Themes

This week I am going to talk more about the themes in the class because I don't want to blow the midterm and because I can't think of anything to write this week. The theme of violence is seen in every work we have read so far. The difference though is in how the authors all include violence in their works. For example, in Dispatches, Herr described the horrific events of the war to express how war changes people and overall to show that because war is used to resolve a situation, it isn't always as simple as go in, bomb, move up, bomb, move up, bomb, and win. By including instances in which both sides suffered horrific losses, he pulls no punches.

In Dien Cai Dau, the author includes violence not only against the Vietcong, but also against others such as the woman. Although violence is in Dien Dai Dau, it isn't described in such horrific detial as is in Dispatches. Because it is poetry, it is more artsy and less real which can lead to us forgetting that violence is still there but the author includes graphic poems just enough so we don't forget.

In Flannery O'Connor's book, violence is once again included although the cause is not because of war, but because of southern ignorance.

This leads us to Jazz in which violence is present from the get go. Just like above though the cause of the violence is shifted once again. The violence is caused by bad childhoods due to slavery and poverty.

I think the book selection in this class is good because I have never taken a class in which we learn about events that happened while the book was being written. In this case we get a greater understanding of the book and in the end I think that is going to help me greatly on the midterm.