Question #11

I feel the title "Spin" is very significant not only to this chapter but the novel as a whole. O'Brien tells many short stories in this chapter about the team and himself. He does not go in great depth with these stories at this point in the novel but he does later on. This shows that O'Brien is truly recalling significant memories and writing them down. He moves away from the typical battle stories and he moves onto actually explaining who his team members were. He is taking a different "spin" on the subject. Also,during this chapter, it feels as if O'Brien's mind is racing. There are so many different topics discussed in this chapter such as what the team did for fun, the people they encountered, their guide, crazy acts made by soldiers, foreshadowing to the man he killed and so on. It switches from his memories to what he thinks now, it just keeps spinning back and forth. The scattered structure and content of this chapter is what led to the title "Spin".

I agree with most of Jenna's analysis on the significance of the chapter "Spin". This chapter was definitly an out-lyer in comparison to the other chapters. O' Brien does stem away from the typical war stories he recalls in previous and later chapters of the book. In previous chapters, the author recalls generic war stories of Jimmy Cross's unit; lightly touching on the personality of each soldier by the actions they took in them. By only generally stating the war stories of the author's unit, it leaves the reader questioning the significance of each character recalled, and why they took the actions they performed. I believe O'Brien considered these questions when writing the book, and made sure to address them with added personal anecdotes of each character. This helps to the reader to furthur understand the personality and actions taken by each character. It also places a sense of foreshadowing on the war stories in previous chapters, because O'Brien addresses the actions by each soldier, in this chapter, and why they were significant. This helps to not only put a "Spin" on the outline of the book, but also a "Spin" in the readers mind through the understanding of the significance.

I agree with Jenna and Daniel, the chapter is probably called "Spin" because it seems to be so scattered with its anecdotes. I think that it could also be symbolizing war itself because it talks about boredom felt when there's nothing happening and also how the men deal with their emotions like fright and sadness. It's such a mixture of emotions felt ranging from boredom to complete despair.

I agree with everyone else. Near the end of "Spin," O'Brien considers why, many years later, he keeps writing stories about the Vietnam War. He considers why his stories are necessary. He states that "Stories are for joining the past to the future. Stories are for those late hours in the night when you can't remember how you got from where you were to where you are. Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story." Stories, even though they are frequently fictional and about events we might never experience, order our lives.

Emerie Pettit wrote:I agree with Jenna and Daniel, the chapter is probably called "Spin" because it seems to be so scattered with its anecdotes. I think that it could also be symbolizing war itself because it talks about boredom felt when there's nothing happening and also how the men deal with their emotions like fright and sadness. It's such a mixture of emotions felt ranging from boredom to complete despair.

Great observations Emerie, the use of support from the novel would have made your response even stronger and clearer.