tug-o-war

...the worst kind. ew.

the question that I've heard floating around this whole week is "did the baby actually die?!"

I think that, much like in "A Worn Path", it doesn't really matter if the child is dead or not... what matters is the fact that these "parents" are LITERALLY fighting over their child. cartoons and TV shows always show those cutesy scenes where two people are fighting over a third person and tugging back and forth on their arms until they all fall down comically. but this time it's real. and it's disgusting.

the lack of differentiation between action and dialogue really help to contribute to the fact of what is actually occurring. there is no distraction, and it all happens in such a way that no one can do anything about it. it's a lost cause, and even the reader is helpless to stop reading the action (or dialogue, whichever they may choose) because it just sneaks up with no warning. just like the baby has no way to stop what is going on.



this song is kinda cool. but I only posted it for the VEEEEEEEEEEERY last line.. and when you hear it, you'll know. but it's a terrible connection. I apologize.

since I don't entirely understand

"Ranas" oh, wait, "Toads" (it might as well have been in Spanish), I figured I'd blog about it and hope that someone comments it along the line and makes me feel better about myself. or worse. whichever.

The first "toad" is obviously work. the speaker states that right off the bat. I love the diction and imagery that the author uses here too. In the first two lines alone we have "Why should I let the toad work/Squat on my life?" then it begins to get more gruesome in the ways that the speaker wants this toad gone. it's a plague to society, he seems to feel. however, it's a necessary evil. the speaker realizes that without work, life just wouldn't function the same way. he also comments though that people complain all the time about the work they do and how their kids would "starve" if they were to stop working, "and yet/[n]o one actually starves.

the other toad I think is reality. just in general. the two are always there. they go hand in hand, but there's a balance. one can't put all of his time and energy into work, or he loses touch with reality. but at the same time, work exists as a part of this reality. it's a delicate balance that must be maintained. and while these two prevent one from "getting/[t]he fame and the girl and the money/[a]ll at one sitting," (lines 30-32), the two are intertwined, but not connected. I feel the speaker sums up the relationship nicely in the last stanza, particularly the last two lines: "But I do say it's hard to lose either,/[w]hen you have both."

Stop there and let me correct it I wanna live a life from a new perspective - TTTC

"As we stared at each other, neither of us moving, I felt something go shut in my heart while something else swung open."

(p. 179)

this reminds me of the whole "when one door shuts another door opens" quote that every person ever has said when something bad happens. but this seems like a doubly positive experience. O'Brien has returned to Vietnam to do... something. sure, technically it's to return Kiowa's moccasins to "his" burial place, but there's something else, it seems. he goes back to try to find closure, I think. I'm not sure he ever finds complete closure. I think after something like that it's nearly impossible to find complete closure, but he gets close. it seems that he's almost waiting for one of the Vietnamese farmers to wave him over to talk to him. he's waiting anxiously. and is probably relieved when nothing happens, but somehow, that solemn raising of the shovel allows O'Brien to find some sense of peace. the negativity that had kept a hold on his heart for so long had been broken. that part shut out, maybe. and then the new part swinging open is a new understanding of what happened to him emotionally, physically, spiritually, and in all other aspects. this trip was way more than returning shoes. it was about gaining new perspective.

dancing. style. respect. - TTTC

"'Why's she dancing?' Azar said, and Henry Dobbins said it didn't matter why, she just was."

(p. 129)

there are many things that I'll never understand. some things are pretty concrete, like how it is that John Steinbeck created the entire storyline for "The Grapes of Wrath" before writing a single word. or quantum physics. stuff like that. pretty concrete. there are other more abstract things, like how people can choose to focus solely on negative aspects of something, rather than finding something positive to work on. I think that's the beauty in this tiny little chapter too. while all these soldiers are taken aback by the horror and tragedy that they've come across, they find this little girl dancing. she's found something positive that she's going to express, and that's all. she doesn't feel a need to mourn outwardly right now, even though all her family is dead. this dance is her release. in some way, she is mourning, but in her own way.

Azar doesn't understand this. Dobbins didn't really either, but he respected it enough that he wasn't about to let someone else disrespect it. it's a basic respect that gets shown. it's a beautiful lesson: just because you don't understand something, doesn't mean you can't respect it.