Visions of War Reading Response #2

Summary : In the second third of the novel, we see more training, and the everyday things he has to do. We see multiple people quit, and Jason also strongly considers it, but speaks to the Platoon chief, and decides not to.. We also see Jason go back home to surprise his mom, but leaves while she is sleeping in order to not have to say goodbye, although he leaves her a note. We also see him meeting and talking to a girl, and hanging out with her. 

¨Her face is puffy, slack, a new thickness has filled out her cheeks and lips.¨(p153) O´Brien. 

“ Its the fucking media who put all this stuff out there, they are blowing up everything out of all proportion.It is they who are responsible for the deaths that occur over there, day after day, and they should fucking well take the blame.” (Robinson 175) 

“Billy says no. He just wants to sit here with binoculars and watch everything. The game doesn’t interest him at all but the people do, the way the stream, for instance, rises off the players like a cartoon rendering of body odor”. ( Fountain 211) 

"Certainly of there are mermaids in this river, we'd be just plain foolish not to grad a few of them" (Hooker 141)

This part of my novel is interesting. Sarah had just been told that her son was found, she doesn't know if he is dead, alive, or even ok but when she is informed she gets some stuff together and goes on a plane to find him. Then the book changes course and switches to Jason's perspective in previous days. He talks alot about training he did or stories about his “brothers”. During this period of perspective Jason visits home a few times, one to see his mom and another to be with his girlfriend. When he thinks about if he should go back and deploy again he says just one more, and leaves early on his girlfriend thinking she could never be happy.

“Shes broken in that one way someone truly conditioned against expectations is broken, she can never be happy”(Carpenter 164)-perspective, character, understatement

“Sometimes I think we're preaching a more peaceful violence”(Carpenter 142)-perspective, This quote helps show that Jason's perspective on what he fights for, and works for is changing slowly. Perspective is represented well in this quote in the sense that you see through a soldier's perspective on how he feels about what he and his team do and strive for out of the field. In this moment, Jason starts to develop a different understanding of how he and his team go about approaching things.

“They all knew they were headed to a broken place - most of them sure it was too broken for them to fix”(Carpenter 162)- perspective, understatement, imagery

“He hung up the phone and smiled. She hung up the phone and wept”(Carpenter 172)- perspective, character, imagery. This quote helps show how war/ being involved in the military can impact lives differently, it also shows good imagery of a moment where others can be greatly impacted by loved ones who go to the navy or military. Jason may have seen going away as normal and rather joking leaving his mother on the phone suddenly but to her she seemed greatly impacted, she wept at the dread of her son leaving and the thought that he may never come back.

““We have got the loveliest hotel.” Mike Said. “I think it's a brothel!” “We left our bags here at the Dingo when we got in , and they asked us at this hotel if we wanted a room for the afternoon only. Seemed Frightfully please we were going to stay all night. I believe it's a brothel.” Mike said “And I should know””(Hemingway pg89) Character as this shows that Mike likes to go to brothels and it makes him known as someone who probably wouldn't stay committed to a relationship

“He smiled again. He always smiled as though bull-fighting were a very special secret between the two of us; a rather shocking secret between the two of us; a rather shocking but really very deep secret that we knew about. He always smiled as though there were something lewd about the secret to outsiders , but that it was something we understood. It would not do to expose it to people who would not understand,” (Hemingway pg 136) Simile as Jake is comparing a secret to something Lewd to people who don't know it.

“Montoya could forgive anything of a bull-fighter who had aficion. He could forgive attacks of nerves, panic, bad unexplainable actions, all sorts of lapses. For one who had aficion he could forgive anything. At once he forgave me all my friends. Without his every saying anything they were simply a little something shameful between us, like the spilling open of the horses in bullfighting .” (Hemingway 137) Metaphor because Jake compares Forgiveness to Horses in bullfighting, two completely unrelated things.

“We thanked him. What was there that you would like to ask? The boy was nineteen years old, alone except for his swordhandler and the three hangers-on, and the bullfight was to commence in twenty minutes. We wished him “Mucha Suerte” shook hands and went out. He was standing, straight and handsome and altogether by himself, alone in the room with the hangers-on as we shut the door.” (Hemingway 167) This is understatement because this kid is risking his life for the entertainment of everybody in the arena possibly dying just for a cut of the ticket sales.

After being stood up by Brett, Jake gets a ride to a Cafe, where he has a drink with Harvey Stone who is a writer. They are later joined by Robert Cohn, Frances Cohn's lover also later joined. Frances spoke to Jake privately and explained to him how she thinks Cohn is planning to break up with her, they are engaged to be married. After returning to the table Frances yelled at Cohn while Jake got away. 

"Oh, he told every one that we were going to be married, and I told my mother and every one, and now he doesn't want to do it." (Hemingway 53) The literary term for this quote is point of view. Talks in first person and third person. 

"He's Decided he hasn't lived enough. I knew it would happen when he went to New York." (Hemingway 53) In this quote Frances is talking to Jake about after Cohn went to New York he changed his mind about getting married to her because he hasn't lived his life enough.The literary term for this quote is understatement.

"You haven't any values. You're dead, that's all." (Hemingway 67) In this quote Brett believes that the count has no values because his life isn't like the others of the lost generation who don't get the values of tradition. The literary term for this quote is Character. 

"All right. Have it your own way. Road to hell paved with un-bought stuffed dogs. Not my fault." (Hemingway 78) The Literary term for this quote is hyperbole. 

War always stays with you no matter how hard you work with others or on yourself for things to change. Lots of people deal with war and unfortunately it never goes away, you deal with it every day in a lot of situations. 

In this part of the book, Brave is getting the tour of the stadium. They're getting ready to leave to Iraq and he is having troubles saying goodbye to his family. While taking the tour he meets a cheerleader and they both seem to hit it off with one another and the game continues. 

"This is crazy," she whispers when they come up for air. "I could get kicked off the squad for this." (Fountain 153) Perspective and character 

"But it takes time, you know? To build that kind of trust. It doesn't just happen after one or two dates after a couple of weeks, it takes time, a real commitment to honoring each other." (Fountain 155) Plot and character. Billy and the cheerleader really want to have a relationship but since he is eventually leaving in a few days. Doesn't mean he doesn't want it but it is only going to make it harder for him to leave. 

"What did you do when you got to him? Returned fire and rendered aid." (Fountain 136) Character. This accentuates how he has changed as a person to become a better one. His actions in this moment show that he is a better person now and he wants to be a hero. 

"God... God-ly... Him... and... the light within... Jews... the Jews... Jerusalem... from the Jordan... to the sea... healing and annealing... goodness and light... died for us... his disobedient and gainsaying... people... died... died for us... died... oh... my... Lord... (Fountain 152) Repetition

I think the message is that war is something that will change how you think and what you believe in. You will never be able to recover from it even though you went into the war with good intentions of  being helpful towards your country. 

Kate moves on with her life after she gets assaulted by a guy teammate, jimmy helps her switch to his group all is well till he starts doing it to other girls he works with. she is helping nema more than she planned to from the begging her brother and dad have been located and are safe for now, the war is only getting worse. 

    “This war has isolated us as effectively as it had sent us to mars”  (benedict 141) simile 

“ a spooky walk at this time of the evening, all shadowy and gray the tents snapping in the wind, the dust blurring in the twilight till you can't tell whether the figures your seeing are soldiers, hajjis or hallucinations” (benedict 147) imagery, and perspective  this quote helps u picture what I would be like to be a soldier over there give u details so u can picture what her point of view and understand it better than you would before 

“But those burning eyes of his wont leave me alone, they even get into my dreams.”(benedict 127) hyperbole plot  

“No more cooling off in the night air for us; not with the bullets and bombs this near.”   (benedict 112) juxtaposition, this quote helps show how the citizens were feeling while their home was being turned around due to war it shows you the fear in some actions at the time.

Jason leaves for the military and his mother has a difficult time adapting to his always-changing schedule. Jason is said to be missing, and his mother freaks out because her husband was said to be killed in the military and she was worried that Jason would be too. Jason is found, and he comes home to his mother a few times for holidays, and her birthday, but has to leave shortly afterwards. Jason meets a girl where he is living and they start to live together.

“‘Do you think…’ the sniper started, turning his head away. ‘Do I think what.’ ‘Nothing.’ ‘Do I think what?’ Jason noticed the guy’s hands were shaking. ‘Forget it.’ ‘What.’ And Jason saw something wet spread across the lower edge of the bandage on the side of the good eye.”  (Carpenter 147) Imagery, Character  

This quote shows how this guy’s life had been changed forever because of war, and his family’s life will probably also be changed forever, because of the need to take care of him. It was a million in a chance shot that he was shot blind instead of killed, but he probably wished it just would have killed him instead. This shows imagery because of how upset the sniper is with his life, having to live blind, be discharged from the military and suffer for the rest of his life. This shows his character as well, because his vision was his best tool in the military and now it is gone, and he doesn’t know what to do.

“Should he have told his mother he was leaving? He had tried to sleep, but once in bed, he started to feel anxious, like he was losing time. The bed didn’t quite fit right anymore. Was this place still home? For how long? The choice quickly became simple: either drive now, or pray yourself to sleep, only to wake up too soon, eat some cereal, hate goodbye, and then take half a day driving. He decided it was better just to go.” (Carpenter 124)  Imagery, Perspective, Character

This quote helps show the always moving schedule that war causes. One day you could be home, the next you’ll be clearing rooms. This shows how Jason is changed through war, and his mother has to live with not seeing him as much. War affects those not directly involved, and this is shown by his mother living with Jason’s absence. This shows the imagery of Jason’s internal thoughts, deciding to leave his mother that morning for their convenience. This shows perspective because he is choosing to leave early, and it shows the difficulty of his decision. This shows character too, because it shows the type of person he is.

“At the edge of the woods there was a small series of flat stones-graves, she was sure, but she did not know for whom. Jason used to guess, and when he was little he imagined they were for animals. Now she thinks, Maybe they’re for unknown soldiers.” (Carpenter 84) Perspective, Plot, Imagery, 

“The failure was a fact that didn’t sound right to Jason. A highly trained operator failing to shoot himself? Unlikely. But perhaps the attempt was a cry for help.” (Carpenter 102) Plot, character, perspective.

In the second part of the book Hawkeye, Trapper, and Duke are tired and overworked.  So they start acting weird, so the colonel wants to send them to a psychiatric place. So they talk about it and decide to go because they need a break. They discuss what they were going to tell the doctor so they all had the same story.

“In my opinion, there are mermaids in this river”( Hooker 141) character

“...In a mermaid trap….their project began”(Hooker 141) plot

“We’re gonna screw the ass off her”(Hooker 142) character

“Let's convince him were nuts, and maybe he’ll ship us out for a while”(Hooker 142) plot 

Quotes two and three helped me understand that some people will do a lot just for a break from war.

The message about war is that war is a hard thing and people respond differently to it

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 

As Joe is newly deaf and blind, he struggles to regain his own mind, he gets lost in his flashbacks. After trying to fight his own mind, there is nothing he can do, he has nowhere to go, so he continues to get flashbacks about his younger life, but now they are never good. After things go downhill for Joe his life starts to look towards being better. He starts to keep track of time mentally, so anytime a good holiday or special occasion comes along, he can have flashbacks of the good memories, not the bad ones. 

"You can always hear the people who are willing to sacrifice somebody else's life. They're plenty loud and they talk all the time." (Trumbo 119) Perspective, Character, Metaphor. This quote shows me Joe's perspective on war. Because he was a soldier and he got seriously hurt in war, it ruined his life. He doesn't have a good view of it, in flashbacks he can remember the enemies being animals, they would do anything to get the enemies.

"If a man says death before dishonor he is either a fool or a liar because he doesn't know what death is." (Trumbo 120) Perspective, Metaphor, Juxtaposition, Paradox. This helps us as readers understand what joe is going through, sometimes he feels like he's dead, he's deaf and blind so he's always just in a blank space, trapped in his mind. It's a living hell to him, and he doesn't think anyone else would do this than "dishonor"

"There are plenty of laws to protect guys' money even in war time but there's nothing on the books says a man's life's his own." (Trumbo 114) Perspective, Juxtaposition.

"This is a war and war is hell and what the hell and so to hell with it."(Trumbo 28) Perspective, Imagery, understatement, Character. 

Overall these quotes help showcase the message of war is hell the longer you are around it, the worse it gets.

The second part of my novel Eleven Days consists of Jason's days as he served in the military and what he experienced as a recruit.  Jason spent his time training through hell and learning new ways for preparation before leaving the camp and facing real living enemies.  Jason was promoted to leader of his own squad, creating new pressures for the first time.

1) "and only guys who have served there are merited to wear it.  It's a skull wearing a pirate's hat, foregrounded by crossed swords.  The skull's eyes are red.  It's a nice counterpart to the Steal Your Face."(Carpenter 94) imagery 

2) "Discovering someone who had been so unhappy was like discovering a bomb had been ticking inside an Academy Classroom." (Carpenter 101) simile, metaphor  ||  This quote helped explain the need for removing emotions on the battlefield and the comparison helped with the understanding the gravity of having emotions could be.

3) the one that links a signal home, sometimes even to the White House, for final approval.  It occurs to Jason that his mother's work has a similar shape to this." (Carpenter 116) juxtaposition, character  ||  This quote helped me understand what snipers have to face before shooting a target and the comparison made me understand Sara's job easier.

4) "You can't afford a magic show when economics are tight; magic shows are the first things to go." "I can learn from a magician.  He can do some neat things.  Maybe I relocate my strategic interests to ensure we always have a magician on hand." (Carpenter 141) metaphor

Overall these examples show feeling any emotion and thoughtless actions can affect the way war is played