Nearing the End

I can’t believe it! Where has the summer gone? The class definitely went by a lot faster then I was prepared for! But now it is going on the final last week and it is time to review what I am taking from this short, eight week class.

What skills have you learned and how will you apply them in your future?

To be honest, I wasn’t able to fully take on the class and learn all that was given to me unfortunately. I took on two summer classes and already had a full schedule with the rest of my life. I wish I could have sat down every week and really extracted from this course what it was trying to teach me. I did learn of a couple of awesome books that I will have to pass on to others, especially those who may be experiencing those kinds of feelings or are going through those events.

How have the readings affected you?

I have never been in any kind of situation that would allow me to fully understand what these brave people are going through but the readings have helped me understand a little better. I couldn’t imagine going through the things that these brave and amazing people have been put through. It makes you take a step back and appreciate the things and the freedom that you have because of these people.

Has your writing process changed?

I wish I could say it has but like I mentioned before I didn’t really get to give this class my all. I wish I could have though.

Any challenges in this class and how did you overcome them?

My biggest challenge was my already busy schedule. I had a hard time meeting deadlines with working full time, another online class, getting prepared for my wedding in two months, and a 15 month old boy who has learned how to pull on my last strings ha ha. I am thankful for all that I have but I am looking forward to the end of my class so that it can be one less thing to stress about!

"The Man I Killed" by Tim O'Brien

“His jaw was in his throat, his upper lip and teeth were gone, his one eye was shut, his other was a star shaped hole, his eyebrows were thin and arched like a woman’s, his nose was undamaged, there was a slight tear at the lobe of one ear…his forehead was lightly freckled, his fingernails were clean…the right cheek was smooth and hairless…He was not a fighter” (Tim O’Brien 118-19).

I chose “The Man I Killed” by Tim O’Brien because of the emotion that the repetitive lines added to the story. I chose this quote because bits and pieces of it were replayed throughout the story as the soldier replayed the image of the man in his head. This story follows two soldiers who had crossed paths with a supposed enemy resulting in the enemy’s death.  

The soldier who had killed the young man stood starring at his lifeless body, examining him carefully. He had come to the conclusion that the man he had just killed was not someone who wanted to cause any harm to anyone and that it wasn’t in his nature. “He was not a fighter…he wanted to someday be a teacher of mathematics” (Tim O’Brien 119). The repetition of what this young man looked like, lying dead on the ground, only drew me in deeper into what the soldier was feeling.

I can’t imagine the feeling of killing someone. To have a person’s life in my grasp and having complete and total control of them living or dying. This obviously affects this soldier because he doesn’t say one word during the story. The other soldier who is with him tries to get him to talk about how he is feeling but is not successful in doing so. I think many soldiers today go through these same feelings of withdrawal both physically and mentally. It is important for them to share their stories and feelings with others so that they don’t increase their chances of posttraumatic distress or worsen what they already have and I think making them into stories is one of the best ways to relieve some of that stress.

Image Source

O'Brien, Tim. "The Man I Killed." The Things They Carried. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. 118-24. Print



Summary vs Analysis

What is the difference between a summary and an analysis?
A summary is a brief factual overview of a story's characters, setting, and plot. It simply describes who, what, when, and where without using the readers opinion of the story itself. The summary will follow the actual story in chronological order and highlight the main points of the story. Its like taking the story and chopping out all the vivid details and descriptions, leaving it with just the nitty gritty information important to the story's plot. It doesn't allow the reader to really dig deep into each sentence and explain their interpretation. Instead, its the cold hard facts.

An analysis is a partial summary filled with a readers opinion and thoughts. In an analysis, a reader is able to dive into the story itself and explain his/her interpretation of the story. The reader is able to express their feelings without "re-writing" the story. The analysis is also a detailed explanation of how the story was put together. It elaborates on what the story is trying to tell the reader without re-stating the same thing the original author had written.

Picture Source Here

Introduction Video :)