Saving Private Ryan

Saving Private Ryan describes the search for Private Ryan (Matt Damon) in WWII to bring him home after his other three brothers died in the war. Tom Hanks plays the Sergent in charge of the group sent to retrieve him from the middle of Germany. Along the way the horrors of war are shown as the men in this group die along the way. Eventually they meet up with Private Ryan and then have to wait for reinforcements to bring him home, but they have to defend a bridge first. Thus insues a very bloody battle killing many of the characters, including Tom Hanks, before reinforcements come to defeat the enemy. Private Ryan is brought home.

This film was meant to show the many horrors that come about during the war and  horrible situations that the soldiers had to fight through, but it also shows the determination of the soldiers to fulfill their duty of bringing the man they have never met home, even at the cost of most, if not all of their lives. I believe in the end only one of the origional group survives. This movie was likely an anti-war movie showing the horrors that soldiers faced while fighting in the war whereas Slaughterhouse Five was also anti-war, and showed the horrors of soldiers who were captured. Mary O'hare would aprove of this because it does not glorify war at all.

Schlachthof Funf

I have finally finished slaughterhouse five, and was glad to see the connections that began to appear in his time travels that related to the importance of the story. Things that he traveled to that did not make sense, or did not seem to fit in the story began to make sense. For example, when he travels to the time his father throws him in the pool to sink or swim, it does not make sense as to why this would be included until it is found out later that this is part of the causes of his emotional problems. Another thing that I was glad to see was that his experiences in time traveling later brought into more detail some serious events that happened in his life. It is not until the later chapters that we learn about the details of his plane crash, his wife's death and his relationship with Montana Wildhack. I also liked how it wasn't till the second to last page that he explained Derby's death as the person who was killed for taking a teapot, the same person mentioned in the first chapter. A third thing that I really enjoyed about this book was how many coincidences he seemed to have throughout the book, meeting people or their relatives, such as Kilgore Trout living in his same town in Ilium, Iowa.

Still, like in any story, there are questions that come unresolved and things that don't seem to add up. The first thing that I am curious about, since I have not read the books... is Eliot Rosewater meant to be a character from his book, "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater" or is it just a coincidence. Also, in the second chapter it says that Billy is the only survivor of the plane crash, but in the seventh chapter, when the crash is fully explained, Vonnegut says that both Billy and the copilot survive. Finally, out of all the times that the idea of "So it goes" appears in the book after nearly every mention of something dying, there are two instances where this does not happen where it seems it should. The first appears on page 121 when a woman refers to the execution of Edgar Derby, and the second on page 199, when he told of how George Nathan, the critic and editor, died in 1958. It just seemed odd that he took so much care as to label all deaths with a so it goes, but he missed these two spots. Maybe I am looking at things that are just coincidence and have nothing to do with anything, but I just thought I would put it out there.

Out of Control

I have just finished reading chapter four of Slaughterhouse Five, and a motif of this book seems to be Billy's lack of control. It shows how he is not able to change the things in his life. One of the most obvious things he has no control of is his time traveling. He ends up in seemingly random parts of his life with no control of where he goes, and for how long he is there. Also, he does not have control of what he does while he is in these different points of his life. He is just living them out the same way he would had he not traveled through time. He can not change what happens and it is almost as if he is viewing his life rather than living it.

Outside of this time traveling state he also has little control about what happens to him. He starts by joining the Three Musketeers, who force him to go on with them even though he would rather give up. He is then powerless to stop Weary from beating him up and later is captured by the Germans and can has to do what they say or be killed. He even voluntarily helps the Germans with a propaganda shot of him being caught by the Germans and when he is on the box car, he cannot lay down because all others will not let him. After the war he has other instances with no control. In his work his boss tells him that he should have people call him Billy instead of William so that they will like him better. He suffers from an uncontrollable urge to cry and will also be unable to prevent himself from falling asleep on the job.

On his wall in his office he has a poem that says "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom always to tell the difference". The problem is that he does not have the wisdom to tell the difference. The prime example of this appears when the sniper is shooting at him on the road. He has given up and is waiting for the shot that will end his life, but then is still pulled out of the way by Weary.

Finally, when he abducted by the Tralfamordians, he shows another instance without control. He uncontrolably grabs the ladder to the ship and does not let go. Once he is on the ship he learns of this beings belief in no free will and that Earth was the only place he had ever heard of the idea before. It seems almost as if Billy is going to a place he better belongs.

How does the idea of control show up in the other books we have read, and also the short stories?

Part of the Group

At times, people feel like they can do something on their own. They think that they can do something amazing without any help along the way. They may try to cut themselves off from others, trying to achieve more for themselves. What they don't realize is that they can achieve just as much by working with others, in a group as a team. Much more can be accomplished. We see people rise to success, but not without the help of some people pushing them forward, the people with whom they belong. The most prominent time I remember this feeling of belonging was during this years swim season. After school we would always wait outside the pool doors, talking, watching videos, playing cards, etc. always having a good bonding experience. During practiced we all worked hard. We did what we could to make every practice count, but we still had fun. Making jokes between sets, and playing games if we had the time. Everyone was part of the group on this team, and everyone fit in, in someway or another. When it came to the State Meet, it was this bond that we had gained over the entire season is what had allowed us to achieve our amazing victory. I was happy to be apart of this team.

Fences: play of symbolism

August Wilson's play, Fences is part of a ten play cycle that each represent the a decade during the twentieth century and how African American's lives changed throughout. Fences is placed in the 50s and he shows a masterful use of symbolism in many ways throughout his play. One of the most obvious appears in the theme of baseball. Troy continually strikes, and by the end he has stricken out. When he tells Rose about his affair and described his life as sitting on first with Rose for 18 years and was ready to steal second. He is also constantly telling Cory that he is striking out and after "strike three" he kicks Cory out of the house to live on his own. Another, less obvious symbol is the idea of a garden. Rose describes her love for Troy as a seed that will never blossom. Troy's building of the fence around the garden seems to reflect him keeping love gated inside, not able to spread. Rose's name itself even suggests a reference to fertility. Other examples come with the refrigerator that Bono buys for his wife which could symbolize him preserving his relationship with his wife whereas Troy is fencing out his own relationship.
What do you think? Are these good interpretations of different symbols in the book. Are there more?