Wow, the final post. The end of the semester is here. We have been through so many wars and battle of different sorts during the last sixteen weeks. We experienced running away from battle with Henry Fleming in The Red Badge of Courage, we were horrified as Editha guilt-tripped her fiancee into going into battle and angry when he died, we went through the mental battle of Stanley vs. Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire, all while dealing with the struggles of our own lives. In some of these stories, the hero succeeded--in some, they didn't. As we leave the world of Ivy Tech and American Literature (although as long as we're reading, we never truly leave it...so keep reading!!!), some of you for good, keep these characters in mind. What did they teach you? Did they show you how to act or how not to act? What was the author's intention behind the story?
I hope you all go on to succeed in whatever you set out to do. Don't give up especially when it seems impossible. Congratulations to the graduates! You did it! It's been a joy to be in the same class and learn from your discussion board posts and talk with you over Blackboard IM. Thank you all for a great semester!
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Sunday, May 3, 2015
American Sniper
Recently a movie was released called "American Sniper." It was directed by Clint Eastwood and starred Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle, the American Sniper. Here is a storyline I got from IMDB (International Movie Database):
Chris Kyle was nothing more than a Texan man who wanted to become a cowboy, but in his thirties he found out that maybe his life needed something different, something where he could express his real talent, something that could help America in its fight against terrorism. So he joined the SEALs in order to become a sniper. After marrying, Kyle and the other members of the team are called for their first tour of Iraq. Kyle's struggle isn't with his missions, but about his relationship with the reality of the war and, once returned at home, how he manages to handle it with his urban life, his wife and kids.
It is a movie I would encourage everyone to get from Redbox, Netflix, Family Video...where ever you get your movies from, and watch. It shows the struggles that a soldier has to deal with going from a war hero to a family man. I won't reveal anything more in case anyone hasn't watched the movie or read up on the true story but again, it's a great movie and I recommend it for anyone who is looking for something to watch.
Chris Kyle was nothing more than a Texan man who wanted to become a cowboy, but in his thirties he found out that maybe his life needed something different, something where he could express his real talent, something that could help America in its fight against terrorism. So he joined the SEALs in order to become a sniper. After marrying, Kyle and the other members of the team are called for their first tour of Iraq. Kyle's struggle isn't with his missions, but about his relationship with the reality of the war and, once returned at home, how he manages to handle it with his urban life, his wife and kids.
It is a movie I would encourage everyone to get from Redbox, Netflix, Family Video...where ever you get your movies from, and watch. It shows the struggles that a soldier has to deal with going from a war hero to a family man. I won't reveal anything more in case anyone hasn't watched the movie or read up on the true story but again, it's a great movie and I recommend it for anyone who is looking for something to watch.
Friday, May 1, 2015
The Nightmare Never Ends
The Nightmare Never Ends
Close your eyes and go to sleep,My poor, haunted soldier man,
I'll try my best to keep you safe,
In any way I possibly can.
Cradled there in my loving arms,
He drifted off to Vietnam once more.
I tried my best to soothe him,
But he was already back in the war.
His body's tense and twitching,
As he dreams of yesteryear,
I call out his name in vain,
Just trying to ease his fear.
But the battle is already brewing,
He's in the midst of a fire fight,
And for what seems like an eternity,
My soldier thrashes in the night.
And it's too late to bring him home,
He's fighting along side his brothers,
He hears his comrades cry out in pain,
And call out for their mothers.
He's soaked in sweat as he jumps about,
He feels the bullets whizzing by,
His body's numb as he checks himself,
He's so certain he's gonna die.
No, not today my brave hero,
Though you've lost so many friends,
He opens his eyes as the dream has past,
But the nightmare never ends.
Chris Woolnough
11/1/03
This poem was written about the Vietnam War which lasted from 1959-1973. It honestly gives me chills each time I read it. I don't know the background behind the poem but the way I imagine it, it was written from the viewpoint of the soldier's wife. Her husband has returned from war physically, but mentally he's still in Vietnam fighting alongside his comrades. As our troops return from combat in present day, I think we would do well to remember that a lot of them are experiencing the same kind of mental struggles as this man was. Vietnam veterans did not come home to a warm welcome like many of our troops do today. That war was extremely controversial and when our men came home they were a source of contempt, not respect. Today, we are a little better at recognizing that those soldiers weren't the ones who declared war, they were given orders and had to follow them. We support and honor our soldiers, but unfortunately that doesn't always take away the horror of battle. For some soldiers, in any country, in any era, fighting any war, with public support or without it, the nightmare never ends.
Pray for our soldiers every chance you get.
Link to poem: http://www.angelfire.com/nf/yvonne/Nightmare.html
Saturday, April 25, 2015
A Streetcar Named Desire
I know A Streetcar Named Desire isn't a story about war, but at the risk of sounding like an amateur psychiatrist, it is in a mental sense.
One of the first things I noticed while reading this play by Tennessee Williams was that all of the characters are at odds against each other in some way. The conflict is mostly between Blanche DuBois and her sister Stella's husband, Stanley Kowalski. A lot of the conflict stems from class differences but underlying all of their arguments is the battle for Stella.
Blanche disapproves of Stella's lifestyle now that she has married Stanley. To Blanche, Stella is living in a dump with an ape for a husband when she should be living the high-life with some wealthy Southern gentleman. She tries multiple times throughout the play to get Stella to leave Stanley.
Stanley, however, enjoys the fact that he pulled Stella down from her upper class status. He is the self-proclaimed "king of the castle" and his authority is absolute in his home. He resents the fact that Blanche is trying to undermine his authority and ruin the hold he has over his wife.
They both battle against each other for Stella's attention while Stella, stuck in the crossfire, does her best to placate both of them.
Blanche rants to Stella that Stanley is "common", a "madman, and "ape-like." She advises her not to "hang back with the brutes," basically saying that if she stays with Stanley she will miss out on the progression of society. Blanche's "attacks" are mostly verbal and appeal to Stella's past as a wealthy Southern belle. She insults Stanley's ethnicity, his behavior, his manners, his class status, and everything about the way he lives to undermine Stella's infatuation with him.
Stanley unveils Blanche's promiscuous past and her habitual lies as a way to discredit Blanche's opinion of him and turn Stella against her. While many of Stanley's attacks are verbal, his extend to psychological and physical attacks as well. This is ultimately what ensures his victory. Blanche's battle plan is to destroy his hold over Stella, while Stanley's battle plan is to destroy Blanche.
Again, this was not a story about a real war with guns and soldiers, but I was struck by Blanche and Stanley's battle, so to speak, over Stella. Sadly, Stanley's final attack was raping Blanche and sending her into a mental breakdown that led to insanity. Stella chose Stanley over her sister in the dramatic conclusion of the play when she decides not to believe Blanche and sends her to a mental institution.
This picture from the 1951 film adaption, starring Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh, sums up the play pretty well. Stanley is smashing things while Stella is trying (and failing) to make him behave, Mitch is hanging around in the background but not really doing anything, and a frightened Blanche is cowering away from the noise and violence in the corner.
Picture retrieved from thewriteworkshops.com.
One of the first things I noticed while reading this play by Tennessee Williams was that all of the characters are at odds against each other in some way. The conflict is mostly between Blanche DuBois and her sister Stella's husband, Stanley Kowalski. A lot of the conflict stems from class differences but underlying all of their arguments is the battle for Stella.
Blanche disapproves of Stella's lifestyle now that she has married Stanley. To Blanche, Stella is living in a dump with an ape for a husband when she should be living the high-life with some wealthy Southern gentleman. She tries multiple times throughout the play to get Stella to leave Stanley.
Stanley, however, enjoys the fact that he pulled Stella down from her upper class status. He is the self-proclaimed "king of the castle" and his authority is absolute in his home. He resents the fact that Blanche is trying to undermine his authority and ruin the hold he has over his wife.
They both battle against each other for Stella's attention while Stella, stuck in the crossfire, does her best to placate both of them.
Blanche rants to Stella that Stanley is "common", a "madman, and "ape-like." She advises her not to "hang back with the brutes," basically saying that if she stays with Stanley she will miss out on the progression of society. Blanche's "attacks" are mostly verbal and appeal to Stella's past as a wealthy Southern belle. She insults Stanley's ethnicity, his behavior, his manners, his class status, and everything about the way he lives to undermine Stella's infatuation with him.
Stanley unveils Blanche's promiscuous past and her habitual lies as a way to discredit Blanche's opinion of him and turn Stella against her. While many of Stanley's attacks are verbal, his extend to psychological and physical attacks as well. This is ultimately what ensures his victory. Blanche's battle plan is to destroy his hold over Stella, while Stanley's battle plan is to destroy Blanche.
Again, this was not a story about a real war with guns and soldiers, but I was struck by Blanche and Stanley's battle, so to speak, over Stella. Sadly, Stanley's final attack was raping Blanche and sending her into a mental breakdown that led to insanity. Stella chose Stanley over her sister in the dramatic conclusion of the play when she decides not to believe Blanche and sends her to a mental institution.
Picture retrieved from thewriteworkshops.com.
Monday, March 16, 2015
Going Waaaaaaay Back to Ancient Rome
This isn't in the time frame I told myself I would stay in, but I found this too amazing to pass up sharing. I attend church at Hillcrest Baptist Church in Logansport. For the past several weeks we have been going through the book of Ephesians, chapter six, verses eleven through seventeen. The text from the King James Bible reads:
Ephesians 6:
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
That is not the end of the chapter but it is the end of the armor analogy that I wanted to talk about in this blog post. For weeks, my pastor has been reminding us that we, as Christians, are fighting a spiritual battle against "the wiles of the devil." We need to make sure that we are keeping our (spiritual) armor on tightly and securely so we do not fall when the enemy (the devil) attacks.
The armor that the apostle Paul was describing in his letter to the church at Ephesus, was that of the Roman soldier.
The belt kept other pieces of armor, like the sword, in their place and protected some of the most susceptible places on the Roman soldier from attack.
The breastplate protected their chests and many vital organs, such as the heart, from swords, spears, and arrows.
Their footwear needed to be strong, functional, and enable them to stand firm and keep their footing when in battle.
The shield has the obvious purpose of protecting the soldier from harm from blows by the enemy. However, they could also use it as a weapon as well as for defensive purposes. The soldiers would douse their shields in water to prevent the enemy's arrows (that had been set on fire for maximum damage) from harming them.
The helmet protected their head, neck, and face from harm.
The sword also was used offensively and defensively. It could either deflect the enemy's sword or be used to wound or kill them.
I found the spiritual applications of these pieces of armor to be really fascinating. Just as the armor is important to the Roman soldier in battle, they are important to Christian's in battle. We are not fighting flesh and blood (physical soldiers in a physical battle), but against principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, and spiritual wickedness. The principles we can take from this passage are:
Protect yourself with the truth - the Bible or just simply being truthful.
Protect your heart with righteousness - keep your heart pure.
Protect your stand with preparation - have a strong foundation in your beliefs, be ready to take God's Word (the gospel of peace) to others.
Protect your faith - believing God's Word and not doubting your belief in Him.
Protect your mind - preserving your hope in Jesus Christ and not falling into discouragement
Protect yourself from Satan's attacks with the sword, which, as the verse 17 says, is the Word of God- the Bible. Reading, memorizing, and meditating on the Scriptures are all ways to "wield the sword" God has given us.
Those that do not believe God's Word or that God exists probably won't find this as interesting as I do, but I felt compelled and inspired to share these musings and encouragements from the heart of my pastor.
If you're interested in listening to the messages, there is a link to our church website below. Just go to the live-streaming section and you can watch/listen to them there. They are the "Sunday Morning Worship" sermons.
http://hbclogansport.com/Live-Streaming.htm
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
"The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner"
War has made itself a common theme in everything from literature to television and movies. As I'm working on completing my assignments for this weeks poetry pod, I've even found some poems about war. "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" is a poem written by Randall Jarrell set in World War II.
"The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" is about, you guessed it, the death of the ball turret gunner.
A ball turret is a little rotating ball underneath an B-17 or B-24 bomber aircraft. It is equipped with machine guns that are fired usually by young man with a small enough build to fit in the ball. The speaker of the poem is the young gunner who we find out has been killed. Jarrell's poem exposes the cruel nature of war in the last line when he says "When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose." Here is the poem in full:
"The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" is about, you guessed it, the death of the ball turret gunner.
A ball turret is a little rotating ball underneath an B-17 or B-24 bomber aircraft. It is equipped with machine guns that are fired usually by young man with a small enough build to fit in the ball. The speaker of the poem is the young gunner who we find out has been killed. Jarrell's poem exposes the cruel nature of war in the last line when he says "When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose." Here is the poem in full:
"The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner"
From my mother's sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.
-Randall Jarrell
From my mother's sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.
-Randall Jarrell
The poem is sad and somewhat eerie. I can't even fathom the callousness that would allow those men to hose the dead gunner out and replace him just like that. I must admit though, that studying Randall Jarrell's poem was so fascinating and the amount of new information I learned from a poem with only five stanzas is incredible.
I am honestly not the kind of person who enjoys poetry, but I definitely enjoyed this poem and the history lesson that came with it.
Info retrieved from the textbook pg.1196
Picture retrieved from mrjgoyeneche.wordpress.com
Sunday, February 22, 2015
The Delusion of Glory
While I am working on my chosen assignments for Pod #3, "The Red Badge of Courage," I keep going back to Henry's original belief about war.
He was so convinced that a wound received in war would make him into a hero and he would be honored forever for it. He didn't think of the pain, of the possible long term side-effects, or even the possibility of dying from it until he was smack dab in the middle of a battle. Then, after he deserts his regiment, when he runs across his friend, Jim Conklin, he gets an up close look at how inglorious the "red badge" he wants so badly really is.
What he wanted wasn't a red badge of courage; what he wanted was a red badge of honor and glory. Instead what he received was a red badge of courage. Henry's bravery didn't develop until he got his wound, ironically from a fellow Union soldier hitting him with the butt of his gun. At that point Henry was able to set aside his desire for that red badge and become a real soldier.
This view was fairly common back in that time. Some men were fighting wars for glory instead of fighting them because they truly believed in the cause they were fighting for. I would say that the majority of them fought just out of a sense of duty, some out of a true belief for what they were fighting for, and the remainder were the glory-seekers, but one man who goes to war just so he will be praised and honored is one too many.
I believe that this quote by Robert E. Lee best sums up my point:
"There is a terrible war coming, and these young men who have never seen war cannot wait for it to happen, but I tell you, I wish that I owned every slave in the South, for I would free them all to avoid this war."
Henry was a young man who had never seen war. He was one of those young men who wanted war to happen. He didn't understand like Lee did, that war was not glorious or something to be desired. War was, and continues to be, a terrible, deadly, brutal thing and we should not seek it out.
Links to sources:
Quote: http://www.quotes.net/authors/Robert+E.+Lee
Picture: www.quotessays.com
He was so convinced that a wound received in war would make him into a hero and he would be honored forever for it. He didn't think of the pain, of the possible long term side-effects, or even the possibility of dying from it until he was smack dab in the middle of a battle. Then, after he deserts his regiment, when he runs across his friend, Jim Conklin, he gets an up close look at how inglorious the "red badge" he wants so badly really is.
What he wanted wasn't a red badge of courage; what he wanted was a red badge of honor and glory. Instead what he received was a red badge of courage. Henry's bravery didn't develop until he got his wound, ironically from a fellow Union soldier hitting him with the butt of his gun. At that point Henry was able to set aside his desire for that red badge and become a real soldier.
This view was fairly common back in that time. Some men were fighting wars for glory instead of fighting them because they truly believed in the cause they were fighting for. I would say that the majority of them fought just out of a sense of duty, some out of a true belief for what they were fighting for, and the remainder were the glory-seekers, but one man who goes to war just so he will be praised and honored is one too many.
I believe that this quote by Robert E. Lee best sums up my point:
"There is a terrible war coming, and these young men who have never seen war cannot wait for it to happen, but I tell you, I wish that I owned every slave in the South, for I would free them all to avoid this war."
Henry was a young man who had never seen war. He was one of those young men who wanted war to happen. He didn't understand like Lee did, that war was not glorious or something to be desired. War was, and continues to be, a terrible, deadly, brutal thing and we should not seek it out.
Links to sources:
Quote: http://www.quotes.net/authors/Robert+E.+Lee
Picture: www.quotessays.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)