The Things They Carried

Okay guys, it is time for another exciting round of... Cathy's Super Awesome Blog Writing Time! *Que Applause* ...Okay, sorry, never mind. Ignore that. Umm. Right. Well, anyways, this week we're looking for themes throughout the book "The Things They Carried," right? So, let's see what I'm able to come up with this time. Ready? Here I go...

Obviously, based on the title alone, this group of stories is about the things that are carried by the soldiers who fought in Vietnam. I believe that this is a main idea or theme that reveals itself throughout the entire novel, or at least the stories I've read so far. I don't take this to mean simply what was physically carried by the men, although that is discussed as well, but to include the emotions, the memories, the responsibilities, and the stories that they all must carry as well.

In the first one that we read, the story of the same name as the book, each person was described, along with all that which they had to bear. This not only included the general equipment, which was heavy in and of itself, but something else that helped to differentiate one from the rest. Each carried something a little bit different, and what one carried gave insight to the person he was. But aside from the differences, what they carried also connected the men. It said that "they carried the land itself-Vietnam, the place, the soil..."(15). They carried all the weight of the war, the feelings they would experience and the sights they would see, and this is stuff that they couldn't really share with others, those who haven't been in the war. In various stories people are disconnected from others, from loved ones, friends, or civilians, and this is because of the weights they must carry.

Aaand... I must say, this blog really didn't turn out the way I thought it would... Oops. Oh well. I'll elaborat/clarify later, or something. I suppose. Alright, bye byes.

Postmodernism is...?

Okay guys, looks like it's time for a discussion about Postmodernism. Hooray, right? Sure.. So, what is Postmodernism, exactly? It's... a lot of things. Or, really, it's not. There's a lot that it's not. It's without centers, without reason, without truth, science, reality, or anything, really. It's not modernism. It's more... chaos, insanity. I dunno, I'm just rambling, already. Yup, pretty much. Postmodernism is all about getting away from all the ideas that once were. According to Postmodernism, there is no one source of anything, no center idea for anything to be based on, or something... It rejects the idea of metanarratives, or grand narratives, instead arguing that everything is made up of a number of smaller narratives. That idea, though, that there are no grand narratives, is a grand narrative in and of itself. A bit of a contradiction there. That happens a lot in the concepts of Postmodernism, though. Contradictions, I mean. It's basically the definition of defining things by not defining them, which means you can't define Postmodernism, which not only creates a paradox, but means this supposed attempt of mine to say just what Postmodernism is is an impossible task. Hooray for us, right? Okay, I guess it's time for a subject change...ish? Well, there was another bit in that Postmodernism book we've been reading all semester, all about Others, and binary opposites, and the like. That there will always be marginalization, and centralization, although no centers...hmm. Anyway, with opposites, one will be focused on at any point in time, and the other will become pushed aside, lessened, marginalized. Pretty much, it's impossible to not be marginalizing something. So says Postmodernism. Anyways, there's a whole lot more about Postmodernism, and I'm not really sure how well I even explained the concepts that I attempted to mention, but... I think that's about how much I'm going to say. Postmodernism, is pretty crazy if you think about it too much, so I don't think I really will any more right at this moment. Alrighty. Bye byes.

Heyyy....

Haha...Hey guys. What, no blog earlier? No idea what you're talking about. Anyways, Maus II is just... I don't know. I don't know how to write about it at all, really. I mean, I read it, I got it, I thought it was a good book. Comic. No, comic book? Anyways, It doesn't really seem representable. Or, at least, I don't really see any way to really write anything about it. There are some things to be written about, I suppose, but is there enough to write about any of those bits? Probably, I just don't know how. Oh well. I'm thinking I'll write about the portrayal deal going on. There's basically Art saying how he doesn't really know how to portray everything, and how it is really impossible to accurately portray the Holocaust at all, because nothing really does it justice, well, I mean can accurately give a good representation of what it was like, and what happened. Even with his father, getting a first-hand account of what happened, it is just one viewpoint, one journey. Only that which he experienced. And every prisoner as a unique experience. Also, nothing is truly known. For instance, it was widely believed that there were orchestras at some point, but when asked, Art's father said he didn't think they existed, that he "remembered only marching, not orchestras." But Art's father, especially, had is own experiences that weren't shared with the others. He got special treatment for working, he got on the good side of some of the guards and whatnot. Really, one would need every viewpoint of all who were a part of the Holocaust, and even then there would ave to be some way to convey just how they felt, just what they heard, ect... He could have had is mother's story, had she been alive, but it still wouldn't have been enough. It is just not possible to give that horror accurate representation. This is why, at least I think, that Art uses the cartoon or comic medium for his book, to emphasize that it is not possible to have every detail, and to sow tat e is not trying to have all the knowledge, he is simply sharing what information he has in the way he feels is best. That's all. Sorry for typos and if it feels rushed, I wrote this on that write or die thing and if I stopped for like three seconds it would delete words. It was frightening. K byes.