1 cor 13 loveee

So I've wrote my essay over the past week on Microsoft Word and now that I come to post it it isn't letting me? I'm not in the mood to retype everything over to this blog page so I'm going to paste it in the comment below me. Hope its alright. Let me know if there is any confusion.

The Truth In Things..

I thought we were coming to an end with the whole postmodernism idea but I guess I was wrong.. Anyways.. I think the gist of the article The Truth In Things by Jim Neilson would be that "The Things They Carried accords with much of the anti-totalizing strains of postmodernism, and [Neilson] will argue that it is precisely this tendency in his fiction that makes it incapable of opposing the ongoing reconstruction of the war as an American tragedy." It seems like O'Brien is trying to capture the essence of the similarities of the Vietnam war and the postmodern war. The "normal" American people are thought of to understand things better. Possibly like the elite discorse? According to Neilson, "O'Brien's concern is the attempt to reconcile fact and fiction, the real and imagined."

Neilson criticized the work by stating that "The weakness of The Things They Carried is that O'Brien's imagination is virtually the only reality. O'Brien does not contextualize his experience, does not provide us with any deeper understanding of the causes an consequences of this war, and does not see beyond his individual experience to document the vastly greater suffering of the Vietnamese. In doing so, O'Brien has constructed a test that, despite its radical aesthetic, largely reaffirms the prevailing ethnocentric conception of the war." I somewhat agree with this. I think O'Brien could have given us deeper understanding to make his book more effective and real.

"To many critics an theorists, the war cannot be represented adequately through traditional literary modes; only a postmodern aesthetic can convery something of the war's surreal, sense-shattering, media-inflected nature."

After I thought about Neilsons statement "for American literary culture the Vietnam War seems at times to have been waged more against totality that against the peoples of Indochina", I started to understand and agree with this statement. I believe that there indeed were more deaths of souls than there were lives.

TTTC

So far, I have enjoyed reading The Things They Carried. I have seen some reoccurring themes. I'm not completely sure how I will angle my essay or what theme and purpose I will go with to support my ideas, but I think if the themes I am beginning to see continue as I keep reading and exploring the book, I could possibly base my essay off of them.

Here they are:

1) The first and most obvious one is that all the soldiers are carrying extreme amounts of emotional baggage. Not only are the soldiers in each section carrying a bunch of stuff like different weapons, ponchos, jackets, sleeping stuff and what not but they are also carrying excess emotional baggage too. Each soldier has some kind of hidden secret. It could be love, grief, fear, or just the feeling of giving up. One soldier carries his girlfriends pantyhose with him, which is just a symbol of his love that he is carrying with him everyday. I'm sure more examples will come up in the novel as I continue reading.

2) Another possible theme idea could be how soldiers were forced to go to war when they did not want to be there. The narrator talks about how if he just shot off his toe he coul be transported in a helicopter back to the "real world". Instea of being in the action an anger all the time, he could just get it over with by hurting himself. However, no soldier would carry out this plan becasuse they would not want that reputation. They are looked at as brave men who are fighint for their country. If they went home on purpose, they would look like cowards to their fellow soldiers. This topic could be interesting because you could talk about differences between the raft and the freedom to choose to go to war.

3) One last idea I have is it really seems like the author makes it seem like war causes unwanted anger to all soldiers so they are constantly trying to find ways to release it. Almost like the author overreacts.

Well, those are a couple of topic ideas that I see happening in the book. If you have any more or anything to add please feel free.

What is Postmodernism?

Postmodernism is a broad term used to describe movements in a wide range of disciplines, including art, philosophy, critical theory, and music. Many view postmodernism as a response to the proceding modernist movement, but where modernism simply reacts against classical concepts, particularly in the arts and literature, postmodernism takes this reaction to its extreme conclusion. Indeed, some see postmodernism not as a separate movement, but simply as a continuation of the moernist struggle.

I think postmodernism is simply being aware of the strong self-consciousness and opinions of everyone in the world. It puts emphasis on everything that goes on in the world and the thoughts behind it. A main point in the postmodern thinking is about truth. According to Jim Powell, there is no such thing as truth. People get confused with what others tell them to be true and what they themselves believe is true. This goes with what talk about in class. How do we know if the history we study is true? It could be someones subjective side of the story. Postmodernism is subjective, more like completely subjective. Today, most people have learned and accepted others different views. We strive to coexisit together to celebrate differences rather than tear eachother down.

Postmodernism in the urge for answers, however this could be unreachable and endless. Just as worldly objects revolve around the mind, postmodern ideas revolve around this unknown center.

Here Kitty Kitty

Sorry this is late.. boyyy have I had computer problems this break. Anywho...

I really enjoyed reading this book, or comic, or whatever it was. I think i liked it so much because:

1. The pictures kept me interested.
2. It was short compared to the other novels we have studied.
3. It was about the Holocaust and for some odd reason I've always been interested in times like that... not in a weird way though.

I haven't decided which way I'd like to go to write my essay on but I'd like to include either something about history and truth. Or maybe I'll create a debate about what Maus II is considered. Is it fiction, nonfiction, a history reference, or a comic book?

Hopefully I can come up with other topics so my essay can be more original.
Thats all for now!

Have a great holiday season everyone! :)

Advantage?

Nicholas Carr states that "Thanks to the growing power that computer engineers and software coders wield over our intellectual lives, Taylor's ethic is beginning to govern the realm of the mind as well. The Internet is a machine designed for the efficient and automated collection, transmission, and manipulation of information, and its legions of programmers are intent on finding the "one best method"- the perfect algorithm- to carry out every mental movement of what we've come to describe as "knowledge work.""

I believe our generation has become completely dependant on technology. Our society constantly tries to make things as easy as possible, as fast as possible. I believe our society is becoming incapable of controling all the changes. We become so enveloped in technological progresses that we forget about the true meaning of life. We find ourselves in a world that never stops. Yes, we've grown as a society and discovered many new and interesting things, but, is a postmodern era, increasing technology advances, and idea of constantly moving forward a good or a bad way of life?

Technological advances such as Google try "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." Google Inc. is an American public corporation, earning revenue from advertising related to its Internet search , e-mail, online mapping, office productivity, social networking, and video sharing services. Search engines such as Google, Yahoo, etc. seek to create "the perfect search engine". The "perfect" search should be able to "understand exactly what you mean and give you back exactly what you want." Because of technological advances, people are able to research and find answers quicker, which is what our society craves.

When do we slow down??!...

http://www.helium.com/items/259628-the-pros-and-cons-of-advancing-technology

So What Does It All Mean?

After watching the "Did You Know" video and reading part of the article by Dr. Alan Kirby, I think we may indeed be reaching an era of "post postmodernism". The video was very very interesting to me. Each time a new idea or theory was presented, I was speachless. It's crazy for me to realize how many little changes are going on in the world today, and how much they effect every aspect of our society. It's eye opening for me to think about all the little changes and events going on and how uninformed we are about them.

We simply adapt to every change and move forward. We try to make things as easy as possible. Yes, we've grown as a society and discovered many new and interesting things, but, is this postmodern era and idea of constantly moving forward a good or a bad way of life? Yes, there will always be improvements and changes in our world. Change is our only constant. There are numerous changes daily. Our world is becoming incapable of controling all the changes. We become so enveloped in technological progresses and forgetting about the true meaning of life. We find ourselves in a world that never stops.

Society is always changing, always advancing, and always growing. Although the world is constantly changing and moving forward, "the new era has also seen the revamping of older forms along its lines" (Kirby). Kirby points out that everything is based off of something. There has to be one center, one absolute truth. But then again, there will always be a part of us that has "a desire to return to the infantile playing with toys"(Kirby).

"Postmodern philosophy emphasizes the elusizeness of meaning and knowledge.".... ponder on that.....