So I watched that little video about Jeannette Walls that Ms.H has posted on her blog. First I'd like to start off by saying that my internet was not cooperating at all and got me very upset, so I had to watch the video 5 seconds at a time. So I apologize if I butcher any of the meanings of Ms. Walls' words.
Ok, now I'd like to use a quote that Ms.H said in class the other day. "A dysfunctional family, the gift that keeps on giving." How appropriate. I mean honestly, a normal family is a boring memoir. The things that happened to the Walls children is quite different and makes for a great memoir. There is so much going on in the book that I almost feel overwhelmed. Sometimes I want to explain a small scene of the book to my mom, but I can't explain that little part without explaining half the chapter before it. It's crazy how it's all tied together.
Next I'd like to quote one of my friends. The other day she said "You shouldn't care what other people think. Don't let their opinions influence you." And I wish I could live by that motto, but I can't. I know I'm affected by peer pressure, media pressure, etc. So anyway...this made me think of Rex and Rose Mary Walls. They never seemed to care what anyone thought of them. I think Ms. Walls hits the nail on the head when she talks in the video about seeing her mother on the street when she was on her way to the party. I believe this is also the first scene in the book . She recalls being nervous about people asking her why this homeless woman knows her, and she said she would be embarrassed of what other people think. And this quote come to mind. You shouldn't care what other people think. You should care what you think of yourself. Jeannette's mother was happy living on the streets and no one else's opinion could change that.
I started writing this post a few days ago and stopped to think. So if I contradict myself or anything of the sort, I apologize in advance. I was just on NiceNet [ok, call me a nerd] and I looked at the page for the 12A class reading "The Glass Castle". Only one person had posted so far and they wrote about how it was a little slow in the beginning. I reassured them that it would turn out to be a great book. I wrote about how the attitudes of the entire family plays a big part in the story. The father seemed optimistic at times, like when he wasn't drunk. The mother went from one extreme to the other. I just thought that this little video tied together what I was trying to say. Have a good attitude and don't worry about what other people think about you, just worry about what you think of yourself.
Ok, I think I'm done.
10.19.2007
10.04.2007
Courage or No Courage? That is the Question...
It seems that courage is really important to al the soldiers in this book, and I guess that makes sense. Who would want to go to war and be labeled a “coward.” I mean, could you imagine having all your friends making fun of you for being afraid to shoot someone, or running away when things started to get real bad? I don’t think I’ve ever been called a coward before but I know I’ve been called a quitter, and that made me feel really bad about myself. I guess you could say it’s along the same lines. I think having no courage at all is kind of like giving up on something.
Courage is defined as “the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery” according to Dicitonary.com. These soldiers were definitely facing difficulty, danger, and pain through out the story and the war. The pain, however, was both physical and emotional. They had to deal with the physical pain, such as when Tim describes what it felt like when he got shot, or the emotional pain that goes with losing a friend.
Norman Bowker is a prime example a person with courage but someone who did not reach their full potential to act on that courage. When they are being fired upon in the s**t field and Kiowa sinks below the surface, Norman tries to save his friend. He tries really hard to pull Kiowa out but then Norman starts to slide under and has to let go.
I think the hardest part for Norman Bowker about the night Kiowa died is that he wasn’t as courageous as he could have been. He could have tried harder to save his friend. He could have gotten the attention of another guy and they could have pulled Kiowa out together. But instead he lost his friend that night. He talks about what happened that night in this paragraph:
He would’ve talked about this, and how he grabbed Kiowa by the boot and tried to pull him out. He pulled hard but Kiowa was gone, and then suddenly he felt himself going, too. He could taste it. The s**t was in his nose and eyes. There were flares and mortar rounds, and the stink was everywhere—it was inside him, in his lungs—and he could no longer tolerate it. Not here, he thought. Not like this. He released Kiowa’s boot and watched it slide away. Slowly, working his way up, he hoisted himself out of the deep mud, and then he lay still and tasted the s**t in his mouth and closed his eyes and listened to the rain and explosions and bubbling sounds.
He was alone.
He had lost his weapon but it did not matter. All he wanted was a bath.
Nothing else. A hot soapy bath. (149-150)
At this point, I don’t think Norman really cared about courage, or the lack thereof. Later on, I think he realized that he was not courageous at that moment and felt ashamed of himself. No one blamed him for Kiowa’s death, but there was still blame to be put somewhere. He was afraid of what the other soldiers would say about him.
But then again, I wasn’t there. I was never a soldier, so my opinion of courage and what it means is completely different than someone who actually went to war and experienced something like this.
Courage is defined as “the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery” according to Dicitonary.com. These soldiers were definitely facing difficulty, danger, and pain through out the story and the war. The pain, however, was both physical and emotional. They had to deal with the physical pain, such as when Tim describes what it felt like when he got shot, or the emotional pain that goes with losing a friend.
Norman Bowker is a prime example a person with courage but someone who did not reach their full potential to act on that courage. When they are being fired upon in the s**t field and Kiowa sinks below the surface, Norman tries to save his friend. He tries really hard to pull Kiowa out but then Norman starts to slide under and has to let go.
I think the hardest part for Norman Bowker about the night Kiowa died is that he wasn’t as courageous as he could have been. He could have tried harder to save his friend. He could have gotten the attention of another guy and they could have pulled Kiowa out together. But instead he lost his friend that night. He talks about what happened that night in this paragraph:
He would’ve talked about this, and how he grabbed Kiowa by the boot and tried to pull him out. He pulled hard but Kiowa was gone, and then suddenly he felt himself going, too. He could taste it. The s**t was in his nose and eyes. There were flares and mortar rounds, and the stink was everywhere—it was inside him, in his lungs—and he could no longer tolerate it. Not here, he thought. Not like this. He released Kiowa’s boot and watched it slide away. Slowly, working his way up, he hoisted himself out of the deep mud, and then he lay still and tasted the s**t in his mouth and closed his eyes and listened to the rain and explosions and bubbling sounds.
He was alone.
He had lost his weapon but it did not matter. All he wanted was a bath.
Nothing else. A hot soapy bath. (149-150)
At this point, I don’t think Norman really cared about courage, or the lack thereof. Later on, I think he realized that he was not courageous at that moment and felt ashamed of himself. No one blamed him for Kiowa’s death, but there was still blame to be put somewhere. He was afraid of what the other soldiers would say about him.
But then again, I wasn’t there. I was never a soldier, so my opinion of courage and what it means is completely different than someone who actually went to war and experienced something like this.
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