Exploration 3: Andrew Quakenbush

    Something I found interesting and highlighted from the reading was, “‘I got a confession to make,’ sanders said. ‘Last night, man, I had to make up a few things.’ ‘I know that.’ ...‘ No opera.’ ‘Forget it i understand.’ ‘Yeah,but listen, it’s still true. Those sic guys, they heard wicked sound out there. They heard sound you just plain won’t believe”(O’Brien 73). I thought this was interesting because of how he didn’t make up the part about them hearing things, but of what they heard. I don’t know what they heard, but I do know that If it’s quiet enough, you can start hearing things that might not be there. You can start hearing your thought as if they were right behind you. For the most part I am on top of my active reading, only when I am in a quiet place and i can hear myself think, that's where i am the best active reader.

    The story that has meant the most for me so far is, Friends/Enemies. I put them in the same chapter because it follows the story of the same two people,Dave Jensen and Lee Strunk, and their progression from enemies to friends. It’s a simple story that’s not that long,but tells alot about their personalities. A quote I liked a lot from the chapter was, “In late August they made a pact that if one of them should ever get totally fucked up — a wheelchair would — the other get would automatically find a way to end it. … He passed out again, then whole up and said, ‘Don’t kill me.” This shows the progression of their friendship perfectly. They jokingly make a pact, but in the future when one did get hurt, he didn’t trust the other one enough to think that he wouldn’t kill him.

    The character that stands out to me the most is First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross. I think this because in the first chapter you learned his love story and how he had hope that she would come to him, but when he day dreamed and one of his men got killed, he vowed that he’d never let his girl get in the way of his job ever again. In a way i can relate to this because this last year my girlfriend got in the way of my school work for a little and my grades dipped, and from that point on I made sure my grades were first before my girlfriend.