I do agree with Tim O' Brien that "human life is all one thing, like a blade tracing loops on ice..."(236). I agree that while a person grows in maturation and reasoning skills and other qualities we do still hold certain qualities and characteristics that are stagnant and always present. Often times these qualities come out in different scenarios as we grow older, but they stem from the same quality that is ever present throughout our lives. In the case of Tim O' Brien he feels that he still has the same look in his eye that he has as a fourth grader, and this I believe to be true.
One seminole point in the novel is the repeating theme of guilt for not standing up for what you think is right. Tim O' Brien no matter if he was watching the girl he loved being bullied as a young boy or not objecting to fight a war he believed to be unjust, has this conscience quality of remorse. This is just a piece of his personality that he would let certain things stay with him, and think and rethink them over and over again. I do not think this is a type of quality everyone possesses, but it is an example of a piece of Tim O' Brien that is "absolute and unchanging" (236). I think that as one grows older they still have a piece of them self that is the same as when they were young. Although they become more mature and reasonable as an adult certain pieces of them will never differ, and they rear their heads in different scenarios that go along with the age and life of the person.
O' Brien's nature is to rethink, revisit, and reevaluate events that have occurred in his life. This can be seen through the fact that some chapters are written more then once, the fact that he is writing his story in a novel, that he does go back to Vietnam to visit where he lost one of his best friends and comrades, and that he still talks about his childhood girlfriend he lost to a brain tumor. He is just one of those people that tend to swell on things, be it not bad or good, but it is an example that is true to the fact that people, though they look very different physically over the course of their life, they are still the same as they were when they we children.
3 comments:
Curious phrasing: grows in maturation. How does one grow in maturation? Do you mean a person matures? Isn't maturation the process. Do you want to say one grows in the process?
Another interesting word choice--stagnant. What qualities are you considering stagnant? How are you defining "stagnant"?
Why was the the girl he loved "being bullied as a young boy"? I do not recall that event.
What is a "seminole point"? I thought seminoles are American Indians.
I find this statement interesting: "He is just one of those people that tend to swell on things." How does one swell on things? I have not encountered that term.
Great analysis! It's amazing how so many of us took different approaches to responding to the question. Some talked about their own lives and others took examples from either this book or others. I like the way you incorporated the theme of guilt and it's use throughout the novel. It is deffinatley a part of Tim O'Brien tht will never change.
Also, I think that because this is your blog where you express your feelings, it does not matter what words or phrases you chose, as long as they are the words you think best convey what you mean. Keep up the good work!
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