Looking at a "Defensive Realization"

That's the memoir I chose; "Defensive Realization", by Jason in New York.

A brief summary: 'Twas Jason's first day of football practice and the season and such. He got to the field he belonged in to play the sport he loved. He enjoyed every minute, but there was always one thing: he didn't like playing defense. He said he didn't "hate" it, but he was no good at it, and as a result preferred offense and rarely played defense when given the choice. However, for one of the biggest games of their season, his coach put him in on defensive, and he wasn't very optimistic about it.

(I believe his words were, "With me in, our shutout was over for sure.")


He played anyway, wanting to get as much time as possible playing that beloved sport, and he tackled an opposing player, effectively ending the game. This also sparked a new passion for a skill he never knew he had.


Albeit relatively short, I believe Jason's was an excellent example of a great memoir. He mixed storytelling with his reflection so well I had a hard time discerning one from the other. He says "The season had gone as perfectly in my mind as possible." I interpret that as a reflection, because it seems like he's looking back on those seven weeks and seeing that they were indeed fantastic and special. Also, near the end he states that the "tackle ended the game but started something even more important." I don't think that in the neat of the moment, after someone makes a decisive tackle, they'd stop and think that the tackle "started something important". Jason is obviously recalling the experience and realizing that it was a turning point in his life for him.


Most of his memoir was telling the story of this realization, an idiosyncrasy, I would think, of memoirs; Jason told a story that took place over time, and he recounted the earlier events and transitioned to the significant later events appropriately: "The next seven weeks went by so fast and dream-like that I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t in that deep sleep back on August 22nd."


He even went back to the beginning, cleverly alluding to that morning on the 22nd of August. It's not a perfect example of it, but that is similar to a literary technique I learned in elementary school called "full-circle ending."


Reading this memoir, I felt a little connection to myself. I also plan on writing about a seemingly small thing that started something new for me (aren't we all?). The way Jason ended his memoir kinda sums it all up: 

"For me, it started a new love for a new skill that I didn’t know I had."

Vietnamese War: Why'd We Do It?

"Why did America fight in the Vietnam War?" Hmmm...'cuz we're not all that bright? (And I say that nicely). Okay, okay, let's actually look this thing up...:

AH. Go figure. It was because we couldn't mind our own business and were concerned about Vietnam and its political issues. Bah. A little while after WWII, Vietnam wanted to be recognized as an independent and free country, as fought France to that point. After it became its own country, Vietnam experienced a divide in its government: northern Vietnam was a Communist state, and the souther part was trying hard to resist the north's pressuring to become the same.

The U.S. of A., a young idealist country with a democratic government, of course looked down on Communism and readily jumped to southern VIetnam's aid...

I don't really know why or how we got into Vietnam's business. Apparently we supported them in getting away from France, giving them $2.6 billion in financial support during that little revolt (Digital History).

$2.6 billion....and at the same time we were fighting the Cold War AND recovering from WWII. And we wonder why America's in so much debt.

That pretty much covers the questions...right? I don't really know what/which "opposition" is specified on Edline, but since I generally conclude that it was over Communism and between Northern Vietnam and its allies and Southern Vietnam and America and allies, I will also go over internal opposition slightly here...

Um, WE DIDN'T WANT THE WAR. A lot of the Americans at that time, anyway. After the Tet Offensive many were especially against American involvement in the Vietnam War. It cost America almost 60,000 deaths, and we'd involved 500,000 military personnel.

After all that fighting, Pres. Nixon recalled U.S. forces from the warring country, leaving Southern Vietnam to fend for itself. Then Northern Vietnam captured Saigon, and yeah. United Communist Vietnam is born.

I'm totally against war, so you actually get a short post this time around! :)

Sites I used: http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/vietnam/index.cfm

America is Not America

Ah, the much-anticipated Langston Hughes post...It's just not me until it's did the day before.

SO:

Heh. I like this poem~ Hughes was/is totally on the right track here. I could write 2 pages worth of post talking about this poem, but I have guidelines to meet, so I'll try and summarize my take on it. No hating if I'm not the least bit original or out of the box.

Basically: America is the Land of Phony...the "American Dream" is indeed just that. A dream dreamt up by Europeans--and actually, probably other peoples too-- who wanted something better than the reality they had. This was the dream of equality, happiness, and freedom (give or take some more desirable qualities). People came here hoping for a better life and a fresh start, and yet 200+ years later, we are in a glorified version of the countries we'd come from. "Freedom" and "equality" are just terms...used loosely and relatively.

In this country of diversity, there is no equality; and dreams are crushed by the cruel reality of the same game of life: eat or be eaten and winner take all. We, the people, who dreamed of such a great land, work hard for a seemingly unattainable dream and get nothing in return. We have nothing...except the hazy memory of the American Dream.

ANSWERING GIVEN QUESTIONS!!!!!

Hrmm...I'd say that the two perspectives in this poem were the optimistic view and realistic view. Namely, the delusion that America is the bestestest country ever, full of freedom, equality, and opportunity. 8D Now, the realistic perspective: all that is a bunch of PHOOEY. We're just technologically advanced, but inevitably that has led to a bunch of other problems, and the more complicated our society gets the more complex our problems become. And there is a ubiquitous existence of prejudice and unfair judgments and assumptions, no matter how small or how hard we try to cleverly cover it up.

Umm, I feel like that paragraph answered a lot of the other questions, so the rest'll be short answers!

Hughes calls for an America that is America--the very epitome of the "America" (dreamed land) people have hoped for, for centuries. A land of freedom, and opportunity, and equality...and this is really getting quite redundant... >. > At this point, I am using "America" as the Promised Land and dreamland of most people; it's just a..umm...symbol. There we go. (Hard to explain/put into words)

I would say the overall tone of this poem is... one of scorn and distaste. OH, and wistful too. Hughes is looking down on the America we've become, and dislikes the fact that the very people who tried to build up an ideal country of freedom and equal opportunity are the ones helping to make it what it is today...either they're the oppressed or the oppressors. Hughes hopes for a better America...an America that is truly "America".

I think Hughes criticizes the whole--well, the same 3 main traits/qualities/principles or whatever that I keep mentioning above--there is no equality, there is no freedom, there is no opportunity. Hughes is criticizing the lack of all of that.

Fitzgerald and Hughes must have been on the same page; they both are doubting the "America"-ness of this so-called "America." No equality in The Great Gatsby's  New York; no equal opportunity as proven by the differences in financial affairs and status. Etc., etc....

I agree with the criticisms 100%... or close enough to that. I mean, I've always been viewing the world in a kind of cynical way, so I'm already inclined to believe a lot of things are lies by default. I'm a skeptic, and I DEFINITELY do not think our America is the America. Everything is just a lie or jumbled up contradiction.

--STARBURST: IT'S A JUICY CONTRADITION!!!

--AJ out.

Link to GreGat Project

Blah.. Random post. ON LIT BLOG!!!

XD I must loll. Not "LOL", but loll.

Hey there. Here's a link to my our American Lit Great Gatsby project: http://keptinreserve.blogspot.com/

Make sure you go to older posts and read from the beginning!!

--Alex; aka Mr. Nick Carraway