Exploration Three: Alison Mroczkowski

Alison Mroczkowski
Exploration Three: Reading response for The Things They Carried


So far, my active reading has definitely improved. Before we were told to actually highlight or underline pieces of a story that stood out to us, I was not very engaged in my reading. Now I am constantly looking for the next piece of writing to jump out at me. I am more engaged with the dialogue and I can picture the scene playing out in my imagination. For example, in the first paragraph of the story "Enemies" it mentioned Lee Strunk and Dave Jensen getting into a pointless fight about a missing jackknife. I could picture a scene playing out in my mind with two grown men fighting with each other. Before active reading, I probably would have skimmed right past that.

The story "On the Rainy River" has stood out to me the most. I was very intrigued throughout the whole story wondering what Tim was thinking, was he going to flee or was he going to stay? I was (for a lack of a better word) fascinated with his dilemma. What would I myself do if I were to be put in that situation? I would flee for sure. The idea of going into a war and battling to the death terrifies me. The quote "I was no soldier. I hated Boy Scouts. I hated camping out. I hated dirt and tents and mosquitoes." on page 39 stood out to me because that is exactly what I would be thinking, I am not a fan of outdoors-y activities either and the potential of being forced into something that required those activities makes me anxious. So seeing this short story play out was very intriguing.

Tim O'Brien stands out to me the most so far. Tim has a lot of unanswered questions presenting themselves to him in the book. He is in a big dilemma right now. He is trying to find out what is best for him and what is in his best interest. I am very interested in finding out what happens to Tim and what he has in store for him throughout the book.