How to Tell a True War Story: Coozes and Gook

I found lots of aphorisms in this chapter....

"If you don't care for obscenity, you don't care for the truth; if you don't care for the truth, watch how you vote." - p. 66

"Hear that quiet, man? That quiet--just listen." - p. 74

"You're never more alive than when you're almost dead." - p. 78

This guy writes beautifully, by the way. I'm sort of glowing green right now. I think it's the anaphoras that do it, by and large.

"And in the end, of course, a true war story is never about war. It's about sunlight. It's about the special way that dawn spreads out on a river when you know you must cross the river and march into the mountains and do things you are afraid to do. It's about love and memory. It's about sorrow. It's about sisters who never write back and people who never listen." - p. 81

Also, the parallel structure he uses for serious vamps up the intensity for me. I'd map it out for you in one of those trippy sentence diagrams if I could. Maybe I'll come back for that later.

Speaking of using "you" in formal writing, I'd like to address Mr. O'Brien's POV schizophrenia. He starts out in third-person omniscient, switches to first-person, then changes all willy-nilly to second-person as he pleases, if I'm not mistaken. What's it all about, Alfie?

Actually, I like it, but still.

It's probably also worth noting that dearest Timothy (<--maybe) alludes to the Star-Spangled Banner on page seventy-seven in the words "the rocket's red glare." I'm on a strike against typing all of the long quotes. Get the picket signs, folks. Just kidding.

Anywho, "gook" and "cooze" are funny words, which means crazy dialects are at work here. Somebody call the newspaper. They cropped up over and over, too. I'm not complaining; they made me giggle.

That's all I have to say about that. (...Anyone? Bueller?)

On the Rainy River: That's (Almost) in Canada

It make sense, if you listen carefully, I promise.

I'm seeing a lot of similarities between Tim Obrien's feelings about the Vietnam War and some people's feelings about the War on Terror. I don't really want to go to into that because I don't want to step on any toes and/or accidentally reveal my own tentative opinions.

"I feared" is used as an anaphora on page forty-two.... He uses it to really drive home the point that he was scared out of his pants by the whole being-drafted thing. That's what this whole chapter is, really; it was pretty intense... (like camping).

There's also a simile I almost feel is sort of extended. It's just so blatant and clear; I like it. It's not like those sneaky, pretentious metaphors. "Courage, I seemed to think, comes to us in finite quantities, like an inheritance, and by being frugal and stashing it away and letting it earn interest, we steadily increase our moral capital in preparation for that day when the amount must be drawn down." - p. 38

Finally, there's an allusion (I think?) to McCarthy in here. I might just be calling it that because I'm excited that I vaguely remember who McCarthy is. It's not veiled or anything, though. He just says, "Nothing radical, no hothead stuff, just ringing a few doorbells for Gene McCarthy, composing a few tedious, uninspired editorials for the campus newspaper." - p. 39