Be your own Theme

I asked myself a question and that was: why do I read? Do I read to merely learn? No. I read because sometimes I have to step into books and ideas more grandiose than myself.

I went through several websites and looked into our text book about the definition of a theme. In my own words I would describe theme as being an action put into words. Themes could include things like: believe in yourself, overcome challenges, accepting others' differences, show teamwork, be a legacy, be kind to others--the list is endless. All of these "themes" have one main thing in common, they all start with an action--believe, overcome, accept, show, etc.

One particular theme I would like to reflect on is C.S. Lewis': The Chronicals of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The main theme throughout the Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, it's their destined place as Kings and Queens of Narnia. There are other underlying themes such as legacy and love for one another despite what is going on in reality, but the truth is that some of us try to see the deeper meaning in a theme and some of us like what is right on top of the surface.

I guess what I get from reading the stories I do is that as much as there is a theme to all of those stories we should be our own theme to our own stories. I really appreciate during literary classes when emotion and timing are pointed out in poetry and different passages because that is definitely what life is all about. Sometimes I think of english classes as "life" classes. Sometimes we learn emotions/themes of life from parents and other people in our lives, but I love when I can read or sing something and be able to understand that someone wrote that out of a someone else's "real life" situation or overall theme, or a creative theme developed by themselves.

Themes in literature allow us to question ourselves. What we believe; what we think; why we think the way we do; why we have the opinions we have. When I think back to books that have been turned into movies such as Harry Potter, My Sister's Keeper, and the Secret Life of Bees, I think about how I felt about the theme of the book and try to reflect it back on myself. I've learned many valuable things through books, but some of those themes have been even more valuble because I've thought about them and worked them into my own life.

The Things They Carried

First off, wow. I have seen war movies and read about the Vietnam War enough to actually feel like I was living during that time period, but this passage is different. Tim O'Brien certainly has a deep understanding into the minds, feelings and actions of soldiers. While reading it, I began to understand that these soldiers carry more than can openers, Kool Aid, lighters, matches, sewing kits, love letters, pistols, bullets, food, rations, plastic explosives--they carry the mental and emotional idea that they may die.

The long list of material things that the men carried does not begin to compare with the emotional baggage of shame, guilt, death, and cowardliness. Why did I put those four emotions in that order? Well, in the text the men seem to experience trauma in that order. For example, Lt. Cross felt shame in Ted Lavender's death, then he felt so guilty because his "daydreaming" about Martha caused Ted to get shot. After that he the realization had set in that Ted died. It wasn't an initial reaction. Lt. Cross had seen many men die, but this particular man, he felt died because of his negligence. The final emotion that is somewhat detached from this particular incident between Lt. Cross and his emotions about Ted is cowardliness. All of the men in this particular platoon were afraid to experience being a coward.


Why? Well, the same question arises for us. Why wouldn't we want to be cowards? Is there a difference when war is involved or is it all the same? I would have to say that the feeling is the same whether or not someone is in war, the only difference is during war...if you let the emotion become you, whatever that emotion may be, you may very well be the cause to your own undoing.

I'm usually able to put myself in the place of the characters I am reading about, but I couldn't do it while reading this text. The men all experienced such different things, but the one thing they all had in common was that they were all human and experience human emotions. They all hurt. They all joked about some aspects of the war in order to not go insane. They all tried to stay level-headed. If I had to put myself in their place, I don't think I could. I could not imagine even a fragment of my life being put in their position or being put through that kind of harsh emotional anguish.

Drawing by: Brittney TM Perez