MY LAST SUMMER BLOG:)

For the last blog, I want to talk about the ending. I mean how can you blog about a book and not talk about that? You can't! So this book ends with O'Brien saying "I realize it as Tim trying to save Timmy's life with a story" (page 233). After reading this line, I was really confused. I was not sure what he wanted us to take from this at first, but after thinking I somewhat understand it. Linda's death was hard for Tim at a fairly young age. He had to deal with it, and I think he dealed with it by telling stories. In his dream, Linda compares herself to a book and says she "jsut hope[s] somebody'll pick it up and start reading" (page 232). When she says this, I think it compells Tim to start writing and telling stories. By telling stories, you do not forget. Since the dead cannot come back and tell people about themselves, Tim feels like he should tell their story for them. He starts to tell stories as a way to coop with his greif. By telling stories, Tim remembers the people not as just dead people, but as the people he knew and loved. His stories bring them to life.
Overall, I really did enjoy this book. It had some good and interesting stories. I did like it better than the other book, so I am glad I saved it for last!

Why We NEED these Stories

There are so many different stories in this book that O'Brien shares with us. He tells these stories so that people never forget. He wants people to understand the war and the things that the soldiers went through. On page 175, his daughter Kathleen says "Some dumb thing happens a long time ago and you can't even forget it". This supports every reason of why O'Brien should and does tell these stories. People die off and forget what happens, but those people who were there and witnessed firsthand what happened must tell the stories. If people forget or say that what happened was stupid, then I think there is more of a chance of it happening again. You know what they say, "History repeats itself". By telling the stories, O'Brien makes sure that we know of the terrible things that happened and how hard it was on him. We can better understand history by these stories. Also, this reminds me of the survivors of the Holocaust telling their stories because already people are saying it never happened. Through their stories, the survivors make sure everyone knows it happened and are making sure history does not repeat itself.

Literary Term #6

Motif

• page 19: "There's a moral here, said Mitchell Sanders."

This is a common phrase made when finishing a war story. This is an important motif since storytelling is one of the major themes of the book. The moral of the stories is either ridiculous or funny, or it is really a life lesson or new thing they have learned as a result of a certain situation. i think that it may also be a way to make a sad story humerous. An example would be on page 20 when the moral of the story of Lavendar's death is "Stay away from drugs..they'll ruin your day every time."(page 20). Yes, this is a true statement, but it is funny because really this is not a good moral to the story. We just heard a really depressing death story and the moral deals with drugs? I didn't think his death really had much to do with his use of drugs. (In addition, this phares presents irony because to Lavendar the drugs made his day better. Just wanted to point that out!)

Okay, so the motif really supports the theme of storytelling. On page 74, it says "In a true war story, if there's a moral at all, it's like the thread that makes the cloth". This shows that the motif of a moral is important because it makes the story. It makes the story worthwhile and able to be told over and over. This is just my thoughts on why the motif is important to this book.