The Kite Runner
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Friday, July 30, 2010
Operation Homecoming
Ashley Estrada
07.30.2010
Operation Homecoming
A very sad documentary this was! It was sad because it was honest. It was all the truth. You wouldn't need to have read the story How to Tell a True War Story to know that all these interviews on this video is true. While watching the documentary Operation Homecoming, it is almost difficult to focus on the fact the reason we were watching it was for the writers voice, not the soldier's voice. The soldier's voice is the writer's voice, however I was more focused on the events they were telling about.
One indication to me that these are true stories is because it was cut very dry. They told us things that we did not want to hear. Things that I did not want to hear that they told us was that they actually wait for war to begin. This is honest, I definitely believe it, and respect their honesty. They don't sugar coat these stories either; not over their cussing or disturbing stories that wouldn't normally would be a in a book you buy. In the beginning of this documentary we heard one of the soldier's stories that he wrote while deployed, that he left in his pocket the entire time he was in war. It is how he got through it. It is how all these men got through it. They wrote because it was the only thing they could do to get their stories out, and keep them a little sane. They have one soldier even tell us "I thought it would be all over the news, and there was hardly any mention of it... I thought to myself; Well, If no one is going to write about it, I will take a shot at it".
As that same soldier also tells us, these are not much of romantic stories in his eyes. As I discussed earlier, this documentary is not romantic, at least not to me. I don't think it was meant to be. One soldier that I enjoyed listening to talked about what he went through while in the middle of gunfire. It was brave of him to let us know that he did not fire at just anyone. He disobeyed his senior officer when he told him to "just fucking waste them!". He told us that they people he was suppose to have waste, he could tell were just spectators. There are first of all, not a lot off troops that would have done that, but to admit it is a whole different story. I am sure it is not something that anyone would be proud of, but they do it because they think they have to. He also said he waited when it came to the next people he saw too because they did not have weapons. This shows us that he is really paying attention to where he is firing his weapon. He is not just all over the place, hoping to hit something.
While this same soldier is talking, I hear when the writer in him comes out. This s another way I know it is a true war story. HE is telling us about a conversation after all the combat was over that he was having with his sergeant. They are discussing whether or not he is 'OK'. After he answers 'I don't know' to this question, he adds a little more detail by telling us that his sergeant bummed a cigarette off of him before he went on to what exactly he said. This gave me a visual of their conversation, even though we are watching a video. If this hadn't been a video, somehow that one line would have made this story and their conversation come to life for me. It made it real. He wasn't just telling us the facts of this conversation, he was telling us what he remembers, even the things that 'were not important to tell the story'. He uses writing tactics, like putting his memories in a shoe box. This isn't the only time we hear the discussion of a sergeant smoking. We hear, "inhale, exhale" later on during a conversation. This is them making this story more of a poetic story. This is how I thought of it anyway, it reminded me I wasn't in a conversation with one of these soldiers, but that it is a story that he wrote of his memories. Sometimes I like hearing them sound like they are talking to you personally, but this was a nice change of pace. This is what they do. They go through everything while they are deployed then write these stories out, the way they are in their heads; he remembered watching his sergeant smoking.
This film constantly made me keep going back to How to Tell a True War Story. I was constantly comparing, even though, I knew these were a true war stories either way. I was just looking at clues that we have been given before. When I read How to Tell a True war Story, it was back-and-forth on how to tell. It was contradicting at some points, on purpose. I saw this a lot in the story when listening to them talk about what they waited for exactly. Some of them told us that they truly waited for war to happen because they expected it, it is what they were trained for. On the same hand, these are the same people who were thinking they didn't want it to happen at the same time. That the only thing in their head was 'don't die'.
I really enjoyed the part in this documentary where they are telling us to put ourselves in their shoes. It is miserable to live there, and they describe it awesomely! It is almost humorous, but it is all true, which takes a little bit of the humor out of it for us. This was right after they told us how they use humor to get through it all. They laugh about things to keep from getting scared.
All the soldiers in this are just trying to get their stories out. they are all honest stories, not for entertainment, and not for attention. They are not exaggerating, they don't need to exaggerate. They wrote these stories because war brought out the writers in them. Some did it because they wanted everyone to know about it since they wouldn't find out any other way. This was an awesome documentary. Very Real. 'True war stories'.
07.30.2010
Operation Homecoming
A very sad documentary this was! It was sad because it was honest. It was all the truth. You wouldn't need to have read the story How to Tell a True War Story to know that all these interviews on this video is true. While watching the documentary Operation Homecoming, it is almost difficult to focus on the fact the reason we were watching it was for the writers voice, not the soldier's voice. The soldier's voice is the writer's voice, however I was more focused on the events they were telling about.
One indication to me that these are true stories is because it was cut very dry. They told us things that we did not want to hear. Things that I did not want to hear that they told us was that they actually wait for war to begin. This is honest, I definitely believe it, and respect their honesty. They don't sugar coat these stories either; not over their cussing or disturbing stories that wouldn't normally would be a in a book you buy. In the beginning of this documentary we heard one of the soldier's stories that he wrote while deployed, that he left in his pocket the entire time he was in war. It is how he got through it. It is how all these men got through it. They wrote because it was the only thing they could do to get their stories out, and keep them a little sane. They have one soldier even tell us "I thought it would be all over the news, and there was hardly any mention of it... I thought to myself; Well, If no one is going to write about it, I will take a shot at it".
As that same soldier also tells us, these are not much of romantic stories in his eyes. As I discussed earlier, this documentary is not romantic, at least not to me. I don't think it was meant to be. One soldier that I enjoyed listening to talked about what he went through while in the middle of gunfire. It was brave of him to let us know that he did not fire at just anyone. He disobeyed his senior officer when he told him to "just fucking waste them!". He told us that they people he was suppose to have waste, he could tell were just spectators. There are first of all, not a lot off troops that would have done that, but to admit it is a whole different story. I am sure it is not something that anyone would be proud of, but they do it because they think they have to. He also said he waited when it came to the next people he saw too because they did not have weapons. This shows us that he is really paying attention to where he is firing his weapon. He is not just all over the place, hoping to hit something.
While this same soldier is talking, I hear when the writer in him comes out. This s another way I know it is a true war story. HE is telling us about a conversation after all the combat was over that he was having with his sergeant. They are discussing whether or not he is 'OK'. After he answers 'I don't know' to this question, he adds a little more detail by telling us that his sergeant bummed a cigarette off of him before he went on to what exactly he said. This gave me a visual of their conversation, even though we are watching a video. If this hadn't been a video, somehow that one line would have made this story and their conversation come to life for me. It made it real. He wasn't just telling us the facts of this conversation, he was telling us what he remembers, even the things that 'were not important to tell the story'. He uses writing tactics, like putting his memories in a shoe box. This isn't the only time we hear the discussion of a sergeant smoking. We hear, "inhale, exhale" later on during a conversation. This is them making this story more of a poetic story. This is how I thought of it anyway, it reminded me I wasn't in a conversation with one of these soldiers, but that it is a story that he wrote of his memories. Sometimes I like hearing them sound like they are talking to you personally, but this was a nice change of pace. This is what they do. They go through everything while they are deployed then write these stories out, the way they are in their heads; he remembered watching his sergeant smoking.
This film constantly made me keep going back to How to Tell a True War Story. I was constantly comparing, even though, I knew these were a true war stories either way. I was just looking at clues that we have been given before. When I read How to Tell a True war Story, it was back-and-forth on how to tell. It was contradicting at some points, on purpose. I saw this a lot in the story when listening to them talk about what they waited for exactly. Some of them told us that they truly waited for war to happen because they expected it, it is what they were trained for. On the same hand, these are the same people who were thinking they didn't want it to happen at the same time. That the only thing in their head was 'don't die'.
I really enjoyed the part in this documentary where they are telling us to put ourselves in their shoes. It is miserable to live there, and they describe it awesomely! It is almost humorous, but it is all true, which takes a little bit of the humor out of it for us. This was right after they told us how they use humor to get through it all. They laugh about things to keep from getting scared.
All the soldiers in this are just trying to get their stories out. they are all honest stories, not for entertainment, and not for attention. They are not exaggerating, they don't need to exaggerate. They wrote these stories because war brought out the writers in them. Some did it because they wanted everyone to know about it since they wouldn't find out any other way. This was an awesome documentary. Very Real. 'True war stories'.
Movie- The Handmaid's Tale
Ashley Estrada
07.29.2010
The Handmaid’s Tale/ Movie
The Handmaid’s Tale
Reading a book before watching the movie always makes the movie that much better. If I could, I would always recommend to anyone reading the book to any movie first. The reason is because you can always tell what the character in the movie is thinking during silent scenes. There are several movies that I have watched a silent scene in and wished I knew exactly what they were thinking. In The Handmaid’s Tale it is great to have read the book and know exactly how everything is working when watching the movie. This is especially in the beginning scenes I noticed.
In the beginning scenes of this movie, where the girls are all meeting each other and getting use to things is a good example of knowing what Offred was thinking. This is also true for when she meets Serena. This is true because I remember in the book, she was thinking where she knew her from. She was thinking that Serena was on a TV show that Offred use to watch when she was a young girl that happened to be a Christian channel. This meant the rest of the time I read about Serena I knew in the book that she use to be on bible-channel years prior to them meeting.
One more thing I should mention right now is that if I were to have watched the movie first, I wouldn’t have known who ‘Offred” was. Her name in the movie was Kate more than Offred. Although, I did hear her called Offred a couple times, but I can’t remember exactly who in the movie; for the most part she was called Kate.
On the other hand, the movie made a couple things a little more clear. One thing that was more clear in the move was her flashbacks. It is always easy to recognize flashbacks in movies right away because of everything they do normally to distort the picture. While writing a book, it is difficult to change something from flashbacks to present day things without changing the whole setting for that chapter, ect. It was easier to watch the movie when it came to things like this.
A little issue I noticed with the characters in the book was that it talked about Luke in detail. If I would have watched the movie first, I would never know that his name was even Luke. I am pretty positive it never mentioned his name at all. During her flashbacks you can see him lying there, obviously dead, which we can assume that this was a significant person in her life. That is exactly what the movie forces you to do, is assume who this is to her and why she is having these flashbacks. Most movies are the same way, which is why I think it is more fun to read the book
I encourage you next time to pay closer attention to the silent scenes in moves. The best silent scene I have seen in a move was in the movie Unfaithful. If you ever have a chance to watch it, there is a scene where she is on the subway and not one word is said. You can tell a little of what she is thinking because of her emotions in this scene, but not everything. This would be a great time to have read a book before watching the movie and knowing exactly what is going on in her mind. This is just one movie that is an excellent example of the benefits of reading before watching. There are similar scenes to this one in The Handmaid’s Tale, and that is why it was beneficial to do this in the order we did.
07.29.2010
The Handmaid’s Tale/ Movie
The Handmaid’s Tale
Reading a book before watching the movie always makes the movie that much better. If I could, I would always recommend to anyone reading the book to any movie first. The reason is because you can always tell what the character in the movie is thinking during silent scenes. There are several movies that I have watched a silent scene in and wished I knew exactly what they were thinking. In The Handmaid’s Tale it is great to have read the book and know exactly how everything is working when watching the movie. This is especially in the beginning scenes I noticed.
In the beginning scenes of this movie, where the girls are all meeting each other and getting use to things is a good example of knowing what Offred was thinking. This is also true for when she meets Serena. This is true because I remember in the book, she was thinking where she knew her from. She was thinking that Serena was on a TV show that Offred use to watch when she was a young girl that happened to be a Christian channel. This meant the rest of the time I read about Serena I knew in the book that she use to be on bible-channel years prior to them meeting.
One more thing I should mention right now is that if I were to have watched the movie first, I wouldn’t have known who ‘Offred” was. Her name in the movie was Kate more than Offred. Although, I did hear her called Offred a couple times, but I can’t remember exactly who in the movie; for the most part she was called Kate.
On the other hand, the movie made a couple things a little more clear. One thing that was more clear in the move was her flashbacks. It is always easy to recognize flashbacks in movies right away because of everything they do normally to distort the picture. While writing a book, it is difficult to change something from flashbacks to present day things without changing the whole setting for that chapter, ect. It was easier to watch the movie when it came to things like this.
A little issue I noticed with the characters in the book was that it talked about Luke in detail. If I would have watched the movie first, I would never know that his name was even Luke. I am pretty positive it never mentioned his name at all. During her flashbacks you can see him lying there, obviously dead, which we can assume that this was a significant person in her life. That is exactly what the movie forces you to do, is assume who this is to her and why she is having these flashbacks. Most movies are the same way, which is why I think it is more fun to read the book
I encourage you next time to pay closer attention to the silent scenes in moves. The best silent scene I have seen in a move was in the movie Unfaithful. If you ever have a chance to watch it, there is a scene where she is on the subway and not one word is said. You can tell a little of what she is thinking because of her emotions in this scene, but not everything. This would be a great time to have read a book before watching the movie and knowing exactly what is going on in her mind. This is just one movie that is an excellent example of the benefits of reading before watching. There are similar scenes to this one in The Handmaid’s Tale, and that is why it was beneficial to do this in the order we did.
Full Metal Jacket
Ashley Estrada
07.29.10
Full Metal Jacket
Full Metal jacket
The majority of war movies and stories have a deeper meaning that is conveyed throughout the events in it. The first few scenes in Full Metal Jacket have several underlying messages that if you really stop and think about them, shed a whole new light on the movie. The impact that bootcamp has on soldiers is one that not only effects them during it but for the rest of their lives. In some cases it alters their lives beyond repair. Obviously, Private Pile goes through a lot during these scenes, and analyzing this would be very informative considering other soldiers could be going through the same things right now. This part of the story with Private Pile can also be related to The Handmaid’s Tale.
I have seen this movie several times, and I can say that without looking for the underlying messages, they really aren’t there. Upon looking into these messages, it is like watching a whole different movie than the times prior that I have seen this. For one, you will notice that Private Pile was the only one in the beginning of this movie that was smiling. This is giving us the personality type he was going in to bootcamp. Going in to bootcamp he was obviously a happy person, and content with himself. It is easy to see this change throughout these scenes. This is due to the way he is treated and started to feel about himself.
Relating this to the Handmaid’s tale is a little bit off the wall here, considering we read other war stories throughout this semester. There is a reason that I believe this will make sense though. As I stated, Private Pile was happy and content when he entered bootcamp. Whatever happened and went wrong in his head happened during his basic training. It is in their first meeting that the drill sergeant gives some of the men names other than their real names. Private Pile’s real name is Leonard for example. He also gives out some ‘nick names’ such as Joker and Snowball. This related to the Handmaid’s tale because I feel that giving someone names other than their own is an easy way of tricking yourself into thinking they are not real people with real feelings. This is the same thing as in The Handmaid’s Tale where the women are called ‘handmaids’. They both were treated as though they have no purpose, that no one truly cares for them, and that they are basically worthless.
You can see at which point Private Pile changes into his ‘crazy’ state of mind. This is the point in which he is beaten by bars of soap in socks by everyone else in his platoon. He watches the only ‘friend’ he has made while in bootcamp beat him worse than anyone else in there. I call Private Joker his ‘friend’ because he is the only one that we hear calling him by his real name. I feel like Pvt. Pile believed the same thing. I believe that this is the point in which he changes because the very next day is when Pvt. Pile no longer chants with the rest of his platoon, while he also begins talking to his rifle. It is clear by the looks on his face that he is no longer sane.
The difference in the Handmaid’s Tale is that in that book, Offred finds a way to cope with what she is going through. What she goes through is just as terrible, if not worse than what Pvt. Pile faces every day. Perhaps if Private Pile were to ‘pretend that he was telling himself a story in which he controlled the end’ things would have been a little different for him. It is all about mind games and what people will try to do to you at some points in your life.
Watching this movie while looking for signs of Private Pile’s signs of change during bootcamp will recreate the movie and its purpose in your eyes. Unfortunately you watch Pvt. Pile end things in his life, as well as affect the lives of others such as Pvt. Joker and their drill sergeant. There is two ways that corruption of your mind can affect you. In The Handmaid’s Tale this shows the side that makes you stronger. In Pvt. Pile’s life however, it broke him down because he did not find a way to cope with those hard times.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Topic Proposal
Ashley Estrada
7.16.2010
Eng 102/ Topic Proposal
How low the birth rates were in Atwood’s text then when compared to today’s?
I was completely wrong in assuming birth rates are higher than ever. I assumed this because of the spike in adolescent pregnancies as well as the abnormally large families that people seem to be creating. In the little I have researched on this topic, I have found that adolescent birth rates are in fact off the charts. The website with this information is: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2009/12/teen-pregnancy-us-birth-rates-death-rates-cdc-pediatrics-baby.html. There are the tv shows such as 18 and counting that blow my mind and make me a little bit upset. It makes be upset because we all know that any non-tv star family with 18 children would never be able to afford it. This would be something else that tat dollars go to, so we would be paying to support their children basically. Another reason is because they are clearly starting to not have such healthy babies now…
I chose this topic because it will affect more than just my views on this text, but on my view of having children myself. I have never researched this statistics because I do not plan on having a family soon, but in the back of my head I have always thought my reason for wanting a small family was because I don’t want to be a contributing factor if there are too many babies being born out there and over populating. It will help be better understand Atwood because none of us know what it is like to live in a time like that. Women are treated so much differently, for the good, and maybe it will make us more appreciative. These statistics will compare the book to today and see what it could be like for us with today’s statistics.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Mid-session Check In Blog
Ashley Estrada
2.6.2010
Eng 102/ Mid-session Check In Blog
We are all busy college students with a lot on our plates. I know I am not the only one with a lot of other things going on outside this class. I have five other classes this summer so that I can get ahead. I also work a full time job, on graveyards. The biggest challenge I have faced in this class so far is keeping up with when and where to turn things in for this class. All of my classes are different, but for the most part we turn all week's assignments in on the same day at the end of the week. This class is slightly different, but not in a bad way. This class keeps me working throughout the entire week, and makes me keep track of it constantly. This is forcing me to be more responsible and to keep school on my mind.
My biggest success I would say is being able to keep up. I made a few mistake before I realized how things were expected to be turned in, but I am now getting the hang of it. I enjoy turning things in on blogger.com now, when before it was just more confusing than anything. I have kept up my grades in the five classes that I am taking, and I think that is a success for me. This is not something that comes easy to me, and it never has. I do not want a "B" in the class rather than an "A", but I would still consider that grade a success if that is what I end up with. An "A" would show me that I have taken all I can out of the class. Right now, I just feel like I am barely slipping by and cheating myself because of how much more time I could be putting into this class.
The readings in the class have been great. The stories we have been reading have really made a lot of sense and held my attention. Like I said, I don't normally have time for anything, but this reading is easy to make time for. This type of reading and writing is different than others I have done mostly because it is not just summarizing. In the past when I wrote papers, I summarized most of it. By not doing this, and going more into the analysis I would say that I have learned a lot more, and am able to get more in depth. Getting more in depth and having to think more is what makes me learn. This is the whole point in analyzing the author's work is to see where they are coming from and why. It is about reading between the lines, not summarizing what we read. Anyone can summarize what they read.
My goals for the second half of the semester is to definitely get my "B" in the class up to an "A". I know I can do it, I just have to push myself a lot more to get this work done and not be doing it at the last minute. Another thing I could work on with getting my work done more soon is sending it to our instructor so that she can proof read it and let me know what I need to get done. My goals in the class just consist of working harder, and putting more time into the papers that I write in here. I would like to do a little more research on the things we write about and the authors that write the work we are reading. I think with a little more background knowledge of our authors I would be able to analyze what they are writing about a little bit better. This all requires putting more time into this class that I have been.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
How to Tell a True War Story
Ashley Estrada
Eng 102/ Tim O’Brian Blog #2
“Though it is odd, you’re never more alive than when you’re almost dead. You recognize what’s valuable. Freshly, as if for the first time, you love what’s best in your life and in the world, all that might be lost” (O’Brian 78). This is a passage from the story, How to Tell a True War Story by Tim O’Brian. Oh, how true this passage is. It is not until we have lost, or are about to lose the important things in life do we appreciate them. If we were to live everyday as if it were our last, we would be stressless, spontaneous people wouldn’t we? In How to Tell a True War Story, O’Brian tells us about a soldier named “Rat”. He lost his best friend in war, and took this very hard.
Rat, and his late friend, Curt Lemon shared a series of good times and memories with each other. After Lemon passed away, Rat wrote a letter to Lemon’s sister, informing her of the bad news. Unfortunately, she never had the courtesy to write him a response. This must have hurt. Rat took this very hard as well. Throughout the story, we see that Rat is a very emotionally-driven person. Emotion easily takes control of his actions.
One example of his loss of control due to emotions was his incident with the buffalo. He and a few other soldiers find and capture a baby buffalo. That night, Rat goes out of control. He begins shooting the buffalo. He was not shooting it to kill, but to torture. This was a fairly disturbing scene in the story. It was real. I like real stories. Stories that put a “sugar-coating” on the truth to be easier on the reader’s ears and feelings are not real. This made the overall moral of the story come to life. Hence the title, How to Tell a True War Story.
In a war these are the thoughts of the soldiers. Their thoughts are not completely focused on the terrible things. This is why in a true war story, it seems to be fake. “The pictures get jumbled; you tend to miss a lot. And then afterward, when you go to tell about it, there is always that surreal seemingness, which makes the story seem untrue, but which in fact represents the hard and exact truth as it seemed” (O’Brian 68).
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