Crappy Final Draftt Essay

Phil Brown
3/19/09
Period 1

Relevance

In the novel The Things They Carried the author, Tim O’Brien, tells the story a bit differently than what is traditionally done. Normally a novel is written and it is just one big block of text telling the story from beginning to end. The way Tim O’Brien wrote his novel was to write smaller stories and sort of have them build on top of each other. This may be a better way to convey an overall message to readers by means of a book. Tim O’Brien was brave to try this different method.

There was not a main story to which the readers all followed, instead there were smaller stories that were brought together to create the entire novel. The stories told throughout the book were almost like vignettes, although they were generally lengthier. The ability that these small stories had to come together and give birth to an entire book was a great achievement that had not been attempted many times before.

The way Tim O’Brien used this method of smaller stories worked pretty well to his advantage. It is often hard to tell one story at one time. But if several if not many other stories all have the same meaning or point than it is often easier to get your point across through means which are easier for the reader to follow. To read an entire novel can be tiring to some at times and many often just lose interest if it doesn’t grab their attention right away. Breaking up an entire story into smaller ones gives the reader a feeling of accomplishment. Instead of seeing it as one big block of text it can instead be seen as several stories put together.

The Things They Carried is possibly the perfect novel for those not looking for a long drawn out book but instead little stories, that way it is easier to stop, and it leaves the reader feeling rejuvenated knowing they don’t have to continuously read on. The novel jumped from stories of the war, to Tim, to another platoon, it never just revolved around Tim. The chapter, Sweetheart of Song Tra Bong was a good example of Tim O’Brien’s certain kind of storytelling. This chapter was really more of a story within a story.

Although the book is split up into stories the readers still get the message as a whole. In fact, it may be even easier to understand a concept when it is given to one a number of ways. It is then easy for the reader because no matter which story they’re paying attention to they get the same message. In some the message may not always be clear but when you have a variety, possibly one you may understand more than another it is then easier to draw upon a conclusion.

Rough Draft Essay (which is more or less the final draft)

Phil Brown
3/11/09
Period 1

The Things They Carried Rough Draft

In the novel The Things They Carried the author, Tim O’Brien, tells the story a bit differently than what is traditionally done. Normally a novel is written and it is just one big block of text. The way Tim O’Brien wrote his novel was to write smaller stories and sort of have them build on top of each other. This may be a better way to convey an overall message to readers by means of a book.

There was not a main story to which the readers all followed, instead there were smaller stories that were brought together to create the entire novel. The stories told throughout the book were almost like vignettes, although they were lengthier. The ability that these small stories had to come together and give birth to an entire book was a great achievement that had not been attempted many times before.

The way Tim O’Brien used this method of smaller stories worked pretty well to his advantage. It is often hard to tell one story at one time. But if several if not many other stories all have the same meaning or point than it is often easier to get your point across through means which are easier for the reader to follow. To read an entire novel can be tiring to some at times and many often just lose interest if it doesn’t grab their attention right away. Breaking up an entire story into smaller ones gives the reader a feeling of accomplishment. Instead of seeing it as one big block of text it can instead be seen as several stories put together.

The Things They Carried is possibly the perfect novel for those not looking for a long drawn out book but instead little stories, that way it is easier to stop, and it leaves the reader feeling rejuvenated knowing they don’t have to continuously read on. The novel jumped from stories of the war, to Tim, to another platoon, it never just revolved around Tim. The chapter, Sweetheart of Song Tra Bong was a good example of Tim O’Brien’s certain kind of storytelling. This chapter was really more of a story within a story.

Although the book is split up into stories the readers still get the message as a whole. In fact, it may be even easier to understand a concept when it is given to one a number of ways. It is then easy for the reader because no matter which story they’re paying attention to they get the same message. In some the message may not always be clear but when you have a variety, possibly one you may understand more than another it is then easier to draw upon a conclusion.

Favorite Villains

Disney: There are a few, definitely between Jaffar, Scar, and Ursula. My all time favorite Disney villain though is....

Scar. No question. I've noticed that often (I'm not sure if this applies just to Disney or in general) the best villains are the ones that try to come to power. Scar is my favorite because (number one) the laugh, you are not a true villain unless you have an evil laugh. The laugh is the reason that the others were on my favorite list as well. (number 2) He was willing to do anything to be king. I mean he killed his effing brother!!!! and smiled evily at it. (number III) Possibly the best reason (well not the best but just under the laugh reason) "Long live the king." He said it so evily to Mufasa. And it was said in an excrutiatingly ironic way but it also had a double meaning. The irony in the statement, and then the fact that Mufasa was going to die (and his knowing that Simba would be next) also said that Scar would then be king so 'Long live me.'

DC Comics: The Joker. And NO! The Joker was my favorite DC villain BEFORE Dark Kinght!!! Again, my favorite villain for the laugh. There was one point where I kind of accidentally sounded like him when I laughed although I never did the all out scream towards the end..... well I did but that's another story all together. ( I wanted to use a joker pic that looked insane but I also wanted to use the classic carton joker so ya)

Marvel:....don't know

Other: Eris from Sinbad Legend of the Seven Seas. Her laugh wasn't all that great but she still had the means for death on her mind, and her entire purpose was chaos which was just beautiful. The way she travelled, by way of...uh smoke(?) was pretty cool, I would love to be able to move like that. That would just about be the sickest thing in the world.

(never can I write 'the' right the first time)

Sleep/Paralysis

One of my favorite things in the world is when I get to a certain point in sleep and I feel like I can't move but I do just because when I'm semi-conscious I always think some position is going to be better than the one I was in before. Maybe I just feel the need to move but anyway. When it feels so comfortable I don't even want to move but when I do I settle back into that same feeling like I can't move and pleasure just runs throughout my limbs. As quoted from a can of FREEK I'm a "Sleep FREEK".

Continuous Stream of Consciousness

current crack song: (Go Hard by DJ Khaled ft. Kanye West and T-Paine)

That song says it's by DH Khaled but if you ever heard that song you may think differenetly. Khaled says about 20-30 words throughtout the entire thing (only a slight very slight exaggeration. If anything it would be Kanye West ft. T-Paine.

Yesterday in yearbook I wasn't that productive some stuff got done but no actual work. Four of my friends had my stress ball thats a miniature soccer ball. I started freaking out because I hate when people squeeze it because it wears it out (that's what he said).

Tuesday I had a Lost for the first time in a long time and for some reason it's just not as good as I remember it. When it comes to energy drinks I just stick to what I consider to be the Holy Trinity: Full Throttle, Monster, and Rockstar. For some reason energy drinks calm me down instead of make me hyper I'm all melow after I drink one.

My inbox on my phone is 96% full. I probably text way too much.

I saw One Missed Call the other day and I didn't entirely understand the ending. Everytimethe girl tries to kill someone is the mom going to stop her? or was it only with the one main chick whose name I can't remember.

GO SEE 'TAKEN'!!! that is one of the best movies

Where I'd Like to End Up

I have this fantasy of when I'm old and a retired writer that I have a koi pond and I tend to them and what not. Because after all what retired old person doesn't have a hobby? My friends grandma does golf, another old woman made stained-glass art, my mom wants to do gardening when she gets old(er), my grandad fishes, and me I'm going to have my koi pond. I can't decide whether I just want the plain ones since they don't need that much maintenance or breed the ones of a higher pedigree. The higher pedigrees are much nicer to look at in my opinion but the water has to be at just the right temperature, and the right pH balance, and the right kind of food and one of the main reasons I want koi are so that they can spawn and I can just watch them grow. I'll probably just be like "screw it" and just get the ones of a higher pedigree because for some reason I need a certain amount of worry and urgency in my life. That's where I'd like to end up. I think my favorite kind are the Bekko, Tancho, Utsuri Mono, Hikari Moyo, Hikari Muji, Utsuri, maybe the Showa but all time favorite is the Kumonryu

Rant of the Day: Emos and Veganism

As if from out of nowhere.... nah. My original plan was to be completely emo and keep that mood throughout the entire thing but I don't really feel like boring people with a bunch of stuff when I would say something like 'oh suck it up'. That is one thing I can't stand though is when people complain and moan about nothing, they chose the absolute minute thing to cry over. In my opinion that one song “I Must be Emo by Hollywood Undead" could not be more true. Especially since one of my friends is "emo" (although you wouldn't know it by looking) but he does majority of the stuff that they mention. I know it's supposed to be stereotypical but is it really? Sure I guess. Something that bothers me more is the people that only dress in the emo style. For example one of those people was standing behind me in line and talking to their friends and he had just realized that being vegan meant not eating marshmallows because apparently there are horse hooves in marshmallows (????????). While we're on the topic of veganism I hate how it was a fad about a year ago and most likely still is. Like out of nowhere meat is like bringing your parents out on a date with you (apologies for the bad analogy). If meat isn't your thing I get it that's all fine and good. If you jump straight to veganism then obviously there's a problem. One of my friends is vegan. When she was five she saw this video and from then on began cutting meat out of her diet (she just lost the desire for meat) and she became a vegetarian and over time became vegan. This is an understandable process. But not the other (wannabe) emo pricks that do it just because. An there's my rant for the day.