Visions of War Reading Response #3

In this part of the novel, Jason is thinking about his future, with the girl he met. Sarah is called to come to Jeddah, where Jason is, to see him. On the plane, they take a stop to pick up another passenger, who is David. Sarah seems to get nervous because she has a suspicion that something had happened to Jason, if they had picked David up. Jason, who was sent to clear a room, for real this time, and is met with conflict and protects a baby from the attackers. It is implied that he was shot, or attacked, with a long cut down his face, and a part of his spine broken. Sarah is not told any of this, only when she gets to Jeddah, she finds him dead on the hospital bed. 

“She wants-badly-to open his eyes so that she can see them but understands this is irrational. I have so much left to tell you, she thinks. And she can feel the sadness swelling and shifting into rage.” (Carpenter 229). Imagery, Character.

“‘No losses,’ the young guys say, to a man. ‘Zero casualties.’ They say this when asked what their goals are before going out the first time.” (Carpenter 243). Plot. This is a big plot moment in the story, because the reader already knows that Jason was killed by now, it is just a flashback from his perspective. Jason saying this is foreshadowing that something will happen to someone, the reader knows it’s Jason. 

“She would be keen to describe how carefully a ‘soldier’ had wrapped the infant, covering his head. She was touched by that.” (Carpenter 250). Imagery. This shows how Jason actually impacted those around him. Earlier in the story he was said to be generous and helpful, and this is proof of that. He sacrificed his life to save this baby’s life, and the baby’s mother will never forget. It seems really strange for a foriegn soldier you don't even know, to save your child’s life, and cost his own, but that is just the person Jason is. 

“...they act on orders. ‘Pray,’ Jason repeats to himself under his breath. And the prayer he chooses is simply ‘Get us all home.’” (Carpenter 247). Plot

War seems to cause a lot of tragedy, and praying to stay away from it. People’s personality reflects a lot on their actions, which is seen through Jason, spending the last moments of his life to save someone else’s. War causes a lot of tough decisions that end with tragedy, 

I liked this novel a lot, it seemed like more of an enjoyable read than an assigned one. It was tricky at first to follow because of the writing style, always describing everything and not moving the plot along as quickly as I would have liked, but otherwise easy to follow and understand. Literary terms are pretty much thrown at your face, and expressed pretty obviously. I do recommend this novel to those considering joining the military, I think it is necessary to see both sides of military life, and it should take a lot of consideration before you just jump into service and cause a big deal of worry and tragedy.

Duke and Hawkeye disappeared for a couple of days and no one knew where they went.  And when they returned the colonel said that they have found two new replacements for them because their time there was coming to an end.  Trapper didn’t want them to leave because he still had time left to serve.  So Trapper threw them a going-away party.

“While you two clowns were gone….we picked up two new men”(Hooker 188) plot

“You two are gonna teach them” (Hooker 189) character

“There was even a six o’clock chopper”(Hooker 190) plot

“The chopper had brought two 4077th MASH Specials: both had belly and extremity wounds”(Hooker 190) plot

Quote one and four helped me understand that war doesn't stop no matter what time it is or whos around.

The message about war is that war is a hard thing and people respond differently to it and nothing has changed.

My novel was very easy to follow and find lit terms for.

By this time of the book the halftime show where bravo goes onto stage and has some bad experiences on the stage with the fireworks and stuff bringing back flashbacks and causing some episodes. At this point, it is very clear Billy is suffering from mental health with the war. Billy agrees to meet with his sister after the show. Billy has established a relationship with the cheerleader and wants to stay in touch after the game. When Bravo leaves the limo Billy sees his sister he is not gonna leave bravo he is gonna go with his group. 

“I don't care if you're talking to the president, you can't stand here.” (223 fountains) 

This demonstrates imagery and plot

“Look, I have no F****** idea where you're supposed to go, but you can't stay here.” (fountain 243) Imagery 

“Well, right there at the end, like you were looking up in the sky. Like you were praying” (fountain 252) imagery this demonstrates imagery when reading I can see in my head how this is happening. Billy after the show is just standing there and having what I thought was a flashback. 

“No no way I can't accept that you can't go back to that place” (fountain 254) this is perspective 

I can use this because this is his sister's perspective on whether billy should go on tour again but in Billy's perspective, he can't leave his team

-Message

My first impression of war in this book was war is a dampening of a person's body physically but towards the end, it's also mentally dampening. 

I loved the plot of the novel and the idea, but what I did not enjoy in the book is the sudden transitions with Billy's flashbacks several times I had to go back and read to understand where it started. For future students, this book requires a lot of focus don't use an audiobook also use the book so you can read and go back at free will

Joe continues to suffer, being trapped in his own mind, not knowing how to escape. Multiple things happen in his life, which is minor to most, but to Joe, they are big deals, even if they aren't good. One of those he has been rewarded with a medal, which he was not happy to receive, he couldn't do anything about it and not receive it, but he didn't want it, thrashing in his bed trying to not accept it. Towards the end of the book, joe is able to communicate to a specialist through morse code, he wants to leave the hospital and feel the air, it gives him hope, the first hope he's had this whole book, the man says no, it's too expensive. Joe has come to terms with his arrangement in life and decided to live the rest of it in peace, not anger. 

"He wanted arms and legs so he could work and walk like a man like a living thing"(Trumbo 222) Character, Smilie, Metaphor. This quote shows how Joe feels about his life. When they say he wants to be a living man again, it's not like he's dead, but he feels useless and helpless, he has nothing to do and nowhere to go, he just wants to live life again. 

"It didn't seem like a year it had gone by like a lifetime..."(Trumbo 141) Perspective, Metaphor, Imagery. This quote shows what Joe's life is like, he always describes it as being slower than ever, when he's not sleeping, he's just there in his hospital bed all day, with nothing to do. The quote just shows his take on his life.

"He had lost track of time. All his work to trap it all his counting and calculation of it might just as well have never have happened, he has lost track of everything except the tapping. The instant he awakened he began to tap until the moment where drowsiness overcame him."(Trumbo 165)this is a war and war is hell and what the hell and so to hell with it. Simile, imagery, Character, Plot. 

"Silence. What's this what's this oh my god can a man ever get lower can a man ever be less?"(Trumbo 176) Perspective, Understatement. 

In the end, it shows that how different people handle war varies, ofter it isn't the same. This varies from my previous message because, in my previous one, the message was only about Joe, not other people. The ideas started to expand in terms of war trama.

Sara was brought along on a $50 million plane by the Godfather and both had a conversation about Sara's son, Jason, and the purpose for her leaving the house was to see her son Jason.  Sara becomes happy, excited, scared, and sad about having to see her son because not a single person she asks knows the condition her son is in or even if he is alive.  During a landing for more fuel, the supposed dead father and husband of Sara and Jason proceeds to board the plane and start to talk about his travels and when he met Jason on the road.  After David talked about himself, David went on to describe that if Jason had died then he is considered a hero rather than a sacrifice.

1) "Someone made arrangements for you, and you will be told all of that, but all I can tell you is that you should appreciate the fact that a lot has been done to try and get you---" "I appreciate the fact that my son risked his life for something that means nothing." (Carpenter 192) Character.  This quote has shown character Sara talking with the godfather, and she interrupts him mid-sentence and shows dissatisfaction with what others have done just so she may see her son.  Jason wanted his mother to understand he is not a kid anymore, but she doesn't understand what Jason wants and used him in a way to forget about David.

2) "I'm just curious now.  I want to know what happened and what they did to him.  You know he's so... tough, but he's also so gentle, in his heart.  I can't see him---I can't see him in those situations." (Carpenter 195) Character, Paradox.  This quote has shown character as it explains Jason's personality before the war and how he displayed his emotions.  This quote also has shown paradox as Sara explains Jason is tough and can handle any challenge, but he is soft and will hurt himself.

3) "That was David.  He wanted to be accepted by the military guys.  He wanted to be accepted by the intelligence guys.  He wanted to be loved by the Vietnamese.  He didn't want to be seen as an observer, as an Ivy League...dove." (Carpenter 206) Character, Metaphor.

4) "David had been among the very first to learn that Jason was the American who was missing.  He had been the one to raise holy hell to be sure Sara was notified a.s.a.p., even before they has perfect information." (Carpenter 221) Character, Plot, Perspective

- The message of war that was emphasized in the novel, in my opinion, was "one man may send another to fight but there is always one person who disagrees." this is shown as Sara and David both parents worried about the military sending their son, Jason off to fight covert highly deadly missions and with high chance, he may not live.  Sara was the worried one whereas David used connections he built up and found his son and made sure he was cared for.

- the message hasn't changed at all because it applies to anyone who was worried and scared about sending someone to war but what did change is the perspective many may now have on David after realizing he was watching and making sure Jason was safe from the shadows.  David protects Jason while Jason has no clue who his dad is risking his life away as if he has no one to return to back at home.

- The novel was fun to read and very enjoyable.  I recommend that many read this book and form their own opinions about how they view the book.  I personally had no easy task of finding literary terms, quotes, and memorable moments because when I read, I read for enjoyment, not on the premise of doing work.