The Reaction Paper

This is my reaction paper.

Richard McLean
21st Century Literature
Professor Lennon
December 3, 2008
Reaction Paper

Shooting War

The first book that I will talk about is Shooting War. This graphic novel has many themes involved within its pages but I will focus on its war message and religious theme. This novel portrays war in a horrible light from the side of the Americans during a conflict in the Middle East. The Americans are portrayed as the bullies of war and the terrorist more as freedom fighters with the goal of liberating the Middle East from the tyrannical ways of the capitalist West. The Americans are portrayed almost as religious crusaders in this book. The American soldiers have crosses across their helmets and on other parts of their uniform and this has an uncanny link to the crusades. They even show the terrorist leader as if he may be Jesus or going through stigmata.
The section that I will focus on is the part towards the end when the American soldiers track down the terrorist hideout by using Jimmy Burns and a tracer. They bust through a hole in the ceiling and come flying in shooting as the terrorist is getting ready to broadcast and one of the soldiers shoots him through the middle of his hand. They definitely did not have to make a big deal about him being shot but instead there is a close up picture of the hole through his hand and the painful look on his face as if being tortured. This is definitely a reference to stigmata. This is showing him as Jesus being nailed to the cross and persecuted by the Romans, in his case the Americans, and being pursued straight to the end and killed for his belief system and values that he would remain unchanged on. This is the perfect scene leading up to the death of the terrorist who was made out to be a martyr in his tank. It was the terrorist versus the entire American army and he went out literally in a blaze of glory.
The Mercy Seat
The Mercy Seat is a play based around September 11. The central theme of the play was a tragedy being used for personal gain. Ben in the play is having an affair with his boss and they have been talking about running away with each other for some time now and then he sees an opportunity when the terrorist attacks happen on that day in September. This is not an everyday idea that would cross the minds of most people but he wants to use this incident in order to disappear with his lover, Abby and have an easy out with his family. This whole plan reeks of pitiful human being and would never work to begin with. The ironic thing is that the whole time Ben has wanted to do the right thing but this tragedy gave him one last shot at something with Abby.
The scene that shows this best is when he is describing his tombstone. Here lies Ben: He was okay. The thought that crosses his mind is that he is not a great person but he is just average, no worse or better than the person next to him. I thought the idea that he was coming up with this plan and he obviously has been full of himself throughout the entire play was almost genius. No one would ever think of himself or herself as being okay in death. This shows that he understands completely what he was trying to do and he was not a great person or an evil person but just someone trying to benefit from a tragedy. The entire premise of the play is just okay to begin with too because who would actually think they could enjoy a play about September 11 or the terrorist attacks. Ben actually wants to fix his mistake with his wife because he was going to call Abby at the beginning of the play and end the affair. Now in saying that, the tragedy actually gave him a reason not to make that call because there was a glimmer of hope for him to run and be forgotten just like his tombstone.
Jarhead
I believe that Jarhead’s central theme is one of showing us the war from both sides of the table. You have the Americans on one side and the Iraqis on the other. This book shows in multiple examples of the blurring of these lines of the good guys and the bad guys. It just goes to show that the people fighting on the enemy’s side are just like us. They think the same exact things and we just take it for granted because they are just like one of our soldiers serving their country and vowing to die for something they believe in. This goes to show that this book is an excellent example of a soldier having complete respect for the work he has done for the country he is serving. He has to undoubtedly have that same respect for the soldier on the other side but it still always comes down to them or us.
The scene I will use is when Swofford and his team bomb the small base with a couple of Iraqi soldiers guarding it. Now after the bomb hits and the soldiers go into investigate the damage and they find the men ripped to pieces and cut clean in half, Swofford starts to think about if these men had children and what they were thinking about before the bomb hit. This is almost showing Swofford identifying with the enemy and I think almost feeling bad for them. This is all happening while the other men are going through their wallets and pockets. I think Swofford was having a, what if this were me, moment when he walked into the camp and saw these bodies but on the other hand he was still glad that it was not him and he never wanted it to be him. I believe that this scene accurately shows the two sides of war and that they are blurred almost into a football game with the one team’s fans sitting behind them, cheering them on and vise versa. But in actually both teams are putting their lives on the line for the fans not letting the other team near them.
The Pillowman
The Pillowman is a very interesting play because it deals with death in a weird, uncommon way. It deals with torture as a central theme and you see many different examples of this throughout the book but I think that in every story there is a different meaning to the torture or effect of the torture. This is dealt with in a very weird way as well because they new that Katurian was an innocent man so to speak but still drove him to the point to kill and torture his brother. And then they execute him for crimes that he didn’t commit but they got their man. The different stories throughout the book all deal with torture in different ways. The razor blades in the apples when the little girl swallows them is just torture for the sake of torture and killing her. The story of the man who cuts off the little boy’s toes is torturing him for the sake of saving him at a later date when he knew the rest of the children would be taken away. This in turn was torture for the sake of saving a life. Then Katurian, kills his brother in order to save him from torture by the police force even though he actually tortured his brother by asphyxiation. The Gibbet story shows a bit of psychological torture in that the man who was shot by the highwaymen didn’t know why he was being kept captive or being shot. This may have been the hardest type of torture seeing as the man did not know why he was being held captive or if he would be going to hell. The whole story is based on torture but it was very interesting that the torture would be used to relieve future pain. The Pillowman story is exactly this, he took people who were tortured and he was making them end their own life in order to prevent future torture but then he ends up taking his own life as a child and he is unable to end everyone’s suffering. This is a very interesting spin on a torture story. Its almost like he wanted to show that torture can be used for good.

Character Sketch

Billy Reston:

Reston is one of Will's best friend's who was crippled in an accident in India. He is called in to help with the exploration of the house and actually attempts to bring a level headedness to the picture but no matter how he tries the house just proves him wrong. This man has amzing strength and will. He shows on multiple occasions how strong he is physically and mentally throughout the reading.

The first passage I will take is on 55. His territory is in the master bedroom and he shows his dedication and strength in order to do this because this is not a handicap accessible house in more than one way... He needs to climb these stairs on his own and he also never complains or interferes with the exploration. He even gets cracked on by Tom for being handicapped and he thinks about then he laughs it off and continues up the stairs on his own.

The next passage is on 158-> there are many pages because this is where the pages have about five words a pop.
Will is about to go off and find Halloway's group by himself and even though this isn't going to be easy for Reston he decides to go along with Navidson and continues to joke about his situation. He is says he'll sue the designer of the house for not having ramps...Ha! He is showing is mental toughness by not accepting the out he was given and continuing on and once gain showing the physical strength by once again going down a staircase with his arms. This man is one tough BAMF!

The next passage will be from 208-> same as above
He shows incredible mental strength in this passage and physical prowess. He actually sets up a make shift stretcher for Jed who has been shot and as Wax is being taken out of the room by Will he engages him in a firefight in order to hold him back after Halloway goes completely off the deep end and starts killing his crew and shooting at them. Personally my favorite part of the book. He once again shows his mental strength by joking about the situation. And I love this quote because I see him saying it in a joking manner. After being asked when he started carrying a gun he responds, "Are you kidding me? This place is scary." I almost lost it on the train when I read that.

Reston just shows true mental and physical strength throughout his part in this book and i believe these passages all show this without a shadow of a doubt.

Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3C9TxqyXQ8

This is a trailer for the House of Leaves and I think it is pretty self explanatory. I also liked the fact that it ends with the all knowing quote, "this is not for you" and guess what? The f#@*ing book was right. I don't know how to explain this being a good video except for two facts:
1. It confused me
2. I truly have no idea why Jesus is under water.

House

See ths is how I perceive this house. It was all in the mind's eye. What you saw was really happening but then again these beams on this building are straight go ahead use a ruler. When the book in the introduction speaks about the five minute hallway, I see that as being an optical illusion. A trick for the mind. I don't believe in this therefore it cannot be true to me but what I do believe in is a sick individual that may or may not have used a trick to drive a few men to insanity. Which is another point I will bring up. Maybe Zampano was not blind on accident maybe it was self inflicted and he seemed to be able to go on with his life very normally never worrying about when the creature lying in wait was going to pounce. But getting back to part where Davidson was able to reach into the window and come out the door at the same time, it was an optical illusion just like this building is.

House of Leaves Story Two

This story is the most boring thing I have yet to read in the class. Not only do I not understand more than half of it, it is like sitting through a science lecture in chemistry and physics. It seems like a professor is explainig this to a class full of students that have absolutely no interest in the experiment other than actually watching it and not getting buried in the meat and meaning of the documentary. There are some good parts in this story though. The actual dialogue that they let you in on is very good and the video diaries from Karen. I can't see me enjoying any of the other parts of this story only because its not a story, its a text book. We'll see if it gets any more interesting.

House of Leaves Story One

Ok so there are like two different stories going on this book. I 've deemed the footnote story, Story One. This story is bout the man, I can't recall his name right now, and Lude finding the belongings of Zampano and this man, not Lude, is going what seems to be slowly insane and paranoid from reading this book about the Zampano's life and the Navidsion Record, I think. The actual scientific explanation of The Navidson Record is going on around the actual story so you can know what the man is reading and why this may be affecting him the way it is. This story is the interesting one because it is an actual story. It is a self narrative about how his life has been changing since he answered that phone call 3 in the morning from Lude. Through his accounts I am starting to believe that Zampano my have actually been Navidson and this was one of his many alias after his house destroyed him mentally and physically. We will see where this goes.

Bombing Brooklyn: Graffiti, Language and Gratification

Despite the fact that the graffiti maybe saving your neighborhood from high prices and a different alien class of people from moving into your neighborhood it will never be viewed as anything more than vandalism to most people. I live in Woodhaven, Queens and many, many a times we have had graffiti plastered right on the sides or the front of the house. The weirdest one that I found though, was one on the roof... I went up there to clean the gutters and sure enough there were the letters SVB. I said aloud, "What the fuck?" and thought to myself why the roof? No one can see this and this is pointless. But after reading the paper, I guess it is a little more undertandable. The language itself is the way they want to be remembered. The person is still a son of a bitch though because I had to clean the shit. I really do not think any of these people are freedom fighters either as you say Miss 17 may be. These people just have no other outlet and they have an impulse to do this. I really would love to believe that she is doing this to save her community but I still believe she just wants her name on the wall.

Now getting to Banksy, its still illegal it just looks nice. Use a canvas, a wall is someone's private property and they probably more often than not, not thrilled to see a friggin painting on their clean wall. If that showed up on my wall I'd have to clean it... And the fact that this graffiti is being used to sell communities now is ridiculous. You don't see any of Miss 17 bombings on the green buildings web site. Banksy is a high class vandal and he should face the same wrath from the law that Miss 17 will face if she is ever caught. They know who this man is, FINE HIM!!!

Graffiti

Well what can I say about Graffiti except that its everywhere and I wish I was that talented. I believe that this has truly blossomed into an unthinkable art form. Still vandalism but damn cool. I had a friend make a all seasons sticker for my snowboard that has my name on it in graffiti. As soon as I get the finished product back I will definitely post it. But it is truly amazing the amount of money that could be made from this talent. My friend is constantly contacted in order to decorate a room or an entire wall working with many other artists of course. He unfortunately is down in Jacksonville, FL now but I still stay in touch with him. I can't wait for my sticker to come back to me. It looks amazing. It really is great to see something that once was perceived as a nuisance being use for good and for a profit now... 10 bucks a letter and that's his friend discount price...

Buffalo

I took a trip to Buffalo this weekend to see my team play against the Jets and lose... But I bring this up because it relates to my last post. Everything in Buffalo is simple and simple minded. No one is dressed fancy and no one even gives a shit if they even have pants on... Little exaggerated but you know what I mean. I like this and that way of life. There is nothing to read deeper into its just you get what you see and that is a beautiful thing. There is no stress in this way and I understand this way of life which is probably why I did not like going deeper to try to find meanings and thoughts in the writing. That's great if the writer wants to place his thoughts and beliefs into the writing, that's great but I don't want to know about it because I believe it takes something away from the book you're reading. I just want to take the reading for entertainment purposes because a lot of the books we have read have been more than interesting but then the discussion makes me think about what I have just read and then it loses something...

Pillowman

I did not grasp the really meaning behind this play but maybe if I saw it acted out it would help me follow along a little better. I read through it again and i just do not see what we talked about in class. I don't know if I'm just not following the story correctly but all I saw was a bunch of stories wrapped together in a larger picture. Don't get me wrong I liked the play but I liked much much more before we started discussing this larger meaning behind the play. Why can't it just be entertainment. That shouldn't take anything away from the book or play but aren't you supposed to read for pleasure sometimes. I think that play would have been much better if that was that and leave it at that.

War is a Video Game?

Despite the arguments I get by making this point. War is not a video game and you can be trained using a video game. It is nowhere near what you need to survive in the field. I do believe you can increase your hand eye coordination with the simulations but if you think that will train you to be able to aim while on the run and with explosions going off all around you, you must be completely out of your mind. Do you even know how loud a gun is? That all alone will throw the common person off. Now shoot a moving target 100 yards away with mortars dropping around you creating mini shock waves around you and with return fire flying 10 feet over your head. No training simulation could ever prepare you for that type of mental punishment. No if you have an iPod in that's another story....

Our Presidential Candidates

Every time I hear one of these people open their mouths, I think why not Schwarzenegger? It just scares me that we are going to have a bunch of people running this country that either do not want to answer a question directly or have no idea how to answer the question. One of them might die during his first year in office and then we would get to see the hockey mom in action and that's just pitiful, this is the best our country has to offer... Fuck it I'm going to Canada if I hear one of these people speak again so I will be avoiding the television for the next four years of my life unless its not commercially interrupted or I put the DVD in.

Black Watch Play

This play was very well done and cleared a lot up in the reading of the screen play. You could even see the transition of the attitudes from pub scene to pub scene this way. I thought the actors did a very good job portraying the war and the effects of it on the human being. It slowly makes you go mad. It's very interesting to see up close how they used lighting and the televisions to incorporate the letters from the officer and the fight scenes at night while being bombed. My favorite part of the play would have to be the sign language scene when the men were receiving letters from home. I thought that was a very interesting approach and they pulled it off flawlessly.

Black Watch

Blah, blah, blah... Same story new names. I saw many similarities in Jarhead... Or was this Jarhead. Sex, booze and fantasies of getting your willy wet. It's been the same in every book we've read so far. Just change some names, get a catchy title and you got a money maker I guess. I was very disappointed after reading Shooting War but there were pictures which I guess made it better. But I can't believe that every soldier has the same ideas when at war. Let's read a book about a group of men that go in first on the front lines to clean out the buildings and set up the bombing runs and gather intelligence on secret bunkers. All of these books were quite similar and I'm just getting bored with the recycled story. I think Shooting War just appeased to my A.D.D. with its bright pictures and gory scenes. But in a nut shell everyone of these books, memoirs, graphic novels have been the same work wrapped in a different cover and its getting boring.

Video Game Violence

Still thinking about Shooting War and the way that the violence was depicted as a video game firdt person shooter and two weeks later this still bothers me. I will be the first to defend the video game violence because well its not real. I play a wide variety of games, mainlt shooters and even if the military is using these for training it can only go so far. I have no issue running out onto to a virtual battlefield and taking a few shots in order to gain better position on the enemy. But lets face facts that's not going to happen in real life. You get shot in real life you are not getting back up. I have family that was in the military and law enforcement. Most of these people who have been in combat situations cannot even watch others play these games now. My cousin was involved in a fire fight in the NYPD and she struck in the neck and killed. Tell me the a video game or simulation prepares you for that. That was an overwhelming scene for me because this is not a game and I thought that was a very upsetting image. Try aiming a gun with a grenade going off ten yards away from you, you're not getting that training from a video game.

Keep the Change

I'm glad that 9/11 really didn't affect the country as a whole. I think back to history class when the Japanese cut themselves off from the rest of the world. That could have been us. We could have went to a complete lock down situation and our lives might have never been the same. Fortunately our resolve is strong and we did not let terrorists dictate our lives and have us living in fear. The lives of many were definitely changed to some degree but they were strong and kept fighting forward and everyone that lost a loved one that day are the strongest because they fought back the hardest, they were unwilling to change their everyday life in the wake of 9/11. The U.S. will never given into the demands of cowards and extremists.

http://www.theblackday.org/ - this site is dedicated to all those who lost their life in the tragedy

Myrtle Beach

I'll be leaving for Myrtle Beach on Thursday morning for vacation. I can't wait to get away for the five days. I haven't had a vacation since last summer. If I'm not in school, I'm in work and if I'm not in work... no I'm probably in work. Going down for five days of golfing, beach activities and night clubs. I can't wait to just be able to sit back, relax and watch someone else squirm for about five minutes because they aren't doing what I'm doing... That's terrible but I really do need the break. The only bad part is I've ever been on a plane before, plus side is its only a forty minute flight.

www.MyrtleBeachGolfCourses.com - this website has all your Myrtle Beach golf courses and packages for all of them. If you like to golf... This is the way to go.

Jarhead Part 2

This book deals with a lot of trust issues and it is mentioned and shown through various happenings in the book. I personally like this aspect of the book because if I was away from as long as some of these guys had been and didn't know what was going on back home with my family and girlfriend I would start to lose my mind. The fascinating part is that different platoons within the USMC don't trust each other or would not do anything for another group. They are all fighting the same war against the same enemy and yet they all still can't trust each other. I don't know how could be angry at my girlfriend back home if I found out she was cheating with all the shit that they obviously do with the local women wherever they're stationed. It seems a bit hypocritical. If your girl can go without cheating for that long why can't you keep it in your pants.

Jarhead

Coming from a little military background in my family, and actually having two marines in the family I can someone relate them to this book thus far. The two family members that served were not involved in the Gulf War but were both Marines. They both served in World War 2 and were Marines. Most of everything that they went through in this book so far I heard as bed time stories from my grandfathers. They were both very much not for war so much but they both loved the idea of doing what they did best and that was kill. These men are trained to kill you with a popsicle stick and that's not an exaggeration, a marine could kill you with a popsicle stick. Swofford had many similar experiences in the marines from the drill seargents to the working out almost every second of the day. The only change that I would see is when Swofford spoke of the fear that ran through these men that are expecting to die. My grandfathers said that they were not allowed to show any type of doubt or fear while serving, even though they may have been. One thing that even Swofford talks about that my grandfathers would agree on is that it would be something to die a marine. "You die, I'm going to die a marine." is the slogan I believe and they held very true to that. Even though they went through all the misery and pain and torture and they haven't even fought the enemy yet, they were still proud as hell to fight and kill for this country. As my late grandfather put it best, "I'm just doing my job, accept my pen is a rifle."

Where I Was

When the planes struck the buildings in September, I remember at first thinking that our high school was on fire because the smoke was billowing in through the Chemistry Lab windows. When I found out that the towers were struck by two planes, I was a little shocked because we were in Briarwood a very safe distance from the towers and the smoke was still coming into the building as if it were happening right across the street. When the announcement came over the P.A. system that the twin towers had been struck by planes, I have never seen so many joyful faces turn to sorrow and anger. Some of the guys of Arab background had it very hard over the next year or so. I just remember thinking about my dad who works just across the harbor. I didn't know the full story and i didn't know what the extent of the damage was if any debris may have flown across the harbor. I was expecting the worse, but received good news as soon as I got home from school which was immediately dismissed after the announcement. I also remember everyone crying as I left school and I was the only one with no emotions on my face. I felt bad, sure, but I did nothing and did not know how to show how I felt in this situation. I remember an overwhelming confusion over the situation, not being able to fathom what some of my friends and classmates had lost on that day. And I truly to this day will never know how that feels. I just felt empty for a long time after that day.

www.tdi-dog.org/disaster.html This is a link to a group of people dedicated to helping those affected by 9/11

Snowboarding Approaching

With the snowboarding season approaching very rapidly, I am getting very hyped. I can't wait to take to the slopes for another season of snowboarding. For anyone who has not tried to snowboard before I suggest investing in this sport. Everyone can do it, even if it does hurt the first few runs. I have been boarding for about two years now and it gets better and better every time i go out there. You learn something or try something stupid with each new run. At the end of last season I started to go into the freestyle park at Mountain Creek and got a little to brave for my own good. I took a jump that I was not ready for and partially tore my MCL after my board got stuck in the snow and I kept on rolling. Even though it could have been a lot worse I can't wait to try my luck on the same jump this season. I'm healthy and ready for anything. I suggest that everyone go out and try this at least once, because I know you will be hooked. There is just an adrenaline rush that cannot be matched by any other sport. I would equate to the rush you get from riding a motorcycle but a lot safer... Just give it a try and you might surprise yourself and find a new hobby.

Season passes are on sale right now at Mountain Creek -
http://www.mountaincreek.com/ticketsandpasses/seasonpass/index.htm

Another Angle

The story behind 9/11 has changed many times and there are so called conspiracies involved with what really happened on 9/11. i think to fully understand any situation you should have a grasp on every angle of an incident so you can make your argument that much stronger. This video http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6529813972926262623, The Great Conspiracy will show you another angle on the 9/11 stories. I am not saying I believe this or not but it is worth taking a look at because there are some valid points that are made but there many points that fall short of real evidence or just hear say. It's just something interesting to look into.

The Lives of 9/11

This class being focused around how this single incident, and how it changed the way people write forever is very interesting. This almost seems very close to the point that was being made in "The Mercy Seat". Now, I believe there is a larger observation that must be made in this situation or a question of sorts. Why has writing changed? Is it because someone saw an opportunity in this incident and it will help book sales down the road because someone is wrting on a very controversial issue, or do these authors actually have some place for the victims in their heart and they want people to be very aware of how this happened and came about in the first place. they also have to ask themseleves what will this do to minority communities in the U.S.? Will it cause racially motivated attacks or discrimination? I truly believe that this subject needs to be discussed and written about, but as a part of history so the future generations are educated and do not make the same mistakes we have. I know this is a hard subject because even if you did not know someone who died that day, you knew someone who lost a friend, a realative, a brother/sister, or a parent. It just does not got any easier and it shouldn't be.

The Mercy Seat

This was an interesting play written by Neil LaBute. I did enjoy the story somewhat but in the wake of what was going on in the world , the setting of 9/11, I was very surprised about the egos of the main characters especially Ben's. It just seemed that the arguments were petty and there was no true love between either of them. Their relationship was an even bigger lie than Ben's marriage. I did not like the fact that these two people seemed like they were somehow bigger than the tragedy. That their lives were somehow bigger than this tragedy and it just seemed ridicculous. And to end my dissatisfaction, the fact that someone could see any potential at all in the situation and to lead his own family to believe that he was dead is a complete crock of shit because no real man, no matter how bad their life is would ever dream of doing that to their family, especially having two children.