Exploration 6
Emma Hardesty
“What
stories can do, I guess, is make things present. I can look at things I never
looked at. I can attach faces to grief and love and pity and God. I can be
brave. I can make myself feel again.”
This excerpt from the
conclusion of the story “Good Form” really stuck with me after reading it. The
story is written from O’Brien’s first person point of view. He reflects a
little bit on his life as a foot soldier and states, “I want you to feel what I
felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than
happening-truth.” I think Tim causes a deep impact on the audience with this idea
by admitting to wanting us to empathize with him and feel how he did. This
story affected me the most because I finally understood why O’Brien wrote the
way he did and also felt like I could finally connect with his stories. I love
the way Tim describes his reasoning for his stories by saying be “can be brave”
and make himself “feel again”. In more ways than one, Tim explains his story
telling and the affect he hopes it has on his readers.
The character that I think I relate to the most in this
book is Kiowa. Primarily, after the death of Ted Lavender, the readers get an
idea how Kiowa feels, “He wished he could find some great sadness, or even
anger, but the emotion wasn’t there and he couldn’t make it happen. Mostly he
felt pleased to be alive.” I definitely think if I was in the same situation I
would feel this way also. I think Kiowa appreciated the little things for
example, “He liked the smell of the New Testament under his cheek,” and “all he
could feel was the pleasure of having his boots off and the fog curling in
around him”.
In comparison to Brian in the documentary, Rebirth, I think Kiowa can somewhat
relate to him. Mainly because Brian lost his only brother in 9/11 and Kiowa
lost his close friend Curt Lemon in Vietnam. Both men had to live with the hurt
and grieve the loss of their loved ones. Unlike Brian, Kiowa was much younger
and watched his friend die. However, I think both had a difficult time carrying
the burden and loss with them after the tragedies.
Now that I think about it I can relate to Kiowa in a way too! I always notice the little things in life and that's whats important! I also enjoyed the story "Good Form" I agree that he put us in his shoes
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you compared Brian and Kiowa. I never would have thought to compare the too. They were both very similar as you said because they lost someone dear to them. I can't imagine the pain that would come from losing someone so close. Kiowa was such an important person to the story and it is really sad that he had to lose such a great friend.
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