This is sort of a sad but hopeful story about men in at war and they things they carried on them, both physically and mentally. Some of these things were necessities, others were for luck, and some were to remind them of someone at home or someone they loved. The author explains in great detail what each man carried and you can almost feel the weight of it all.
The author sets a very serious tone for the story, told from a third person view as the author uses "they" throughout the story. He mentions death and how everything can change in an instant while at war. The things that each man carried were something to get them through this tough time at war. The story is sort of eerie as you never quite know whats going to happen next, just like at war.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Testimony of Pilot
The main character of the story is a man named William who also narrates the story. He and buddy, Radcleve, were playing with m-80s one day and ended up throwing one too close to the other main character, Quadberry. Quadberry did not speak to them until the end of high school. Towards the end up high school Quadberry began playing saxaphone for the school band which William had been paying in for years prior. Quadberry was a weird kid who usually got made funny of, with kids calling him names like "Queerberry." One day though, Quadberry ends up astonishing a crown with the way he played the saxophone and him and William end up becoming good friends.
College ended up separating the two friends, however. However years later they see eachother again but everything was different then the last time they saw each other. Neither of them played music anymore. Quadberry hurt himself and William made himself deaf from playing the drums too loud. Both of their paths ended up in different directions then they originally planned
This story has sort of a sad twist to it, especially how not only two friends grow apart, but also how stupid decisions change their future and what they want to do.
College ended up separating the two friends, however. However years later they see eachother again but everything was different then the last time they saw each other. Neither of them played music anymore. Quadberry hurt himself and William made himself deaf from playing the drums too loud. Both of their paths ended up in different directions then they originally planned
This story has sort of a sad twist to it, especially how not only two friends grow apart, but also how stupid decisions change their future and what they want to do.
"Rules of the Game" POV and Theme
"Rules of the Game" is told from a young Chinese girls perspective, who is the main character. She grew up poor in Chinatown with her mother, father and two brothers. At church where they give away presents to poor children she receives a pack of Life Savers and one of her brothers, a chess set. She becomes obsessed with the games.
She would sit in her room and read about the game. She learned many secrets and began to beat her bothers who eventually lost interest. She brings the chess set to the park where old men would play the game and begins to play a man, Lau Po. He is much better then her brothers and teaches her many moves for the game as well as etiquette. She eventually becomes better than Lau Po and begins to beat many other opponents, attracting a small crown around her on the weekends.
She eventually enters a tournament and wins. Then she wins another. Soon shes a chess sensation at the age of nine, having her picture Life magazine. Her mother begins to treat her differently than her bothers and parades her around like shes a trophy of hers and the girl resents this. She begins to run from her mother and at that point she has to think about what she is going to do next. She had no more moves to make, which was never an issue before. She always had a move for everything.
She would sit in her room and read about the game. She learned many secrets and began to beat her bothers who eventually lost interest. She brings the chess set to the park where old men would play the game and begins to play a man, Lau Po. He is much better then her brothers and teaches her many moves for the game as well as etiquette. She eventually becomes better than Lau Po and begins to beat many other opponents, attracting a small crown around her on the weekends.
She eventually enters a tournament and wins. Then she wins another. Soon shes a chess sensation at the age of nine, having her picture Life magazine. Her mother begins to treat her differently than her bothers and parades her around like shes a trophy of hers and the girl resents this. She begins to run from her mother and at that point she has to think about what she is going to do next. She had no more moves to make, which was never an issue before. She always had a move for everything.
"Cathedral" POV and Theme
The point of view is a first person from the main character. He has a wife who has a blind friend of whom she used to work for. The blind man is coming to visit them after losing his wife to cancer. The main character is definitely weird out by having a blind man in his home for whatever reason. It almost seems as if hes slightly prejudice, or ignorant, especially when he asks his wife about the blind man's wife, "Was his wife a negro?" The wife and the blind man kept in touch by sending tapes back and forth to each other. I believe that also added to the main characters weirdness about the man as it seems as though he is slightly jealous.
The blind man, Robert, finally arrives and they have all enjoy dinner together. The main character, Bub, points out how Robert doesn't wear dark sunglasses like blind people do and how weird his eyes were, with too much white around the pupil, darting back and forth without Robert knowing. After dinner and a few drinks, Bub's wife dozes off and Robert and Bub are left to talk.
After watching the news, a show about Cathedrals and the Middle Ages is on the TV. Bub asks Robert if he knows what a cathedral looks like and he says no. Robert asks Bub to describe one and he can't quite describe it. Robert suggests Bub get a pen and paper and they could draw one together. They do so, with Robert's hand on Bub's following every pen stroke. Towards the end Robert asks Bub to close his eyes. As they finish the drawing, Bub doesn't not open his eyes back up. At the end of the story, it almost seems as if this "opened up" Bub's eyes to the blind man's life.
The blind man, Robert, finally arrives and they have all enjoy dinner together. The main character, Bub, points out how Robert doesn't wear dark sunglasses like blind people do and how weird his eyes were, with too much white around the pupil, darting back and forth without Robert knowing. After dinner and a few drinks, Bub's wife dozes off and Robert and Bub are left to talk.
After watching the news, a show about Cathedrals and the Middle Ages is on the TV. Bub asks Robert if he knows what a cathedral looks like and he says no. Robert asks Bub to describe one and he can't quite describe it. Robert suggests Bub get a pen and paper and they could draw one together. They do so, with Robert's hand on Bub's following every pen stroke. Towards the end Robert asks Bub to close his eyes. As they finish the drawing, Bub doesn't not open his eyes back up. At the end of the story, it almost seems as if this "opened up" Bub's eyes to the blind man's life.
"River of Names" POV and Theme
"River of Names"
This story is told by the main character of the story. It is about a woman who clearly had quite the troubled childhood where the the children were a dime a dozen and beaten, raped, and killed. She was born sort of in between generations of children and therefore seeing everything from an outside perspective. She was also a lesbian which meant she would not bear any more children to the family. Basically, she was different from the rest, although she was not treated any differently.
Quotes such as "We were so many we were without a number and, like tadpoles, if there was one less from time to time, who counted?" and "They did and were not missed" really shows how children weren't really cared for. Essentially every one of the children had their troubled childhoods boil over into their adulthood. "Jack was sent to prison. When he came out, he married and woman and had three children, then one day came home and beat them all to death. Cousin Melvina had three children with one husband. He left and she lost the children to welfare. He three more and lost those too.
The main character never told her girlfriend about exactly how troubled her past was. To her girlfriend, Jesse, she just had a weird fascination for violence. She always tried so hard to not become like everyone in her family and never said a word about it. The name of the story finally makes sense she she says "Ive got a dust of river in my head, a river of names endlessly repeating. That dirty water rises in me, all those children screaming out their lives in my memory, as I become someone else, someone I have tried so hard not to be." Realizing she could not go on with her relationship the way she has been, she cracks and tells her girlfriend the truth.
This story is told by the main character of the story. It is about a woman who clearly had quite the troubled childhood where the the children were a dime a dozen and beaten, raped, and killed. She was born sort of in between generations of children and therefore seeing everything from an outside perspective. She was also a lesbian which meant she would not bear any more children to the family. Basically, she was different from the rest, although she was not treated any differently.
Quotes such as "We were so many we were without a number and, like tadpoles, if there was one less from time to time, who counted?" and "They did and were not missed" really shows how children weren't really cared for. Essentially every one of the children had their troubled childhoods boil over into their adulthood. "Jack was sent to prison. When he came out, he married and woman and had three children, then one day came home and beat them all to death. Cousin Melvina had three children with one husband. He left and she lost the children to welfare. He three more and lost those too.
The main character never told her girlfriend about exactly how troubled her past was. To her girlfriend, Jesse, she just had a weird fascination for violence. She always tried so hard to not become like everyone in her family and never said a word about it. The name of the story finally makes sense she she says "Ive got a dust of river in my head, a river of names endlessly repeating. That dirty water rises in me, all those children screaming out their lives in my memory, as I become someone else, someone I have tried so hard not to be." Realizing she could not go on with her relationship the way she has been, she cracks and tells her girlfriend the truth.
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