Exploration 3: Maddie Vincent

My active reading so far has been pretty good. I enjoy reading The Things They Carried and I find the stories in it to be very interesting. When I used to read, I would never highlight or mark anything in the book. After taking the time to really evaluate the text and mark things that stick out to me, I've realized that it has helped me understand the book and remember key details. One thing that really stuck out to me in today's reading was the chapter "Enemies". In the chapter, Jensen and Strunk get into a fist fight and Strunk is taken to get his nose looked at because he was hurt pretty bad. Even though Jensen won the fight, he started to worry and he was not able to relax. During the chapter he said, " No safe ground: enemies everywhere.". Jensen eventually lost it completely and broke his own nose to make things even between him and Strunk. I found it very odd that even though Jensen won the fight, he was the one to lose control and go crazy. It gives you an idea of how the soldiers in the war can struggle mentally.

I think that the story "On the Rainy River" has meant the most to me. I think that the story is very relatable to not only my life, but other peoples as well. In the story, On the Rainy River, Tim O'Brien is drafted for a war that he hates and does not believe in. He contemplates fleeing for Canada to get out of going to the war or going and fighting for something that he doesn't believe in. "I was drafted to fight a war I hated" (pg. 38). I believe that in life you're always going to have hard decisions that you are going to have to make. I also believe that you are sometimes going to have to do things that you don't want to do. I liked reading the story "On the Rainy River" because we got to go through O'Brien's thought process with him and experience the feeling of what he was going through.

The character that stands out the most to me so far is Dave Jensen. Jensen is a big, strong soldier who got into a fight with Lee Strunk. Jensen ended up winning the fight but, he lost control of himself afterwards. I find it very interesting that Jensen was the one to lose his mind and go crazy even though he was the one to win the fight. He was worried that Strunk was out to get him but in the story it says that Jensen is a much bigger and stronger man than Strunk so, it is interesting that he would be afraid of him. I also find it interesting to see how being at war influences the way the characters react to certain situations.