Exploration three by Phillip Niewald

     If I'm completely honest, I have been struggling with the active reading. I find that when I read, I tend to gain momentum and get more out of the text when I don't stop to take notes which I will more than likely not look back at anyway. For me I feel that taking notes in the margin or highlighting doesn't do much in terms of helping me remember things that happened in the story rather it just takes up extra time and distracts me from enjoying the actual story since I am preoccupied with trying to find things to take notes on. I would rather take time after I read the chapter to reflect on how the chapter made me feel and what I thought was interesting than take notes in the margins.
   The story, On the Rainy River, meant the most to me so far. I think the way which Tim O'Brien puts you into his shoes by asking what you would do in his situation, makes you think. I think I know what I would do in that situation but I'm not one hundred percent certain. Another part of the chapter which I really liked was the way Tim O'Brien states that Elroy Berdahl saved him, when in actuality, Tim saved himself. "The man who opened the door that day was the hero of my life. How do I say this without sounding sappy? Blurt it out- the man saved me. He offered exactly what I needed without questions, without any words at all. He took me in. He was there at the critical time- a silent watchful presence."(O'Brien, 45-46)
     I think that Curt Lemon is a character who really stands out to me. He is mostly known to Tim O'Brien for his death, which is described in 'How to Tell a True War Story." Curt Lemon is always goofing off with his good friend, Rat Kiley, doing all sorts of things like going trick or treating in a village in Vietnam, wearing nothing but boots, body paint, and an M-16.  His sense of humor and always horsing around eventually gets him killed, however. He and Rat Kiley were playing hot potato with a smoke grenade, when he stepped on a mine and was blown to pieces. I think that it is interesting that he lived and died, joking around. It makes me wonder if humor was his way of coping with the war. I feel as if I might deal with the stress in a similar fashion.