Exploration Three- Bailey Price

My active reading is going good so far. The book is very descriptive and very personal, not only to the author, but to everyday people as well. Today, in my active reading, I noted that some of the stories seem symbolic. The stories in "The Things They Carried" are deeper than just the stories themselves. For example, in "The Dentist", Curt Lemon has a fear of the dentist, but he does not completely admit it. Then he faints, but pretends to have a toothache later that day and gets his tooth pulled out. I think this story really shows how shameful the soldiers were of being scared. This story also shows that the soldiers were still human even if they were at war; they were just regular people with fears just like every one of us.

"How to Tell a True War story" stood out to me in many different ways. At the beginning of the story Tim O`Brien talks about how true war stories are never moral and there is no point in trying to find one in it. He also says,"There is no virtue. As a first rule of thumb, therefore, you can tell a true war story by its absolute and uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil."(pg. 65) Tim O`Brien tells us that if a war story is believable you shouldn't trust it. The story about Rat Kiley shooting the baby buffalo specifically stood out to me because there was no moral for Rat shooting the baby buffalo. There was no moral lesson to be learned from it. The entire story is just unbelievable because, other than the war, Rat Kiley  had no real motive for killing the baby buffalo.

Elroy stands out to me because instead of being pushy and always giving his opinion he lets Tim have free will. Elroy even helps Tim out by giving him more money than he started with, and by giving Tim jobs to do at the Tip Top Lodge. Elroy also clearly knows that Tim is running from the draft, but yet he says nothing. He seems like a genuinely wise guy, unlike other characters in this book. Elroy generally stood out because of how he gave free will.