Movie vs. Book.

Barb Pohanish
Professor Cline
English 102
7 December 2010

Movie vs. Book

I would like to start off by saying, that I really enjoyed the movie, The Handmaid’s Tale. Fay Dunaway played the perfect “Serena Joy”, as well as Natasha Richardson as “Offred.” I would have liked to see a different actor play the Commander, other than Robert Duvall, definitely someone sexier.
In most instances when someone has to compare a book that they’ve read to the movie, the movie usually is not as good as the book. In this case the movie addressed some unanswered questions that I had after reading the book.
The first scene in the movie shows Kate “Offred”, her husband, and their daughter walking towards the border in the snow, when all of a sudden the military police shoots her husband, they capture Kate, but they don’t capture the little girl. Then it shows the little girl wandering around in the snow, while she calls out for mommy. This beginning in the movie grabbed my attention more than the book did.
The movie also authenticated the character of Aunt Lydia more than the book did, I couldn’t picture Aunt Lydia while reading the book. The movie also did the same for Moira; I don’t remember reading how Moira actually escapes. It was an interesting twist to watch, as Offred and Moira tie Aunt Lydia up in the bathroom, and Offred is never a

suspect.
There are a few things that the movie didn’t show, the first were the white wings that the handmaids wear, also I didn’t get the impression that the Bible was kept locked up. I didn’t see any angels in the movie either. I thought the movie should have shown, the Japanese tourists approaching Offred. The importance of that scene, is to show the audience how much Offred really misses the little pleasures in life ( makeup and nail polish) and to make the point, that you don’t know how much you miss something, until you no longer have it.
I didn’t get the impression, that Nick and Offred were having sex, while reading the book. I didn’t read that Serena Joy is the one who suggests that Offred sleeps with Nick. The book does suggest that there is mutual attraction between Nick and Offred.
I really liked the last few scenes in the movie, particular, the scene where Offred slit’s the Commanders throat. That was unexpected, since there wasn’t any mention of that in the book. Also the scene where Offred is leaving the house with the guards and Nick, and Serena Joy comes running out of her room, yelling to the guards “I didn’t call you!” I loved that, it shows the audience that Nick is helping Offred escape The Republic of Gilead. The last scene of the movie shows Offred walking along a path to her trailer in the mountains, with her dog, and she is pregnant. She tells the audience that she is safe in the mountains and she receives messages from Nick.
I enjoyed both the book and the movie. They both brought missing information that filled each other‘s void, which is great. Since watching the movie, I understand the entire story more.

Topic Proposal.

Barb Pohanish
Professor Cline
English 102
11 November 2010

Topic Proposal

The topic that I plan to explore for Essay #4 is Cults. You can compare The Handmaid’s Tale to a cult. The definition of cult is: A group of people showing such devotion. (Webster Dictionary). It doesn’t say whether this devotion is voluntary or forced. In regard to cults and The Handmaid’s Tale, the devotion is definitely forced. For this blog post, you have asked; What about this text confuses you? Cults don’t confuse me. The answer to this question is not the subject that I’m writing my paper about. My confusion is I don’t really understand what led up to the Republic of Gilead? Was it World War III? I read the book and then re-read some chapters. Another confusing point is how do we know that Offred made it to the Canadian Border? As you can see my confusion has nothing to do with my subject matter (cults). My main question would be; “how do people end up in cults?” In comparing the book to cults, they are both the product of major “mind f**k” and master manipulators.
I chose the topic of cult’s because I’ve always found them interesting, how one person can get total strangers to do the weirdest and sickest things. It’s so crazy and very sad.
I don’t know how this subject matter will help me better understand Atwood. I don’t quite understand this question? Atwood is a writer, who came up with this insane story.
Works CitedWebster Dictionary. New Edition, Springfield, Massachusetts. 1994.

www.joinusthemovie.com/

Thesis Blog Post.

Barb Pohanish

Professor Cline

English 102

31 October 2010

Thesis Blog Post

1. A. This thesis statement is weak, because it’s making a claim. It is also making a broad claim. Statement (B) can be argued.
2. A. I think this thesis statement is weak, because it’s obviously true. The second choice (B) can be argued, and it raises questions.
3. B. This thesis statement is obviously true, and is a statement of fact. The (A) statement can definitely be argued.
4. A. This statement is very obvious. Choice (B) is more original than (A). This statement can also be argued.
5. A. This statement is too personalized. It’s not one sentence like (B) is, and although it’s arguable the statement is making a claim. Choice (B) is arguable, and it’s also one sentence. Choice (A) is too overstated.

My thesis statement for essay #3 is “There are many people in society that think, if you resisted or dodged the Vietnam War, you are un-American and disloyal.”
This statement is definitely arguable, it also is specific, and I do support it with evidence from my text in essay #3.

Evaluating Internet Sources.

Barb Pohanish
Professor Cline
English 102
24 October 2010
　
　

Evaluating Internet Sources

I found this article, “Beyond the Border of War” By Tamara Jones on The Washington Post website. The Washington Post is a reputable newspaper, and they have a website. I did some research on the writer, Tamara Jones, and she also has a great reputation within the journalism community. The Washington Post was affected by the economy, so in May of 2008 Tamara was offered a buy- out from them which she accepted. Prior to taking the buy -out, Tamara’s story on The Virginia Tech Shooting won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting in 2008.
The Washington Post’s website is updated everyday. As for Tamara Jones, she mentioned in an interview that she wanted to write fiction. This article that she had written on draft deserter’s fleeing to Canada was very interesting. She talks about the people who have traveled to Canada instead of serving in the Vietnam War and the War in Iraq. This article will be of use to me when I’m writing essay #3.

Article for Essay #3.

Fennell,Tom, and Branswell, Brenda. " Hell no, they won't go: many draft dodgers found a home in Canada, and stayed." Maclean's. 24 April. 2000: Research Library Core, ProQuest. web. 21 October 2010.

I'm going to research this article, and others on draft dodgers during the Vietnam War. This relates to Tim O'Brien, because in 1968, he received his draft letter for Vietnam. He panicked and drove towards the Canadian border, Tim ended up in the mountains of Minnesota, where he stayed with the owner of a lodge for six days. He then decided not to dodge the draft and ended up serving in Vietnam. This article is from a Canadian Periodical, called Maclean's which was published in 2000.

My Letter to Professor Cline.

October 12, 2010

Professor Cline
English Dept.
Yavapai College
Prescott, AZ 86301

Dear Professor Cline:

My biggest challenge in this class was setting up my blog. For whatever reason, setting up the blog was really difficult for me. I still don’t know how to post my picture in the little box (where you follow other blogs). My biggest challenge now is to comprehend how to write an analysis, I don’t quite understand it one hundred percent. I think my biggest success so far was writing the Summary vs. Analysis Paper.
I really have enjoyed reading, The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. I especially enjoyed the story, Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong. I’ve always had a real interest in Vietnam. The Sean Huze play was o.k. It’s a lot easier to write about something that you enjoy reading. There is nothing worse than having to write about something that doesn’t interest me. Most of the poems that we had read didn’t catch my interest in the least, so it was really hard to write about them, and then I didn’t produce a good paper.
Literary analysis is quite different from what I’m used to. In my previous English Classes, and Critical Thinking Class, I was given a list of subjects to write about, or given the freedom to choose my own subject to write about. Last semester in English 101, I had to write essays on evaluation, observation, position, and reflection. Surprisingly I did really well in my previous writing classes.
My goal for the second half of this semester is to perfect my writing skills, and to fully understand how to write an analysis essay.

Summary vs. Analysis.

Barb Pohanish
Professor Cline
English 102
3 October 2010
　
　

Summary vs. Analysis

For this essay, I chose “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong.” This story was told to Tim O’Brien, by his friend Rat Kiley. Rat and eight other soldiers were running this basic emergency station in the mountains near the village of Tra Bong. There were also six Green Berets that used the compound as their base. According to Rat, “The Greenies were not social animals, in fact they would vanish for days at a time, or even weeks, and then late at night they would just as magically reappear.” (92). the highest ranking soldier was Eddie Diamond, who had a thing for dope and Darvon. There was no such thing as military discipline in this compound.
There is this young soldier, Mark Fossie, who sends his girlfriend money, and arranges a helicopter which brings her to the compound. Rat said, “This tall, big-boned blonde. At best she was seventeen years old. She had long white legs and blue eyes and a complexion like strawberry ice cream. Very friendly, too.” (93). The war intrigued Mary Anne Bell, one morning she talked Mark into taking her down to a nearby village, so she could get a feel for how other people lived. Mary Anne felt at home, the hostile territory didn’t seem to bother her at all. Over several weeks, Mary Anne fell into the habits of the bush, learning how to disassemble an M-16, and cutting her hair short which she wrapped in a green bandanna. Rat explained, “Twice, she came in late at night, and then finally she did not come in at all.” (99). Rat said that she disappeared for three weeks once, and then one night she and the Greenies came up the hill, drifted across the compound to the Special Forces bunker where she followed the others inside. The next day and night, Mark Fossie waited near the Special Forces area for Mary Anne, but she never came out of the bunker. Rat explained, “Fossie hit the door hard and it swung opened, across the room a dozen candles were burning, and the place seemed to echo with a weird deep-wilderness sound-tribal music. But what hit you first, was the smell. Two kinds of smells. There was a scent of incense, but beneath the smoke lay a deeper and much more powerful stench. It paralyzed your lungs, Rat said.” “On a post was a decayed head of a large black leopard; strips of yellow-brown skin dangled from the overhead rafters. And stacks of bones-all kinds. There was a poster that said: ASSEMBLE YOUR OWN GOOK!! FREE SAMPLE KIT!! Out of the shadows stepped Mary Anne, she gazed down at Fossie, almost blankly, and in the candlelight her face had the composure of someone perfectly at peace with herself. Rat said, “In part it was her eyes: utterly flat and indifferent. There was no emotion in her stare, no sense of person behind it. But the grotesque part, he said, was her jewelry. At the girl’s throat was a necklace of human tongues. Elongated and narrow, like pieces of blackened leather, the tongues were threaded along a copper wire, one overlapping the next, the tips curled upward as if caught in a final shrill syllable.” (111). Mary Ann told Rat and Fossie, “I want to eat this place. Vietnam. I want to swallow the whole country-the dirt, the death- I just want to eat it and have it there inside me.” (111). Fossie stood rigid. “Do something,” he whispered. “I can’t just let her go like that.” Rat listened for a time, and then shook his head. “Man, you must be deaf. She’s already gone.”
So what happened to the Mary Anne Bell? She was young, fresh out of high school, but was she really the naïve, innocent girl from Cleveland. It’s possible that she didn’t understand the danger and severity of the Vietnam War. Maybe she was so curious, that the answers to her questions were not enough, so she had to experience the war for herself. Her boyfriend, Fossie wasn’t fighting, but the Greenies were and that peaked her interest. I believe that after she went out a few times with the Green Berets, there was no turning back. Mary Anne became addicted to the “adrenaline rush”, while she was out in the bush. She may have become addicted to opium also. After watching, and then participating in the slayings of the Vietnamese, I think, mentally she just lost it. Unfortunately when someone crosses over to that place in their mind, they are oblivious to it. It’s heartbreaking to think of the guilt that her boyfriend must have gone through, and the pain of watching her fade away, right before his eyes.

Works Cited

O’Brien, Tim. (1990). Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong. The Things They Carried. New York. Broadway Books.

www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2006/08.24/99-ptsd.html

http://www.thethingstheycarried.com/

The Things They Carried

Barb Pohanish
Professor Cline
English 102
23 September 2010

My Response To: The Things They Carried

I was excited when I learned that, The Things They Carried was on our reading list for this English class. My teachers in High School didn’t teach us anything about Vietnam; they never mentioned it at all. I’ve always wandered why the Vietnam War was never taught to us. Most of the information on Vietnam has come from the movies, and from talking really briefly to a few guys that had served in Vietnam. I’ve always been hesitant to ask about the details of the war, because all I’ve ever heard is “soldiers can’t go there mentally, because of all the crazy and f***ed up things they have seen.”
This has led me to choose the chapter; “How to Tell a True War Story.” The paragraph that I’m about to quote is related to what I wrote above. “In many cases a true war story cannot be believed. If you believe it, be skeptical. It’s a question of credibility. Often the crazy stuff is true and the normal stuff isn’t, because the normal stuff is necessary to make you believe the truly incredible craziness.” ( O’Brien. P.71).
Even though this book is a work of fiction, I can see the realism in these stories. I truly believe all of the craziness, like the story about the baby water buffalo (which is on page’s 78-80) which is really hard to quote word for word, because it’s so grotesque. The story is about a soldier finding a baby water buffalo which he brings back to camp, and persists to shoot the buffalo’s body in several different places. As a life long animal lover I’m repulsed by the story, but I also understand that war screws up people’s minds.
I have to ask, “Why have we heard over the years that the soldiers that made it back from Vietnam, are more psychologically messed up than the soldiers from WWI & WWII?” “In every war the soldiers kill and witness death, so what was the difference?” I hope to find the answers to these questions someday, and who knows, maybe I will find answers as I finish reading this thought provoking book.
Works Cited
O’Brien, Tim. (1990). How To Tell a True War Story. The Things They Carried. New York. Broadway Books.

www.alternet.org/world/20358

My Thoughts on "The Sandstorm."

Barb Pohanish
Professor Cline
English 102
17 September 2010
                                                          My Toughts on "The Sandstorm."
I enjoyed reading this play overall. It’s definitely disturbing, but that’s what war is. I have never been in the military, so it’s hard for me to say if I would react the same way as this soldier did. I was a little shocked when I read the quote from LCPL DODD, “I took pictures of the dead hajjis. Hell if I could shoot’em with my M-16 I guess it’s no big deal to shoot’em with a camera too, you know.”(Huze.p.3). How many people do you have to kill or how many people do you have to see die, to reach the point where you think its ok to take pictures of the people you have killed? I can’t even grasp that mind set. I think the time DODD has spent in the war has made him numb or maybe it’s a coping mechanism, or a little bit of both.
I try to get inside the head of PFC WEEMS, after he finds a foot without a body and he is looking for the leg from which the foot came from, and I’m feeling extreme anxiety and panic. I can see how he lost touch with reality for a while, and actually tried to find the matching body part.
Another part of the play that affected me was from CPL WATERS. He is actually eating lunch while watching a man slowly die; a man who is begging to be put out of misery. WATERS said, “The more he wept and pleaded, the more I enjoyed my meal.” (Huze.p.9). My first reaction was, “wow is he cold, and how the hell could he eat let alone enjoy his meal? And why doesn’t he put the guy out of his misery?” Then I remind myself, how I have never seen death and dying like he has, I have never lived with the intense fear like he has, and I probably never will.
                                                                  Works Cited
The Sandstorm. By Huze, Sean. Directed by David Fofi. The Elephant Asylum Theater, Los Angeles. 2005.

www.poetryfoundation.com

What do I know about poetry?

Barb Pohanish
Professor Cline
English 102
9 September 2010

What Do I Know About Poems?

The first poem that I’m analyzing is the: “Song of Napalm” by Bruce Weigl.
Overall this poem didn’t make much sense to me. In the first paragraph, it seems to me that the writer of the poem may live on a ranch and he is looking out over his land after a storm. From the third paragraph on, it appears like the writer is having a flashback from a war that he was in. I think he was also remembering a little girl that he had watched die after a bomb had hit her village. When he writes about: “I try to imagine she runs down the road and wings beat inside her until she rises.” (Lines 37-38). My interpretation of these two lines is he is thinking that she became an angel and flew away.
This poem to me is very sad and depressing. I have to say that I also found it a little boring.
The second poem that I chose to analyze is the: “Rite of Passage” by Sharon Olds.
I thought that this poem was cute and a bit humorous. It’s obvious to me that these little men are boys at her son’s birthday party. I can actually picture these six and seven year olds standing around jockeying for place, small fights breaking out, eyeing each other, and telling each other “I could beat you up.” (Lines 6-13). That is so typical of little boys.
I enjoyed this poem more than the first one. This poem was uplifting and fun.

Works Cited
Olds, Sharon. “Rite of Passage.” Poetry Foundation. 2004. 9 September 2010. Web.
Weigl, Bruce. “Song of Napalm.” Poetry Foundation. 2004. 9 September 2010. Web.
https://3bb.yc.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fweb

If You Want a Good Read

My Thoughts on “The Necessity to Speak.” by Sam Hamill

This essay was awesome; the first paragraph grabbed my attention with this sentence,“We don’t want to know what the world is like; we can’t bear very much reality.”(Hamill, p.546). Unfortunately, in our society this mind set is the norm, and I can’t stand this way of thinking. Most people choose to look away from reality, not me I want to know what the world is like. I’m not the norm, I’m the person who stops and buys a homeless man and his dog food, and takes five minutes to find out why he is homeless.

This essay has brought up a lot of different emotions for me, and not because I’ve been a battered wife or girlfriend. I have though, been a victim of mental and verbal abuse in previous relationships/marriages. Some say there isn’t much difference between physical and mental abuse. The abuser will go back to prison, where he may abuse other men in prison and go back to abusing when he gets out, caught up in this vicious cycle of violence. Unfortunately most women will return to abusive relationships where the same cycle of violence continues, not only are the women affected but also their children.“The battered child learns that there are two possibilities in human life: one can remain the victim, or one can seize power and become the executioner.” (Hamill, p.547). This is where the abusive cycle has to end, with the child.
As I was reading the sentence, “When James Cagney shoves half a grapefruit in a woman’s face, we all laugh and applaud.” (Hamill, p.548). I was reminded of an old show called The Honeymooner’s, for those of you who have never watched it, It’s star was Jackie Gleason who’s character always threatened his wife with the saying “ One of these days….Pow! Right in the kisser! One of these days Alice, straight to the moon!” He would tell her this while raising his fist to her. I remember watching re-runs of the show as a kid and I didn’t think that statement was funny then either.
If a child is suffering in their own private hell, poetry may serve as an outlet for his or her emotions that can get bottled up. I hope that teacher’s are encouraging all children to read and write poetry. I also hope, children are being taught to respect each other and to respect themselves. Children also need to hear that racism, sexism, and homophobia are not acceptable in our society.
As adults it is our responsibility to put an end to the cycle of violence. We need to pull our heads out of the sand and to make a promise to ourselves, that each and every one of us will not be silent anymore.

Works Cited
Hamill, Sam. The Necessity to Speak. Pages 546-553. From A Poet’s Work: The Other Side of Poetry (1990).

women and abuse.

What makes a good reader?

     After reading, Good Readers And Good Writers, by Vladimir Nabokov, I asked myself, " What makes a good reader?" For my answers I picked four out of the ten answers from the question, What should a reader be to be a good reader?" " The reader should have an imagination", " The reader should have memory", " The reader should prefer a story with action and dialogue to one with none", and " The reader should have a dictionary." ( Nabokov, p.614-615 ). I think it is wise to have a dictionary at hand when reading,so you can look a word up if need be. You definitely need a memory when reading, that's obvious. To have an imagination when reading makes it more fun and if the story has dialogue and action it won't bore you.
     Vladimir writes that, " One should notice and fondle details." I definitely agree with this statement. He also says, " A good reader, a major reader, an active and creative reader is a re reader." He compares how we read, to looking at a painting and our eye movement when doing both. ( Nabokov, p.615 ). A re reader? I don't completely understand this. Vlladimir also thinks that a good reader needs to have an artistic and scientific temperament. He explains, " The artist alone is apt to be too subjective in his attitude towards a book, and so a scientific coolness of judgment will temper the intuitive heat. If, however, a would be reader is utterly devoid of passion and patience-of an artist's passion and a scientist's patience-he will hardly enjoy great literature." ( Nabokov, p.616 ). I totally agree that being passionate and having patience makes reading better. I consider myself to be a good reader most of the time. I can get bored easily, so the subject matter has to interest me or the first paragraph really needs to reel me into the story.