Exploration 3: Cheyenne Zurski

     Active reading is something I've never really done in the past. So far its been helping with remembering key details and paragraphs that stand out to me. Sometimes I totally forget to highlite and mark things down, but other than that it's really helpful. Something I noted in the margins was that Dave Jensen is fearful and guilty. He broke his own nose to get "even" with Lee Strunk. I feel like this was Jensens breaking point.

     So far, "On the Rainy River" has meant the most to me. This story can relate to almost anyone and when something I read is relatable, we tend to grow a more of a connection to it. In this particular story O'Brien gets a draft notice in the mail. He talks about how ashamed he is because he acted like a coward when he decided to run from the war. He didn't even tell anyone the story years after. In this chapter O'Brien says, "All of us, I suppose, like to believe that in a moral emergency we will behave like the heroes of our youth, bravely and forthrightly, without thought of personal loss or discredit" (page 37). This sentence explains how a lot of us think we can do anything and always be brave when we're young, but sometimes we get scared. For a lot of us this statement holds true, especially for O'Brien in the summer of 1968 when he was drafted.
     Out of all the characters in the book, Rat Kiley jumps out at me the most. You can tell he is young and full of life like most men in the Vietnam War. He messes around with Curt Lemon and cracks jokes all the time, but can be serious and extremely helpful when needed. When Curt Lemon dies, you can tell he is extremely hurt and lost. He shoots and hurts a buffalo for no reason, probably just to cope with his friends death. This also reveals his youth because when we are hurt we never really know how to take out our emotions, especially when we're young. We all know a person like Rat Kiley, which is why I feel like he stands out to me so much.