Details, Details, Details

On page 118, there are so many great details. A few examples are: "his eyebrows were thin and arched like a woman's eyebrow" , "clean black hair was swept upward into the cowlick at the rear of the skull, his forehead was lightly freckled", and "the blood there was think and shiny".
All of these phrases I find as perfect examples of how detailed this story was. O'Brien did not leave much to the imagination. He pretty much wrote out every detail of the situation. The reader did not have to wonder what was going on or what they saw or smelt because he wrote everything that a reader would ever want to know. Sometimes this meant even some gruesome or graphic images, such as the ones above that deal with the man Tim shot. I really liked this about the book because details always make me feel like I am there in the story. Also, most people never have experienced the things that take place in the book, but O'Brien makes us feel like we have after reading his intricate writing. I think this mad the book very good. Details make the reader feel one with the characters.

Literary Term #5

Rhetorical Questions

• page 38: "Was it a civil war? A war of national liberation or simple aggression? Who started it and why? What really happened to the USS Maddox on that dark night in the Gulf of Tonkin? Was Ho Chi Minh a communist stooge, or a nationalist savior, or both, or neither? What about the Geneva Accords? What about SEATO and the Cold War? What about dominoes?"

These are a list of rhetorical questions going through O'Brien's mind when thinking about the war. It is obvious they are rhetorical because he is not looking for someone else to answer them. The purpose of these in the story is to show how every character must have had these type of questions running through their mind. Also, it may be used to show how everyone during this time did not truly understand the war. Even after the war, I am not sure if the soldiers do. So if soldiers there still have questions, think about the public who is pretty much out of the loop. This could also be an example of STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS. We are seeing what is going on in the mind of O'Brien. This allows for the reader to become a lot more connected to the story and the main character. This engages a reader by making them feel like they are a part of the story.

Literary Term #3

Dialect

• Page 19: "They used a hard vocabulary to contain the terrible softness, Greased they'd say. Offed, lit up, zapped while zipping."
• Page 119: " 'You fuckin' trashed the fucker,' Azar said. 'You scrambled his sorry self, look at that, you did, you laid him out like Shredded fuckin' Wheat.' "

The dialect of the soldiers is a major part of the story. I think that the dialect throughout the story makes the reader feel like they are more connected to the soldiers since they are hearing the true way they speak. Also, I think the dialect is a way of how the soldiers deal with the terrible things occuring around them, such as death. They use harsh language as a way to coop with the sad and distressing situations they face. On page 19, they use these types of phrases to make the death of Lavendar not so tough on them. By making some humor, they are trying to keep their minds off how terrible it is that one of their men died. On page 119, Tim killed a man and Azar is trying to lighten the mood by making a somewhat humorous comment. He knows that Tim must be in shock and saddness of what he did, but Azar wants to make him treat this as just any other situation they've come across.

I think my last lit term!!

Lierary Term #12

Details

• page 93: "We ate the sandwiches and drank the Chablis and watched the country field out of the window. The grain was just beginning to ripen and the fields were full of poppies. The pastureland was green, and there were fine trees, and sometimes big rivers and chateaux off in the trees."

So, this story has a ton of details throughout the entire book. I am not sure why, but this short paragraph really stood out for some reason. It just really makes me feel like I am there. I can see the fields and feel like I am right there with them. This is what details should do, and that's why I wanted to discuss this part. Details are the reason I liked this book. I could vividly picture each scene while reading. I think that is what made this book more enjoyable! It was confusing at times, not gunna lie, but I could visualize things a lot easier while reading and could figure out where things were taking place and the mood. Speaking of mood, details make this noticable! When reading this paragraph, I felt just relaxed and calm. The details made me have the ablity to feel that. I have said this plenty of times, but this engages the reader.

Lit termmm

Literary Term #11

Personification

• page 69: "The music hit you as you went in."

This would be personification because music cannot literally hit anyone. If anything, the music would be a shock to them when they are walking in since it is loud. This phrase is just one of the types of ways Hemingway describes the atmosphere of the characters. I think it really just is an abstract way to describe, but here it really is effective. The reader is able to put themselves into the place of the characters since Hemingway does such a great job of describing and making the book so real. Personification's purpose is to describe everything in a new way and to make the reader become a part of the story. I really think that this pharse does just that. When reading, I highlighted this because it stood out. I think it was a really good description. Personification strengthened this.

Another one!

Literary Term #10

Anecdote

• page 13: "I first became aware of his lady's attitude toward him one night after the three of us had dined together....."

This is an anecdote of Jake's said to the reader. Jake is telling us how he observed Frances and Cohn's relationship. He tells when he came to the conclusion he has about it. By telling us this story, he gives us a better understanding of the two. Anecdotes are used like this in most stories. It gives insight to the readers about why characters are the way they are. The reader is able to grasp the full understanding of who a person is and how the narrator, especially in first person point of view, feels towards that person. Also, it gives us an emotional feeling towards the people in the story. You can feel sorry for Cohn or hate towards Frances. Either way, anecdotes draw us in as readers to the story. It is no longer just a book you are reading. Rather, it is a new life you have emerged in. I think that anecdotes give a book a special touch that we can start to relate to the characters in the story.

Another lit term:)

Literary Term #6

Alliteration

• page 172: "...swept a swath smoothly across the sand and out the red gate."

The alliteration occurs here from the "s". Since s is a consonant, this would be considered alliteration. The purpose of alliteration is: "it can place emphasis on specific phrases and represent the action that is taking place". In this particular phrase, the emphasis is on the actions and sequence of events taking place before the bull fighting. Bull fighting is a major theme of the story, so it is very fitting for Hemingway to use alliteration when describing things having to do with it. The use of this accentuates the experience of the characters. Hemingway wants to make every single part of the bull-fighting, even the events or actions leading up to it, have importance and appeal. He wants the reader to feel like they are there yet again with the men in the story. He wants us to have these experiences with them, and the alliteration gives us this ablity. We see more clearly what is taking place. Also, I think that alliteration just makes the sentence flow nicely. By doing this, it draws my attention to how the author does this. The reasosn for this is obviously the alliteration. This supports the fact that it is used for emphasis.

Another example of alliteration would be on page 98: "The chauffeur came out, folding up the papers and putting them in the inside pocket of his coat."

Hey guess what this is.... a lit term:)

Literary Term #5

Onomatopoeia

• page 165: "The cafe did not make this same noise at any other time, no matter how crowded it was. This hum went on, and we were in it and a part of it."

The word hum is an example of onomatopoeia. When one says the word hum, the sound made when pronouncing the word is similar if not the same as the sound when hearing the actual humming (if that makes sense). In other words, onomatopoeia is when the actual word echos the meaning of the word said. Hemingway effectively uses this in his writing on other occasions, but this one stuck out to me for some reason. I think it is because of the fact that is describing the sound of the fiesta going on when they are in Pamplona. This word actually gives me an understanding of what the chracters are hearing. Since hum demonstrates onomatopoeia, I can actually hear what they would be hearing without actually being there. Onomatopoeia is almost another way of details to the story since it makes the reader feel engaged in the story and like they are a part of it. This is yet another way Hemingway brings the reader into the story.