Visions of War Reading Response #1

Starting off in the book we realize that Billy is immature and got himself into deep trouble that he could only get out of by joining the army. This led to him having bad experiences overseas that left lasting imprints on his mind, such as his friend Shroom dying. They then get invited as special guests to a Cowboys football game and meet some civilians that don’t really understand what it was like to be over there. 

1 - “Billy did not seek the heroic deed, no. The deed came for him, and what he dreads like a cancer in his brain is that the deed will seek him out again.” (Fountain 40) Character, plot

2 - “The DA agreed to drop the felony charge down to criminal mischief if Billy joined the Army,” (Fountain 19) This is an example of plot and character because it shows why Billy was in the war and showed how immature he is to get to that point of getting in trouble. It also builds his character

3 - “terrRist… freedom… evil… ninaleven… ninaleven… ninaleven… troops… currj… support… sacrifice… Bush… values… God” (Fountain 2) This is an example of character and repetition. This happens multiple times throughout the book where the words are scattered throughout the page. This also shows character because it shows how his mind processes things because of the trauma from going overseas.

4 - “Husband Bob, a tall, stooped gent with mild blue eyes,” (Fountain 44) Imagery

In the beginning of “Billy Lynn's long halftime walk”, we are introduced to the bravo team. They are on a victory tour as war heroes after a successful firefight in iraq. The squad deals with losing one of their members. The main character visit’s home and talks with his family about combat, his sister proposes that he ditch his team instead of going back but he doesn't make up his mind. Then the squad makes their way to a football game, where they are the guests of honor.

”Jarheads, they’re probably thinking, because it’s all the same to them. Not rock stars,  not highly paid professional athletes…”(Fountain pg.9) plot, juxtaposition 

”Life in the Army is miserable that way.  You fuck up, they scream at you, you fuck up some more and they scream some more” (Fountian pg.3) This quote helps show how billy feels about the army, he hates it and regrets joining. The only passion he feels is for his team. Character, perspective, pov, plot.

“What I mean is he likes being an asshole, he enjoys it.  Some people you get the feeling they can’t help it? But he works at it.  He’s what you’d call a proactive asshole.” (Fountain 75) character, perspective 

“Billy gets how shitty the place makes him feel, the quick sink of depression in his gut, but he thinks it's just an allergic reaction to rich people.” (Fountain 51) This quote is helping us see more about how billy feels about where he is, and his attitude towards rich people. Character, plot, perspective

   In the first third of my novel starts off with Sarah going on a run and thinking about her son in the process. She thinks about her son often and questions his decision to go to the Navy. She re-read letters he had sent her during his time there. One day two of Jason's commanding officers show up at her door to tell her that her son is missing and had been for 9 days at that point. One of the officers stayed in her home with her to insure her safety and talking to her, hearing about her son and how he is seen to his fellow trainees is quite odd to her. During this time Sarah starts to think about her decided husband more. Thinking about how much she didn't know about him and how much others knew about him that they expected her to know but she didn't, she found it strange. 

“Sometimes when she runs, she will reach the point where she feels she cannot go on, but then she thinks about her son, the runs he's endured.”(Carpenter 5) - Perspective

“Forget Harvard”… “I'm going to apply to the Naval Academy””(Carpenter 15) - Plot. This quote represents Plot very well in my opinion. This is the moment that basically made the whole plot of the story happen. If he hadn't had made that choice then the story would have been different or wouldn't have happened at all. 

“It's pretty intense, you feel sick so they push you harder. Then once they break you, you're really bonded.”(Carpenter 33)- Perspective, Understatement

“They were against war, but their experience of war was an image in a newsletter.”(Carpenter 27)- Perspective. This quote represents Perspective well because it shows how others outside the war feel about the impact it's making. This quote is important because it is speaking about how people only see war as what they can visualize with the information about it that they are given about it without experiencing it. Both of these quotes represent perspective well, one is showing more of the people's perspective and the other gives more of a soldier's perspective.

The book begins with Billy waking up on Thanksgiving in Dallas in a hotel room. Billy rushes to meet with Bravo to discuss a potential movie deal. Billy’s part wasss to be played by a female. After, he gets ready for the football game halftime show in Dallas where he and Bravo take a limo. Billy has several flashbacks about Iraq during his time there. Billy joins the military because charges would be dropped from a previous felony charge. 

“Some days I think i'm living in a bad country song”  (78 Fountain) juxtaposition 

This helps me understand Billy's life before the army and where we came from helping me see why he joined. 

“The DA agreed to drop the felony charge down to criminal mischief if billy joined the army,” (19 Fountain)  PLOT 

This expresses to me how and why and where billy came from and who he has become from a devious kid to a hard-working soldier 

“Albert says mango you should run for something. Run for president” (55 Fountain) foreshadowing? 

(maybe he will rank up) 

“Were all gods pop tart whether we like it or not” (61 Fountain) simile 

In the first part of Eleven Days we are introduced to a single mother that has a missing son named Jason. Jason is part of the Navy and has been missing from his team for several days. Later we hear a little bit of a backstory about Jason and his mothers relationship and past. We are told all they had were each other and they enjoyed their time together. We connect that Jason's mother struggles with her son being gone, not knowing he is safe etc. The first part of this novel ends with Jason's mother being told her son was found. 

"The men are very wet, cold, sandy, and tired."(Carpenter 46) Imagery 

I believe this is a good quote to describe imagery because it lets us understand the environment Jason and his team experience.  

"You wouldn't pick them out of a lineup and say, That's the one who can kill me with his bare hands."(Carpenter 33) Paradox

"Jason sneaks in reading when he can, mainly at bedtime. Books had always been his escape growing up as an only child, alone much of the time, a car ride away from any friend."(Carpenter 25) Character 

This quote helps us better understand more background of Jason. It lets us understand that he was lonely as a child and didn't have many around to talk to. This quote helps describe character because it discusses Jason's childhood. 

"The Kill House is where we learn how to clear rooms. Close quarters combat."

"I remember close quarters combat."

     "Jason used to call it 'The Royal U.S. Navy Performs Swan Lake.'"(Carpenter 59) Imagery 

 Summary : In the novel Billy Lynn’s Halftime walk, Our main character Billy is in the army. We find that the army was not Billy’s choice, he either went into the army or he would get into serious trouble for an incident that happened in high school. Their tour includes going to the Dallas Cowboys game and many other things.  There is also a movie that is gonna be made about them but they all have to go back to the war for 11 more months.

"In the living room his father lay dead with a sheet pulled over his face. He had been sick for a long while and they had kept him in the living room because the glassed-in porch which was the bedroom to his father and mother and sisters was too drafty" 

“I don’t believe she would marry anybody she didn’t love.” “Well,” I said, “She’s done it twice.” This stuck out to me because Frances pulled Jake aside and told him what is up and how she wasn't going to get any money from her ex husband. Now knowing this the quote sticks out because it shows us that she really just wants money."

"By making it a goddamn force of nature.¨(Fountain p32) allusion because they are used to forces of nature, like bombs, tanks, even air planes. We don't really have anything that could wipe us out even at a football game."

 “There is no doubt, he said. The latest intelligence, he said. Our commanders in the field, he said.” 

At the end of the book Conrad struggles with failing his tests, failing his economics class, the VA hospital providing little help and increasing suicidal thoughts. He feels as if everything is falling all around him and at the end of the story, after a bad VA hospital visit, he loses hope and weighs how he would want to commit suicide. His brother comes to check up on him and discovers this and encourages him to move back home and take medication to help with his PTSD. By the end Conrad begins taking medication and slowly he begins to feel better and get better.

“Of course Jenny would be dressing differently four years later. But it wasn’t just clothes: she has a whole new life-- the job, the boyfriend-- and the knowledge gave him a small thrum of anxiety. She was getting on with things, and where was he?” (124) Perspective

“‘I want to put my arms around him. . . Each time it seems so natural I do it again; I can’t believe it won’t work. But it makes it worse.’” (340) Character/Perspective/Juxtaposition. The use of character with Lydia is very important because as a therapist she is in conflict with her own ability to be a neutral presence and her natural maternal instincts. She wants desperately to help Conrad but finds herself stuck because of her unique relationship with Conrad (being his mother) she can’t naturally do the same things she would do with a client who (for the most part) remains an anonymous customer. 

“It was that high to prevent suicides, he thought. He measured himself against it mentally-- where to put his hands, the toeholds, how to swing himself up and over.” (154) Perspective/Character/Foreshadowing. Conrad’s unique perspective shines a lot through this quote because his experience within the military and in war means that he not only doesn’t fear death, but glorifies it. He sees the world as a challenge and death as a side-affect and the way he interpreted a simple fence on a dam perfectly shows how war has affected his expectations and perspective on the world. 

“None of this- the dim, enfolding clouds of anxiety, the rise of choking panic, the throttling claustrophobia, the straight-out jolts of terror-- had anything to do with the bright , calm world where his parents and everyone else lived.” (68)

Robert Cohn was the character first talk about in this part of the book. People seemed to question if he was actually a true boxer or not. Cohn meets a women named Francis and convinces him to move to Europe where he meets a guy named Jake Barnes in Paris. Jake Barnes who is a Veteran from world war one. He eventually moves to Paris after being injured in the war. 

....I always had a suspicion that maybe Robert Cohn had never been middle weight boxing champion...." (Hemingway 12)This quote he is in disbelief that he was actually ever a champion and even tried to think or a reason why his face would be beat up. 

"The publishers had praised his novel pretty highly and it rather went to his head." (Hemingway 16)He became a self centered/egotistical man after the publishers had praised his book. 

"She was built with curves like a hull of a racing yacht....." (Hemingway 30) This quote is a metaphor he is comparing her to something that doesn't relate to her except for the shape of her and the boat. 

"I can’t stand it to think my life is going so fast and I’m not really living it." (Hemingway 18)In this quote Cohn is stating that his life is moving so quickly but he isn't really living up to many things or do much through out his life so far. This quote is an internal conflict. He's not living up to what he thought life would be like for him.

In the book "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk", it begins with that Billy and his teammates are coming back from Iraq. They were on their victory tour traveling around the U.S. They soon come to find out that they will be participating in the halftime show while they are horribly hungover. He was not happy to be at the game and was actually having trouble focusing while flashbacks came upon him. More things about his war past come up as the book goes on. 

"Dime speaks with the steel of a man born to lead. "Gentlemen." He pauses. "Do not even think about it" (Fountain 49) Character, metaphor, plot and perspective- this shows how if he wanted to lead he most definitely  could or would have a great chance but there is more that comes along with it than he thinks. Not everything is easy to understand. 

"it was all random." character/perspective. In this quote he explains how getting the chance to live is completely random. He explains how making wrong moves is what kind of differs him from others in a way. 

"He hadn't meant to reveal such a fraught and intimate fact and felt cheap as if he'd divulged a shameful family secret, but there it was, you can dodge an RPG, that damn crazy thing lamely fluttering at you, spitting and smoking like a cheap Mexican firework, ttttttthhhhhhhhppppppffffffftttt-FOOOM!" Onomatopoeia, imagery

"He wasn't even aware of falling asleep until being waked in the most unpleasant way by the whom of the back door bursting open as if fire balled, blown out by a breaching charge, then the whhhhhhhhhiiiiiirrrr of the latest in assisted mobility systems."Onomatopoeia, hyperbole

In the first third of my novel, we learn about where the Italian army base is and that there is fighting in the mountains. A lot of the houses in the village were ruined by the war. Frederic Henry met a girl in Italy. He tells us about why he’s in the Italian Army in the first place which is because Frederic knew fluent Italian, Frederic works in the ambulance. 

 “You did say you loved me, didn’t you?’ Yes I lied.”I love you.”(Hemingway 30)

  This quote shows paradox because he’s blatantly lying to her and she doesn’t even know it. This quote shows that Frederic is a liar and it helps me understand the story more because I can start to understand who Frederic is as a Character. 

“I was in Italy’ I said. “And I spoke Italian.” (Hemingway 22)

 This quote helps me know why Frederic is in Italy in the first place. This quote shows plot and character. 

“Do you think I would do right to marry Miss Barkley– after the war of course?” “Absolutely”(Hemingway 12) 

This quote shows character. This shows that Frederic is deceptive seeing how he later started seeing Miss Barkley after this conversation. I chose character because it shows how Frederic acts.

“It belonged to a boy who was killed last year.”(Hemingway 18) This quote shows perspective.

In the first part of the novel M.A.S.H, the army needs more doctors to help the injured. So they get three doctors named Hawkeye Pierce, Duke Forrest, and John McIntyre. McIntyre only came when Pierce and Hawkeye requested him. McIntyre was known as Trapper.

“I gotta have two more men” (Hooker 10) plot

“What do you think you’re running up there?......Walter Reed Hospital?” (Hooker 10) Hyperbole

“I said they’ll be the two best I’ve got” (Hooker 11) character 

“Just got us two new cutters” (Hooker 11) metaphor

Quotes one and three helped me understand that they really needed more doctors to help with the increasing number of injured.

Sara the main character starts talking about how she feels and what her daily life is like before she lost her son not presumed dead but has not been found.  Sara had not only a son in the military but a husband, David as well, even before both Sara and David make lovely memories he dies during a deployment.  Sara suffered from depression and pain from the loss of her husband and tried everything she can to hide her feelings from Jason her son so he may continue his life without worrying him.  Later on in life, as Jason was in high school, Jason expressed his feelings to join the military and follow in his father's footsteps, but this action broke open Sara's repressed feelings and has her sobbing on the spot.

1) "Planting had been an exercise in humility and precision."(Carpenter 8) Represents Metaphor because it talks about planting a seed in what we do in our actions

2) "the phrase 'box of spoons' became a proxy for all delights."(Carpenter 4) Character, Metaphor

3) "Then once they break you, you're really bonded." (Carpenter 32) Character, Hyperbole

4) "These waking dreams acted like anesthesia.  And he needs them now." (Carpenter 43) Represents Simile and P.O.V. because the author is speaking from David's view and how he felt what he needed every night as Jason was growing up

The book begins with Billy waking up on Thanksgiving in Dallas in a hotel room. Billy rushes to meet with Bravo to discuss a potential movie deal. Billy’s part was to be played by a female. After, he gets ready for the football game halftime show in Dallas where he and Bravo take a limo. Billy has several flashbacks about Iraq during his time there. Billy joins the military because charges would be dropped from a previous felony charge. 

“Some days I think I'm living in a bad country song”  (78 Fountain) juxtaposition 

This helps me understand Billy's life before the army and where we came from helping me see why he joined. 

“The DA agreed to drop the felony charge down to criminal mischief if billy joined the army,” (19 Fountain)  PLOT 

This expresses to me how and why and where billy came from and who he has become from a devious kid to a hard-working soldier 

“Albert says you should run for something. Run for president” (55 Fountain) foreshadowing? 

(maybe he will rank up) 

“Were all gods pop tart whether we like it or not” (61 Fountain) simile 

The novel The Sun Also Rises begins with Jake Barnes describing Robert Cohn. He is from a wealthy Jewish family in New York. He became interested in boxing, becoming the university’s middleweight champion. He decided to marry after graduating, because of some experiences in college. After a few years, his wife left and he moved to California. And started in the magazine business which failed after a while. 

Jake: “I can't stand it to think my life is going so fast and I'm not really living it.” 

Cohn: “Nobody ever lives their life all the way up except bull-fighters. (Hemingway 18) plot/ character development, pov

I had the feeling as in a nightmare of it all being something repeated, something I had been through and that now I must go through again. (Hemingway 65) plot, character development, pov

What’s the matter with you, anyway?” “I got hurt in the war,” I said. “Oh, that dirty war.” (Hemingway 16-17) understatement- even though he got hurt in the war he brushes it off like it was nothing, although we don’t know exactly how bad or even how he got hurt in the war it should probably not just be brushed off.

“Don’t you like Paris?” “No.” “Why don’t you go somewhere else?” “Isn’t anywhere else.” (Hemingway 15) plot, character development/understatement- even though he hates Paris and wouldn’t want to be there, he believes there is no other place to go to.

The beginning of Mash is about three doctors in a mobile army surgery hospital the three doctors' names are Hawkeye, Trapper John, and Duke. They have a lot of work to do because there are a lot of injuries.

"The new boy was six feet tall and weighed about a hundred thirty pounds." (Hooker 28) This quote is an example of imagery.

"How about a human sacrifice?" (Hooker 39)-Irony

"You're evading the issue. We have more chest trauma right here than any hospital at home and we need somebody who really knows how to take care of it. we're learning but not enough. you know that, just as well as we do." (Hooker 24)- Plot and character

"You'll be OK, Boy." (Hooker 68)-Plot and character

The third quote shows how difficult of a time they were having with the injuries and also how short-staffed they were.

The fourth quote is them talking to an injured soldier and telling him he'll be ok which also shows how good they were at their job

Summarize: In Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk the book starts off with Billy drunk in his Texas hotel room. Still in hangover, Billy and the bravo’s head to the Texas Stadium where they”ll participate in the Halftime Show. In this first part of the book Billy suffers the death of his friend Shroom. Also there is a flashback of Billy spending Thanksgiving with his family. Some other little happenings in the book's beginning are: an argument with Mango (one of the Bravo’s) for a leather jacket, the story of Billy's sister, a rich dinner and some Billy's memories with Shroom.

1. “The difference between life, death, and horrible injury sometimes as slight as stooping to tie your bootlace on the way to chow, choosing the third shitter in line instead of the fourth, turning your head to the left instead of the right”--(Pag 27) Juxtaposition, simile, metaphor, metaphor, repetition
2. “Like every day. Every hour. No, every couple of minutes. About once every ten seconds, actually. No it’s more like an imprint on his retina that’s always there, Shroom alive and alert, then dead, alive, dead, alive, dead, his face eternally flipping back and forth”--(pag 42) Repetition, hyperbole, simile, character, juxtaposition, repetition, imagery, juxtaposition.

In this quote Billy shows the pain that he feels about Shroom’s death, shows the amount of time he thinks about him. The Hyperbole helps to emphasize the times he think about him and the repetitions do the same work, making them almost concrete due to the visual repeat of the words

    3.“What else is there?” Mango says. 

“What else is there?” Hector agrees.

“What else is there?”Billy echoes, but he is thinking of home.” –(Pag. 73) Character, repetition, character, character, plot, perspective.

    4.“He felt Shroom’s soul leave his body at the moment of his death, a blinding whoom! Like a high-voltage line blowing out, leaving Billy with all circuits fried and a lingering haze like he’d been whacked by a heavyweight”--(Pag. 46) Character, perspective, metaphor, onomatopoeia, simile, character, simile.

This quote talks about a memory of Billy, the main character who reminds the Shroom’s death who died on the battlefield. This shows how the death of someone special can change your entire life and evocate a terrible trauma. I didn’t like the onomatopoeia’s use: in my opinion it gives emphasis to the single word and not to the entire quote. On the other hand metaphor and similes help to improve the reader’s experience.

The overall message of this section of the novel is the pain that someone can feel after the death of a special person and the trauma that carries with him for years.

Slaughterhouse-5

SlaughterHouse-5 is a book about how an author writes a story about war, time travel, and aliens while also being about a person's love for violence and how it can make people feel alive, while also being impossible it speaks of how people love violence and think it is cool and fun. and how it can be more truthful then a book or movie  about a person who is serving in the military.

“You’ll pretend you were men instead of babies, and you’ll  be played in the movies by Frank Sinatra and John Wayne or some of those other glamorous, war-loving,  dirty old men. And war will just look just wonderful, so we’ll a lot more of them. And they’ll be fought by babies like the babies upstairs.”(Vonnegut 14)----imagery, simile character 

While only just meeting the author her saying this gets the author to promise he will not make war fun and he will not make it unrealistic, even if it’s main character is a time traveling  eye doctor who believes in aliens and rarely shows emotions, doing rarely anything when at war and hurt his everyone who is family or even just a passerby he has just met with his alien talk and time travel

 Powers.

“It can’t be detected from Earth, if that’s what you mean,” said Billy. “Earth can’t be detected from Tralfamadore, as far as that goes. They’re both very small. They’re very far apart.”(Vonnegut30)--plot,character,hyperbole 

“He was dimly tempted to say, though, that he knew a thing or two about gore. Billy had after all, had contemplated torture and hideous wounds at the beginning and the end of nearly every day of his childhood.

“Um.” “you see something terrible?” “Terrible?” “Some disease in my eyes?” “No, no,” said Billy, wanting to doze again. “Your eyes are fine. You just need glasses for reading.”(kurt

56)---imagery,plot,character 

This shows Billy not really caring for his job and that he could just be having dreams that seem real instead of actually time traveling but still be very crazy this along with his bland and masochist

personality fills out the promise that the author gave to the person, do to those personality traits being rare for a military character in this a genre of books, being normally about violence, while also making a nice book, with a confusing plot, due to time travel and aliens mabey being Billy just being crazy. The little life the main character shows when in the past especially in a war zone risking the lives of the people trying to help him out of the kindness of their hearts he ends up ruining the team,getting two out of three shot and killed, showing the unfairness of war shown in the first quote 

Vonnegut shows us that war is not fun; it is tragic.