Ryan Grosz

AP LIT

[ryangrosz]

Welp

Well I was cruising through this project, sort of...not really, and then I got sick over the week end which really stumped me there. I really couldn’t look at a screen, so I didn’t work on this or even turn in what I have for completish thing.

The struggle has been real throughout this whole project but this is definitely a big obstacle for me. As of this post I have my annotations and literature review done, I just have to do the rest of it in a day or two. And yesterday, I spent the entire day redoing my annotations because I looked back at it and most of it was pure garbage. But now I really have to write this general introduction in a day which from the looks of it, may keep me busy for a while

This project has been an extreme struggle and usually I would finish assignments late in this class but now I can’t because I won’t graduate. So these next two days are about to be game 7 for me. The struggle was already enough but now after being sick and unable to work on this for a few days...it’s just even worse....Welp

[ryangrosz]

Reflecting my Lit Review

I finished my literature review a couple days ago, and now I’m going to reflect upon the rough time that was typing my literature review.

Getting started on this was actually not that bad for me. One of my themes was really obvious among the sources, the morals of the Vietnam war and I got started really well with this. Just the one thing about these bodies...it took me way too long. I ended up typing about 10 pages for this and 10 pages while watching the NBA playoffs and having lacrosse throughout the week just makes typing this paper that much longer. I was surprised how the ideas flew through my mind in the literature Review, my ideas were there and my fingers were just typing up magic.

But the biggest problem I had was typing the conclusion, my input. It wasnt the typing it, but just getting started on it. I flew so well through the rest of the literature review then right away I just paused on the conclusion. Then I took a night and once I thought of what to write...i finished my literature review. Only 3-4 more parts to go for graduation !

[ryangrosz]

Fields of Fire 7

Something that I noticed throughout my novel and the other criticisms on other Vietnam fiction books that happen to be on my sources as well, is the consistent allusions to John Wayne.

John Wayne of course was an actor back in the mid 1900’s and he would be the one to appeal to many people involved or interesting in fighting. He starred in a lot of movie which required him to hold a gun, for example movies that were set in the old West.

Anyways, I thought of these references to him by the characters in my novel as a way into the pop culture of the time frame that my book is set. John Wayne was no doubt extremely popular, by the time the Vietnam War had been going on. Also, if there was a group of people he’d appeal to, it would definitely be soldiers.

In the latest of allusions to him, Webb has a solider named Bagged State “What the hell am I doing here, anyway? Where’s the goddam ARVNs? Who needs this shit, huh? I ain’t any hero. Goddamn John Wayne, anyways.”

[ This quote shows the attitude some soldiers had during the war, worrying about what they got themselves in and their families back home.]

And back the the John Wayne, he referred John Wayne as a hero of some sorts. I never seen a John Wayne movie so I wouldn’t know exactly but he is most likely referencing his characters who, from reading online, seem like the type that would be a hero in like every movie he’s in. Although this passage would say otherwise but maybe many of these soldiers want to be like John Wayne, the hero killing some bad guys.

[ryangrosz]

Fields of Fire 6

my novel, “Fields of Fire” I have noticed and blogged about the different perspectives of war. I found something else that really focuses on perspectives and I don’t think it necessarily has to be apply to war at all. I got to this passage in the book, well it includes a couple passages from this one chapter. What I got from comparing different parts of this passage is not to form prejudices about someone without knowing their full story (although that’s easier said than done).

In this passage Goodrich sees Dan, a Vietnamese scout for the Marines, talking to a mamasan with food for her baby’s and which Goodrich wasn’t happy about. He wanted to be able to criticize Dan in front of the woman. He sees Dan as a traitor to his own people: eating Marine food as his people starved, brutalizing his own people in order to get food and not to be brutalized himself.

With Goodrich’s perspective, loyalty is important to him. His loyalty story goes back when he enlisted, although he wasn’t signing up to fight...he was the only one of his friends to not avoid the draft or enlist (his best friend fled to Canada). When he sees someone like Dan without knowing Dan and during such a brutal war, he’s not exactly going to like it.

But earlier in the chapter, Dan told the mamasan, in order to make her feel bad and take the food he offered, he told her that the VC (Viet Cong) killed his wife and children. He actually used that as a way to get with that woman but anyways he has a legitimate reason to fight against “his own people.” Goodrich just hasn’t seen the perspective that Dan has to fight the VC which is why he doesn’t like him.

[ryangrosz]

Reflecting on Research so far

My experiences for the research are a little hot and cold. Going to the library at Oakland University really turned out easier than what people are saying it was, even though all the librarian did was tell me what to search. I found a few sources (about four I ended up with) and sent the PDFs to myself. Which made the process easier.

The sources that I have are sources that I can comprend enough to understand what is being argued and the lens being used. But the main problem that I’m having with this research right now is finding who these people are that wrote these. I have four sources right now and I only found two, from the two sources that I will probably have to cut one since their somewhat similar topics (limits of masculinity & sexism and racism). One follows more of a feminist lens throughout the criticism and mentions some racism as well, while the other one is just focusing on really what the topic suggests, the stereotype of being a “man.” I think I could use both but I’m not sure yet.

Also I mentioned the struggle of trying to find a couple of my authors. I really tried hard researching online for these two authors but I found nothing on them, not even a small little Wikipedia page about them. I’m just having a hard time deciphering whether they’re credible or not. One of them was published by the John Hopkins University press which I consider to be a credible publisher. The other came from “Southern Cultures” whatever that is. I may have to research what that is to see whether it determines the source as credible. But still, not knowing who these critics are is kind of bumming me out with this credibility thing.

All I know is I’m probably going to have to go back to the library...hopefully not

[ryangrosz]

I spy a librarian

[ryangrosz]

Fields of Fire 5

I can across a small paragraph that made me think of Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse 5.

“Snake scowled . I don’t go to those things, you know that. I don’t like talking about dead people. What good does it do to talk about? Won’t change it. They didn’t die for any goddamn Colonel.”

When Snake said this, he was referring to a ceremony that was done to honor the fallen soldiers where helmets are placed on rifles and a chaplains sents a prayer for them.

When I read this, I immediately thought of the phrase “so it goes” and Billy Pilgrim. Throughout Slaughterhouse 5, Billy Pilgrim has this different approach on death which he learned from the Tralfamadorians, which is a “whatever” attidude. Whenever death occurs, it’s whatever. This is the type of attitude that Snake really has here.

It made me start to think, maybe this “So it goes” attitude over death is just the only mindset to have to really cope with the disastrous images that war produces. In war, death will happen and friends made during the process will die...there’s no stopping it, it’s just how war goes. But to spend time thinking about the deaths and being apart of it can really make the trauma of he experience that much worst. It’s almost like being emotionless is effective there.

[ryangrosz]

Fields of Fire 4

With regards to my first blog, I finally read to where the third and final main character is introduced who is Will Goodrich. His backstory is that he went to Harvard but wasn’t doin so hot and he left which left his Harvard grad family mad. He’s good with intrusments and wanted to join the Marines band which led him enlist. Next thing he knows it, he’s on the battlefield of Vietnamn.

But with regards to the three characters this novel is focused on, Webb creates these three characters who had completely different perspectives of life coming into the Marines.

-Snake who had a troubled past, Hodges’ life training was to be a soldier, and Goodrich is just a former Harvard student not knowing what he got himself into-

Is Webb possibly trying to create bonding of three different personalities throughout this book?

It will be interesting to see how Webb developed the relationships between the three who have never met if it weren’t for the war.

[ryangrosz]

Fields of Fire 3

The author James Webb, a former Marine in the Vietnman war, and his book about three soilders in the Vietnamn war was obviously heavily influenced by Webb’s experiences in the Vietnam war.

I came across a passage and I interrupted as Webb being extremely influenced by his own experiences in Vietnamn. He just has a character (Major Otto) go off about the demolarzilation a war such as Vietnam can have. In the passage Major Otto is supposedly welcoming Hodges to Vietnam and he’s suppose to say good luck but instead he tells him, to summarize, this war will demoralize you.

He states “They go wild, Lieutenant. And there’s nothing you can do about it. You’ll go wild, too. Wild as hell. You spend a month in the bush and you’re not a Marine anymore. Hell. You’re not even a goddamn person. There’s no tents, no barbed wire, no hot food, no jeeps or trucks, no clean clothes. Nothing. You’re an animal. It gets so that it’s natural to squat when you take a shit. You get ringworm and hookworm and gooksores. You roll around in your own filth. You forget how bad you smell. Dead people, guts in the goddamn dirty, miserable civilians, it all gets sort of boring. You cry when your friends are killed, but a new friend comes in on the helicopters a few days later, and the dead friend becomes enshrined, a martyr to friendship. You teach the new grind about him, and you’ll remember him. It’s very romantic.”

This pssage is so graphically detailed that there’s no way that Webb isn’t just describing what he has actually seen first-hand. One of the ideas that can be taken out of this passage and book is the reality of war and the mental affects it has on people.

[ryangrosz]

Fields of Fire 2

Throughout the novel, Webb - a Vietnamn veteran himself- provides a perspective into the mind of a soldier.

One of the characters that the story follows along a lot throughout the early sections of the book is Hodges and his life was devoted to become a solider. His family history of furthering in war dates back to the Civip War where is great great great grandfather fought for the Confedercy to World War Two where his father died in battle. His whole life, he’s been excited to fight in war and then he actually gets to Vietnam. He’s all excited at first and then the first sound of fire and his First Sergant dies...he realizes it’s not all too fun.

Webb is protaying the perspective of a soldier their whole life with Hodges. Those that trained their whole life. It may be exciting at first because they waited their whole lives but once it starts, it’s hell.

This is just one example of how Webb is able to provide a realistic perspective of a soldier. What makes the novel so great is that he’s been there, experienced these hells and emotions; he provides us those same perspectives through different characters. Webb was a proud to be a Marine, and Hodges may represent some of the emotions and feelings that he went through during his time at Vietnam.

[ryangrosz]

Fields of Fire 1

In part one of my book, the author introduces the main character, well two of the three, and their stories of what led to them to Vietnman.

[Some background information: my book follows along the stories of three soilders in the Vietnman war.]

The back stories that Webb creates for the characters is really well done. There’s Snake, who Webb makes as this guy who really doesn’t have much, lives with his mother and loves getting into fights. He joined the marines for his fights to become rights and also because marines are “badasses.” Also Hodges, who Webb creates as someone who’s grew up his entire life to fight in war due to a long history of those in his family before him. His dad died in WWII before he was born and he felt it was his life’s calling to fight in a war such as Vietnman.

The back stories that Webb creates are so interesting and gives a perspective of where the characters have came from to become soilders.

But one thing I’m confused about is why he didn’t introduce all three of them in this part.

[ryangrosz]

final project book

The book I decided to read for the the final project is Fields of Fire by James Webb. This is a book that takes on the perspectives of three different Marines during the Vietnam War. This book has some credibility considering the fact that the author, James Webb, fought as a Marine in the Vietnam war.

I find war books really interesting and when I can get the perspectives of different soilders in the combat, I can get to see the experiences real life soilders go through during wars. That’s what drew me into this novel. I feel like not only I’ll get an interesting read but I’ll learn a lot about different perspectives in war. Also the Vietnam war is considered one of the most harsh and controversial wars in American history, so getting perspectives into it will be interesting to read

[ryangrosz]

Indie 3

Sitting here on the couch in the living room, not much going on. The sound of my mom and aunt in the kitchen mixing with the sounds of my dog's footsteps and the tv. Right in front of me is that tv, playing a NFL preseason game between the Washington redskins and the Cincinnati Bengals. Two teams that I have no interest in but hey...it's football and they happen to be playing it. On that note, thinking about football and all...I'm happy I can be here watching it rather than going to practice today. Even thought football is great and I enjoy it, it's always nice to have a day off to relax and let all the bones in my body get less sore. Now the tv is showing both team's history of celebrations with the song that goes "celebration time...come on" playing in the background. That's another thing about football, it's so fun.

[ryangrosz]

Indie write #1

As a writer in a community of writers, I want to learn the writing techniques my fellow peers have developed to make my writing better. I want to be able to use strong rhetorical techniques while sharing my story through symbolic words (which I guess is a rhetorical technique). I want to be myself in my poetry with a poem all about football or just a poem about my boring summer day, procrastinating my summer homework and wondering who my mentor poet will be a few days after it was due. I need to develop strong techniques to successfully share my life stories through easy flowing, well-thought out stanzas and rhymes. 

[ryangrosz]

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off - Teen Rebellion Movies

The movie, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, is about a teenager, Ferris Bueller, who decides to skip school to enjoy a beautiful day in Chicago. He lies to his parents that he’s sick and is an expert when it comes to convincing. When he goes out, he brings out a couple friends, Sloan and Cameron, and they go all over Chicago: going to a museum, out to eat, top of a tall building, a parade, and so on. But his friend Cameron consistently is not wanting to do the things Ferris wants and also has bad relationship with his father which causes him to worry a lot, especially about his dad’s car they take out (eventually the car gets messed up).. During the movie, Ferris and his friends face obstacles of trying to avoid Ferris’s parents or anyone that could them in trouble, as well as the principal who goes to extreme measures to prove that Ferris is skipping school. His sister also tries to get him in trouble but at the end she saves him from their parents and the principal. This is a teen rebellion movie, a teen skipping school and lying to the adults and also making adults look foolish.

Although this movie is a bit different than the general teen genre movie, it still has some aspects of that genre. For instance, the popular kid getting whatever he/she wants. In the movie, Ferris really gets to do whatever he wants and has no consequences what so ever. Also, there’s the kid with the parent problems, such as Cameron. He worries a lot about what his dad will do to him when he finds out they took his dad’s car out. He overcomes this fear later in the movie after completely damaging the car. Also, there’s the school antagonist, the principal, who constantly tries to the rebelling student, Ferris, for skipping school.

I wouldn’t say the portrayal of teenagers is accurate here but there are a few things the movie portrays well about teenagers. For one, the spread of rumors that occur between teens is well represented. Ferris said he’s sick to his parents and next thing, all his classmates think he’s dying and there’s a water tower with “Save Ferris” on it. Also the fear of teens have about their parents finding out something they’re doing against their parent’s wishes. This is seen through Cameron, who is constantly worried about what his dad will do when he finds out they took his car out.

[ryangrosz]

Rebel Without a Cause

 In Rebel Without a Cause, I believe the portrayal of teens and their problems is accurate in a few aspects but somewhat exaggerated. For example, the movie does a good job of portraying the disconnect between teens and parents. Although this doesn’t happen with most teens, the types of arguments do occur with teems ad parents. But a little exaggerated because I wouldn’t think the teens would push their parents or the parents slap the kids...but life was different in the 50′s so I could be wrong.  Also the idea of being the new kid in school. Jim tried to fit in and the popular crew didn’t like him. Also when they did the car thing, that was an extreme idea of someone (Jim) trying to fit in with the cool kids. I also noticed how the guys were dressed up in this. In the popular group, the guys wore leather jackets, blue jeans, and had greased back hair. This all goes back to genre movies, and this is a genre movie. Many teenage movies from a few years back display the “popular kids” like this. For example in Grease, the characters wore the very similar, slick style. 

[ryangrosz]

Transcending Genre -Star Wars

I think a movie, or a series of movies, that transcend it’s genre is Star Wars. There are many concepts within Star Wars which is far beyond the sci-fi genre that it is classified as. There’s a concept of religion within Star Wars with the force. After all, the phrase, “May the force be with you” sounds a lot like “May God be with you.” Also, the movies includes different government structures, such as democracy and dictatorship. In the episodes 1-3, there is a galactic senate that discusses major issues happening within the galaxy, which is called the Senate. They ran a Democracy, which is like many modern forms of government. Star Wars also has the oppressive Empire, or dictatorship, that gets overthrown by a rebellion. This is very much like what happened with oppressive empires throughout human history, who get overthrown by its people for the same reasons. Also there economic ideas mentioned in the movies, for example there’s different instincts where blockades were set up. As you can see, Star Wars is much more than it’s sci-fi genre suggests.