The Things They Carried – O’Brien’s Use of Writing to Escape Reality

The Things They Carried: Writing about the Past

Tim O'Brien's gripping Book, The Things They Carried

Tim O'Brien's gripping Book, The Things They Carried

The Things They Carried is a fictional book by Tim O'Brien based on his real life experiences in the Vietnam War. A collection of war related short stories, this book makes no attempt to hide the grisly truth of the war. One of the main themes of the book is the main character, named after the author, using writing as a way to escape the reality of the war's terror and as a way to change the past, in a sense, at least inside of his mind.

It's a wonderful view on veteran writers as a whole using their stories as a means of release and escape from their gore-filled memories. The Things They Carried helps the reader understand why war veterans would need such a release so often, why writing causes such relief, and how writing about the war can help change the past from the perspective of the writer. Continue reading

Was Lincoln Morally Right?

lincolnAbraham Lincoln has taken a place in the side of history the United States is more proud of, earning his spot on both the penny and the five dollar bill. However, one question that seems to be rarely asked about him is whether his actions were actually right, even if they did have relatively good outcomes. At first glance, it seems preposterous to even question him, but when you take a closer look at the Constitution and what he actually did, it makes a person start to question him.  The Constitution says that states have the right to secede, yet when they did, Lincoln took them back by brute force. On the other hand, he freed the slaves, which was far beyond righteous. This is a moral conflict in my mind: Was Lincoln right?

Continue reading

The World if Animals Could Talk

Lion PortraitAnimals are a very influential part of our society. In a good deal of households around the world, people keep animals as pets. They can also be found in the wild, from land to the ocean. If these creatures could talk, the world would be very different, as the basic speech barrier would be shattered! Let’s give this some straight up thought, though – how would the world be different if animals could talk?

Continue reading

Quantum Conundrum Review

Quantum Conundrum ReviewA new puzzle game from Kim Swift, the same woman who came up with Portal, stuns me with its brilliance! I’m a big fanatic about the Portal series and I find it hard to stand equal to the sheer amazingness of it. However, Quantum Conundrum’s innovative gameplay and similarity to Portal surprised me. I’m not entirely done with the game yet, but I’m very pleased with what I've seen so far. I’m glad I get to review this!

Continue reading

National Cheese Pizza Day

This is probably the weirdest subject I’ve ever written about… I love it! September 5th was National Cheese Pizza Day, so I thought I’d talk about that. Cheese pizza is the favorite kind of pizza to a whole lot of people, and many of them prefer certain places to eat cheese pizza than others. I’m one of the cheese pizza fans, and I’m sure many of you are as well. So sit back and let’s jump into this.
Continue reading

A Dog’s Purpose Review

A Dog's Purpose ReviewSome of you may have heard of the new book that fairly recently came out called A Dog’s Journey. It’s a sequel to the book A Dog’s Purpose, and together, they are a couple of the best books I’ve ever had. I felt I should review A Dog’s Purpose first, which, like its sequel, is told completely from the perspective of a dog. This circumstance has an interesting twist, though, so read on!

A feral dog has puppies in the wild, one of which is the narrator. This dog is captured by a woman who owns dozens more and keeps them all Continue reading

Owning a Beagle Puppy

Beagle PuppyDogs are excellent animals – loyal, kind, smart, and friendly. I picked up a beagle of my own a few weeks ago and named him Odie (short for the very awesome name Odysseus Maximus). I got him at eight weeks old, only a puppy, and I can’t say he hasn’t been a handful. I wanted to write a review on owning a puppy of the beagle breed so that I could express my feelings of getting the dog and help those of you who are considering getting your own beagle puppy make a decision. So take a look at my own Continue reading