Literature is a lot like a 5 Layer Beefy Burrito: Seventeen

Say Wha...?

Unorthodox title, I know, but if you'll please have a seat, I'll go ahead and wow you with my amazing wit. "Literature has nothing to do with Taco Bell" you say? Preposterous! My view on interpreting literature is simply that there is no set wrong or right. If one argues hard enough and reads deep enough into what is written, anything can be connected to anything. Whatever I think the author is trying to say simply is what he or she is saying. So what one might think is a stinging outcry against the war in Vietnam, I can easily say it is simply an extended metaphor for the truly delicious nature of a Five Layer Beefy Burrito.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Seventeen - Field Trip

I felt extremely awkward while reading this chapter, both for O'Brien who went to the field expecting something magical to happen, and in the end all he had to say was "Well...there it is" (p. 178), and because I felt like I was intruding on a Moment. I'm not entirely sure what the difference is between a moment and a Moment, but it has something to do with the tone of voice inflected that gives it proper-noun status. Sort of like in the novel It, when at some point you notice that you mentally pronounce "It" differently from "it". A moment is just a thing that happens, but when a Moment happens, then you should probably shuffle along and draw as little attention to yourself as possible so as not to disturb the person's Moment. And thus, I was sure to turn the pages extra carefully, out of fear that I might hear/read O'Brien shout "Hey! can you keep it down? I'm trying to have a Moment here!"

Ahem. My own awkwardness aside, there were a few nice points about this chapter that I might delve. I am not using that verb properly. Ummmm yes, it seems that O'Brien seems to be suffering from Norman Bowker Syndrome in that he really really really wants to tell people (in this scenario, his daughter) about all the things that happened, and all the things he did, and all the things he saw, but in the end, he just can't. Which makes me wonder if now I see the purpose of this whole book: he is doing what Bowker couldn't do, and is finally getting out all of those stories that he kept bottled up, and now the whole world can know. It almost seems like a catharsis, if you will. *checks list* No, that's not a literary term. I'm making it a label anyway. HA!