Library
** Update at 2:24 p.m. - See Tim O'Brien speak this evening at 7:00 p.m. at Central Library, for the final segment of this year's Arlington Reads: The Soldier's Story. **
Tim O'Brien, the author of The Things They Carried, is speaking to students at Marymount University today, in the Library Auditorium.
He starts out by telling a story about the older of his two little boys, peeing into a mesh trash can instead of the toilet. His son's explanation was that "he had two heads." One head told him that his dad would be mad if he peed into the trashcan, and the other head wondered how cool it would be to pee into the trashcan instead of the toilet. That night, O'Brien told his boys a story about having two heads himself, when he joined the army - one that was full of patriotism, and the other thinking there was no way he going to war.
He says that carrying two heads through life is hard, but has an upside - it may keep us from making horrible mistakes.
O'Brien hopes that The Things They Carried helps readers to navigate their own ambiguities. He grew up being told Thou Shalt Not Kill. Then he ended up in Vietnam being told, "You'd better kill!" Behaviors that seemed wrong back in this world, that would look "utterly uncivil" here, were normal in Vietnam. He wants readers to question what they know to be "true."
O'Brien is reading a section of The Things They Carried that illustrates his own feelings at the time about being in Vietnam (will add video) "War was like a ping pong ball. You could put fancy spin on it, you could make it dance." This is the 3rd chapter, Spin. The chapter is arranged somewhat randomly. The war felt random - the sense of something driving you was utterly missing. Spin is meant to replicate that randomness.
"Much of our comportment as soldiers was utterly devoid of political reason," what mattered was your humanity, how you carried yourself. Back in the civilian world, the little pieces of metal matter. But his main act of courage was just to keep moving, keep going. What was the worst they could do - send him to 'Nam? And yet he kept going. There was no way of knowing where the safe spots were, but he kept going. Which brings him to his final point before questions -
The title, The Things They Carried, is meant to apply to all of you - to the burdens you carry. It's a book about war, but it's a book about the burdens everyone carries.
Questions from the Marymount students:
What did Lieutenant Cross tell him not to mention?
"Nothing - Cross is a made up character." But O'Brien knows what the fictional character didn't want him to say, and if you read that chapter 4 or 5 times, he thinks you'll figure it out.
Was there anyone who kept his company from crossing the line, from going from human to animal?
There were officers who's job it was, and they tried, but also failed a lot. However, there was a boundary that his company would not cross, which was that of full scale atrocity, like My Lai (which happened before he got to Vietnam). O'Brien says that none of the men at the My Lai Massacre deny their actions, and only one was vaguely punished - and that is part of the horrible fabric of war. The actions of his company never crossed the ML line, but they did engage in smaller, daily nastinesses, which are also part of that fabric of war.
Do you pick up the characteristics of the people you write?
"Yes - they're all me." The hard nastiness of Azar is in O'Brien - he was always trying to be harder in Vietnam - and the rest of the characters are also him, even the women.
None of the stories happened as they are written - he's written what nearly occurred, could have happened, and sometimes what should have happened.
- Arlington Reads: David Finkel's Visit With Arlington Students
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- Adult Storytime At Aurora Hills: Lunch With Literature
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- Cherrydale Book Club Spring Schedule
The Cherrydale Branch Library's book discussion meets at 7:30 p.m., on the second Monday of each month. Newcomers are always welcome, no matter when you read the book! Ask about available copies of our titles at the Cherrydale circulation desk, or...
- Discuss "the Things They Carried" & "the Good Soldiers" - March 31
Arlington Reads 2011 info pageJoin us on Thursday, March 31 at 7:00 p.m. for a Countywide book discussion exploring the soldier's experience as portrayed in this year's Arlington Reads: The Things They Carried by Tim O'BrienThe Good Soldiers...
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Arlington Reads 2011 info page Arlington County - home to the Pentagon, Fort Myer and Arlington National Cemetery - is never far from war. Because understanding a soldier's life and work is so relevant to our community, Arlington Reads 2011...
Library
Live blogging of Tim O'Brien at Marymount University
** Update at 2:24 p.m. - See Tim O'Brien speak this evening at 7:00 p.m. at Central Library, for the final segment of this year's Arlington Reads: The Soldier's Story. **
Tim O'Brien, the author of The Things They Carried, is speaking to students at Marymount University today, in the Library Auditorium.He starts out by telling a story about the older of his two little boys, peeing into a mesh trash can instead of the toilet. His son's explanation was that "he had two heads." One head told him that his dad would be mad if he peed into the trashcan, and the other head wondered how cool it would be to pee into the trashcan instead of the toilet. That night, O'Brien told his boys a story about having two heads himself, when he joined the army - one that was full of patriotism, and the other thinking there was no way he going to war.
He says that carrying two heads through life is hard, but has an upside - it may keep us from making horrible mistakes.
O'Brien hopes that The Things They Carried helps readers to navigate their own ambiguities. He grew up being told Thou Shalt Not Kill. Then he ended up in Vietnam being told, "You'd better kill!" Behaviors that seemed wrong back in this world, that would look "utterly uncivil" here, were normal in Vietnam. He wants readers to question what they know to be "true."
O'Brien is reading a section of The Things They Carried that illustrates his own feelings at the time about being in Vietnam (will add video) "War was like a ping pong ball. You could put fancy spin on it, you could make it dance." This is the 3rd chapter, Spin. The chapter is arranged somewhat randomly. The war felt random - the sense of something driving you was utterly missing. Spin is meant to replicate that randomness.
"Much of our comportment as soldiers was utterly devoid of political reason," what mattered was your humanity, how you carried yourself. Back in the civilian world, the little pieces of metal matter. But his main act of courage was just to keep moving, keep going. What was the worst they could do - send him to 'Nam? And yet he kept going. There was no way of knowing where the safe spots were, but he kept going. Which brings him to his final point before questions -
The title, The Things They Carried, is meant to apply to all of you - to the burdens you carry. It's a book about war, but it's a book about the burdens everyone carries.
Questions from the Marymount students:
What did Lieutenant Cross tell him not to mention?
"Nothing - Cross is a made up character." But O'Brien knows what the fictional character didn't want him to say, and if you read that chapter 4 or 5 times, he thinks you'll figure it out.
Was there anyone who kept his company from crossing the line, from going from human to animal?
There were officers who's job it was, and they tried, but also failed a lot. However, there was a boundary that his company would not cross, which was that of full scale atrocity, like My Lai (which happened before he got to Vietnam). O'Brien says that none of the men at the My Lai Massacre deny their actions, and only one was vaguely punished - and that is part of the horrible fabric of war. The actions of his company never crossed the ML line, but they did engage in smaller, daily nastinesses, which are also part of that fabric of war.
Do you pick up the characteristics of the people you write?
"Yes - they're all me." The hard nastiness of Azar is in O'Brien - he was always trying to be harder in Vietnam - and the rest of the characters are also him, even the women.
None of the stories happened as they are written - he's written what nearly occurred, could have happened, and sometimes what should have happened.
- Arlington Reads: David Finkel's Visit With Arlington Students
Yesterday the students at Arlington's New Directions High School and the Yorktown High School student newspaper, the Sentry, had the honor of meeting David Finkel, author of The Good Soldiers. Mr. Finkel visited New Directions and Yorktown during...
- Adult Storytime At Aurora Hills: Lunch With Literature
Join us next Monday, April 18, 12:00 p.m. at the Aurora Hills Branch Library for a story time designed just for adults. Bring your lunch, and listen to a story read aloud by library staff, in the Aurora Hills Senior Center. In celebration of Arlington...
- Cherrydale Book Club Spring Schedule
The Cherrydale Branch Library's book discussion meets at 7:30 p.m., on the second Monday of each month. Newcomers are always welcome, no matter when you read the book! Ask about available copies of our titles at the Cherrydale circulation desk, or...
- Discuss "the Things They Carried" & "the Good Soldiers" - March 31
Arlington Reads 2011 info pageJoin us on Thursday, March 31 at 7:00 p.m. for a Countywide book discussion exploring the soldier's experience as portrayed in this year's Arlington Reads: The Things They Carried by Tim O'BrienThe Good Soldiers...
- Arlington Reads 2011?the Soldier's Story
Arlington Reads 2011 info page Arlington County - home to the Pentagon, Fort Myer and Arlington National Cemetery - is never far from war. Because understanding a soldier's life and work is so relevant to our community, Arlington Reads 2011...