Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong

  What transformed Mary Anne into a killer is not the soldiers but Vietnam itself. Mary Anne who is a 17 year old girls travels to Vietnam and completely changes her personality. First, she was all innocent and lovely;however, as the story went on she turned somehow not like an American girl, rather a Vietnamese. It can be said that the constant violence and fear made her change but that was not the major reason. For someone as young and pretty, nobody expected her to become so in love with a humid jungle. This just shows how one's potential can lead one to show their real face inside the mask.

  I believe that gender doesn't matter in this chapter because this book illustrates how someone young and vulnerable get mixed up with the War, and never return to their normal self. When Mary Anne arrived in Vietnam, she was the dream girl every soldier wanted to have in their camp but one could see how a young person during War can change in a matter of weeks. 

  O'Brien lets Rat Kiley tell part of the story because Rat is known for his exaggeration when talking his perspective. A true War story is actually really different from what people think because with all the information told, the public will not be able to understand. Therefore, yes, Rat Kiley's story fits O'Brien's criteria for how to tell a true War novel. Exaggerated stories during conversations are normal as it is proven by psychologists that everybody make up their personal fairy tales. 

Field Trip

 In England, a town near Chelsea, there was a massacre in the streets when the police where given permission to fight against government protesters with force. This happened about 25 years ago when one of the government protester shot a police officer. The police officer named Bob Wilkinson was a good friend to the minister of England. When the minister heard that Bob died during a protest, he conspired with his guards to carry out a massacre on the protesters. This was for his friend's revenge. The occurrence of this horrific event started at 7am in the morning of Boxing day. The police fired their guns at the crowd and beat them with their clubs. There were at least 200 casualties. After this incident, the police department checked how a massacre happened in such a peaceful land. Investigations after investigations, the police department found some names they have never heard before. They tracked the names down and found out that the people were the minister's specially trained personal bodyguards. The minister was convicted of mass murder and was sentenced to life in jail with his bodyguards. This disaster is not seen today and now there is a highway where the protesters died. It left no trace, only history.

Ambush/The Man I Killed

 The Man I Killed is written in the first person point as Tim O'Brien is standing next to the dead boy. Tim knows myriads of intimate details about the man he killed because the dead man was the first man he killed in war. Usually, when someone does something for the first time, they put more time into it and examine their work carefully. Tim feels remorse about the boy and that if he hadn't killed him, the boy would've had a bright future ahead of him. When Tim O'Brien is talking about the boy's future, he explains a whole lot about how he might have been a math teacher and other very personal details. This, I believe, is from Tim's own life as too much personal information about the boy is said. Maybe he was the one who wanted to be a math teacher and have a wonderful life with a girl next to the motorcycle.

Spin

  In the chapter Spin O'Brien writes in his "peace story," "All that peace man, it felt so good it hurt. I want to hurt it back." In my own words, I believe that this quote tells the reader that peace is different for a normal person and a soldier. In the oxford dictionary, the word peace is defined as freedom from disturbance; quiet and tranquility. For us peace can be reading a book or lying on the sofa without any noise. However, for a soldier, peace can be described as death. A soldier who is fighting in a war cannot be in rest as there are enemies surrounding them; they become paranoid. The only way they can close their eyes and think about nothing is death. This shows the desperateness of the soldiers as they only wanted an exit door out of Vietnam. From the statement above, we can also see that the Vietnam War had very unpredictable emotions as peace changed over a matter of seconds; like how Tim O'Brien defined War as a ping pong ball as it changes when one puts a little spin to the ball.

The Things They Carried: Two Items

  In my backpack I have: Bandages, cell phone, glasses, calculator, notebook, binder, pens, pencils, eraser, folders, USB, head phones, gum, dictionary, and three water bottles full of water.

  From the items above, I would like to take bandages and three water bottles full of water. First of all, I would like to take bandages because if one is hurt or wounded, a bandage can help a lot as it blocks other germs from entering the scratch. Although it is not necessarily going to help cure the small wound as one needs other medicine to provide fatal cases, it will stabilize the scrape. Secondly, I would take three water bottles all filled up with water. Water is very important for all living organisms and without it we will not be able survive for more than three days. Even not drinking for few minutes makes one thirsty and scientists have proven that water is key to how our blood flows, which states that without water, blood doesn't flourish in our bodies making our brain not be able to function. Finally, these two items are related as both materials are handy when treating a small scratch. To remove the germs and blood, one has to pour water on it to clean it. Then they can put a bandage on it so no more germs enter the wound. These are the reasons why i would like to carry the objects with me wherever I go; they have their own usages and they work well together too, it is like killing two birds with one stone.

Vietnam War: What I learned

  Today in English class, we were introduced to the Vietnam War because we had to have some background knowledge about the book we were going to read: The Things They Carried. The class students were asked to jot down some information about what they already knew about the War. I wrote that the War was against the North and the South, the North being Communists and that the United States entered the War assisted South Vietnam, stating that they wanted to abolish Communism. Also that the War happened during the 1950's to the 1970's. I knew the outcome of the Vietnam War as i have read some books about it. The result of this clash influenced America greatly as they had to drop out of the unpopular war. These are the facts I knew about the War.

  In class, i learned some very interesting facts about the tactics the Americans used to abolish Communism in Vietnam. One of the tactics I found very fascinating was the Agent Orange. This is a chemical that kills anything that blocks its path and was used to wipe out whole villages, killing many innocent lives. The way some Americans think is to me somewhat very sad as they think that if one thing happens the next will follow. For Example, the Domino Theory, which states that one country after one country while become Communists. This is similar to what they did to the Native Americans, thinking that if they have a particular land they get to conquer the rest of it. Another very amusing information is that the Vietnam War was the first "living room War"--people watched real footage of combat on the nightly news. Also that the majority of the soldiers in Vietnam were lower to middle class men. I never looked at the Vietnam War so deeply, knowing the  new information makes me wonder what other factors made America join the War.

War Letter 2

Dear Elizabeth

  Elizabeth, this is Yu-Jin, your brother's best friend. Sorry for what happened to Tom... my life is a candle without a fire now; I have no mean of life without my closest friend. We got into the same camp and went to the same school from the point we were in Elementary. I had Tom next to me when everybody was against me; even my parents. Tom was a lad I could depend on and talk about anything and he will take it and talk it through with me all day long, even if he had a very important project to do in high school; he always put his friendship before anything else. Before we were separated in War, he told me to survive and later meet together and go back and make a company together. He had lots of brilliant ideas. His bravery shown in training was immense. We had a training session and there was a fake hand grenade, your brother was right next to it, instead of running away he jumped on it to save the other soldiers. After this, he became a commander of troop C. Tom did everything as a commander and cared his soldiers more than anything. Tom and his troops were called to participate in the Battle of Long Dinh. Tom had the choice to reject the call but he decided to go. He went and the next day the soldiers came back; but Tom was missing. I asked one of the troop members, but all they did was cry. I asked the soldier again with anger and he told me that Tom died after taking a bullet for him. This is what I didn't like about your brother, he cared more about his men than himself. Stupid Bastard.... ㅡ ㅡ . I will go to Tom's funeral very soon. Elizabeth, I'm truly sorry for Tom's loss.

Sincerely Yu-Jin 

Free Verse Poem

Middlemindz.blogspot.com

Color Poem

Watermelon Red-- Benjamin Moore-- 2087-20

 By Yu-jin Son

In a field of tulips I stand

The color is strong as the smell

Air waves push the flowers all together

They look like fans celebrating a victory in Manchester

The sun is bright in the horizon

The wind is blowing on my cheeks

The tulips move on the beat of my favorite songs

About glory and winning streaks

A girl stands next to me

A red scarf is around her neck

Peacefully and quietly floating in the wind

As she stands in the field and stares back at me

Celebrating quite indeed

And happy to be in the field

We feel the crowd around us

But they are nowhere to be seen

The energy is always there

And the happiness is everywhere

Joy of the fans and players

But coming from the two people present

She smells like red ripe round watermelon

She flows like air

She tasted like watermelon

When I kissed her lips

Electricity is released

In my head and into my blood

The tulips lay on the wind at ease

As we face we face the sun

Watermelon red her lips were

Watermelon scent her skin expelled

Watermelon sweet her lips tasted

As Watermelon fields that are far away

Red are all the tulips

Red is the wave of fans

Red is the scarf that warms her

Red is my vivid heart

Just one kiss of hello

And now a wave of goodbye

Celebrating a common goal

And now is the end of the rite

The field is like a stream

Of blood from my fervent dreams

Ever pumping with Exhilarating joy

Faithfull to my heart serene 

As now I stand alone

Crowds of people I still sense

With the tulips that smell of rout

Defeat from the other side of a fence.

The sun is a still quite bright light sight

In my dreams, there is never night

At this field of winners I shall wait

For another victory in the present tense


MiddleMinz.blogspot.com

Where I'm From

I Am From

I am from the all different kinds of sports fields, from dirt and grass

I am from the soft wooden floors with warm heaters

I am from the Rose of Sharon, the red maple leaves falling off the trees

I am from respect for elders and small eyes, from the Sons and the Hwangs

I am from the work-it-alls

And the never-give-ups

From respect and take one slow step at a time

I am from the cross where Jesus was crucified

I’m from cell phones with K-pop music,

I am from Kimbap heaven, kimbap and kimchie

From the trust of my parents whenever I needed it,

The lungs my father filled up with blackness to educate me and my brother

I am from my parent’s hard work

I am from tents that me and my brother made in out bedrooms,

That we lit with lamps and read books

I am from schools where teachers were

Strict

Mean

Boring

I’m from the memories of my youth  

England

Korea

Holland

England where I could smell the fresh air every morning

Korea where I felt safe

Holland where I could eat all sorts of cheese by just walking for a few minutes

I am from the English playing style

And the Korean playing style

Which are very different playing styles from each other

 I am from both sides the English and the American

I am from a small journalist club,

Going around Europe, Asia, America and South America

I am from a family that scarified many things for their next generations