing that exists in reality

The Wave That Takes Them Under, The literary terms that were best showed to me were metaphor and character. ¨The cool mist on his face when he closed his eyes besides her for a moment Henderson can almost taste it. Hes back home again¨ ( Turner 54) This quote is a good way to show how metaphor was the best was to represent the story, by the author using a metaphors in his story it really helps me understand what he is trying to explain for example in the quote above he is talking about how the cool mist on his face when he closed his eyes it was almost like he could taste it, it goes into more detail to help the reader understand better. The other literary term that best represented helps me better understand the story was character. ¨ Punching the god-damned clown¨ (Turner 54) This quote is a good example to show and explain to the reader that in the war they had humor in rough times and they did try and make the best out of the situation they were in. I think that the literary term character was a better one to help me understand the story as a whole because it helped me understand the characters which is a biggest part of the story.

Quote 1: “Do not touch your soldier when he is having nightmares --get out of bed,  turn on the lights, call his name from across the room until he is reoriented.” “But Evie gets back into the bed. She touches him, her hand on his shoulder…Her palm on his skin has the opposite effect.”(Fallon 30, Fallon 38) This is an example of juxtaposition. The use of this literary device helped me better understand that the author is trying to express that not every soldier that comes home from war needs the same things to deal with the trauma that came from being in such dangerous conditions. I think the author's perspective on war is that it affects everyone differently and it can make it hard for loved ones to support their soldiers when they aren’t sure how to help. The literary term used helped show this because Evie reads a pamphlet that tells her that she shouldn't comfort her husband when he is having a nightmare but she doesn’t listen and it ends up helping him more. These two ideas being placed together helped give off the idea that maybe not everyone's mind works the same way when dealing with trauma.

Quote 2: “It’s a face Evie has never seen before:” (Fallon 22) This is an example of perspective. The use of this literary device helps me see more than one side of the story to give more depth about what is happening. This in particular helped me understand that Evie has never seen her husband like the way he was acting and it showed just how much war can change a person. I think the author's perspective on war is that it is more than just what people say it is and it's not the same for every person that comes back from a war.

The author’s perspective on war is that it affects everyone differently. The war message I took away from the story is that war changes everyone in a relationship.

"When Engaging Targets, Remember."

“It was a good shoot- the vehicle was speeding into the convoy. The LT arranges for you to see the chaplain anyway, because he suspects that the BMW was full of civilians, the driver maybe had been spooked by the IED and thinking the thing to do was just step on it.” (Koviet, 170) This was a great example of imagery because it is making you see what it was like for him and the situation that he was in. It gives you a better understanding what they went through and how it effected their overall being.

“You will find it hard to concentrate and your mind will frequently wander. You will stew in anger over insults that you imagine in daydreams. You will want to kill again, for a time. You will never quite be the same, although of course, no one can be certain whether or not this is a bad thing.”(Koviet, 171) This quote explains point of view because it is talking about what he had seem through his own eyes throughout the war and how he saw the war.

I believe that war is a series of tough in the moment decisions that can hurt you long term physically and emotionally. The author talks about his experience with war and how it did not do too well with his mind and well being. War is something you have to live with and always deal with internally. 

Story: “the Wave that Takes them Under” by Brian Turner(pag 53)

Literary terms: Understatement, Character.

Understatement: “The sand buries the moonlight”= the sand can keep and hide everything on it

Character: “ He remembers a time from twenty years back….= he started to remember all his life.

The enemy in front of you may not be the one that gets you, every second could be the last to remind your family

“He thinks of home, of Anna, of sand pouring in their bedroom window” This is an example of imagery. This is important because it shows the characters remembering what their life was like before they went to war and everything changed and how things will be when they go back. This helped me understand the author's perspective because of the sand. The sand pouring into the bedroom window is a metaphor for drowning in something, Suffocating. Suffocating in the memories of what he had to go through in that war. Can't. Stop. Thinking about it.

“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.” This is an example of Perspective. This is perspective because of the dream topic. The main character says that dreams would have all kinds of weird shit but that's not exactly true. As some people's dreams could literally be their day-to-day routine.

The Wave That Takes Them Under

The most significant literary terms are juxtaposition and perspective.  These two stood out to me the most. Perspective helped me understand the poem because we can see his point of view. “ ‘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 shows perspective because he's talking about how it’s worse than a bad dream in war. “He thinks of home, of Anna, of sand pouring in their bedroom window.”(Turner 57). This quote is an example of Juxtaposition because it’s comparing his home to the desert he's in during the war. These terms help me understand the author's perspective because he is talking about how disorienting war is to these soldiers, with dreams and their surroundings. I think Turner's perspective on war is that it completely swallows you. A message I took from this was war is disorienting.

The story I picked for this was 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 is an example of metaphor because the sand isn't actually pouring out of the window. 

The next quote I have is an example of perspective “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 shows perspective because it is showing how he thinks about the war and is giving me insight into how he feels and if I got someone else perspective on war it would be different from his. 

The message I got from this story is that you cant get rid of war even if you want to stop thinking about it you can't and I think that the author's perspective on this war is that you don't stop because you are tough so to just never give up. 

“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.¨

“A week after his return from Afghanistan, they are already on a plane to Hawaii.” (Fallon 21) This quote is a good example of the 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 the war to get their minds off of the bad things.¨

The authors message about war is that war can be very unforgiving and cruel.

“Oh-dark-thirty. Oh-dark-hell. Bringer of the wave that takes them under” (Turner 56)

“He speaks the grammar of sand now, Henderson thinks, and the wind will break him down to dust” (Turner 57)

The literary terms in these quotes are understatement and simile. These quotes help me understand the author's perspective that war is confusing. The message about war that I got was that war is confusing and not always what it looks like

 A significant literary term I see in this story is perspective and understatement. I feel like understatement is very prominent in this story because there are several situations where the soldier would completely underestimate how dangerous or reckless the decisions are. This quote represents the perspective of the soldier's loved one, "You're OK. I'm here,...I'm OK. You're here." (Scranton pg 38). This quote is a good representation of the soldier underestimating the danger of a situation he puts himself in,  “Take a picture? I thought you were going to die.”(Scranton 35). These literary terms helped me understand that when a soldier comes back from war they may feel like the usually more dangerous things aren't that dangerous just because they have been going through much more dangerous things.  They may not realize that just because they have been through worse doesn't make dangerous things any less reckless to do. And soldiers may not realize what they are doing or how they are really acting through the perspective of those around them, especially their loved ones. The message of war I took away from this story is that war can change a person's perspective of what is and isn't dangerous and war can greatly affect the family or loved one of a soldier.