Question 10

In the "Spin" section, Lt. Cross explains he feels guilty for being a 43 year old man and still writing letters to his dauthger at home. I never realized that solider may have extreme gulit for being across the country and away from their families. They can miss so many milestones in their childrens life... It is sad to think that men are feeling hurt and guilty while fighting.
This feeling of guilt also ties to the fact that Lt. Cross is not in Martha's life as well...

I agree. I think that this proves that the "tuff" exterior that military men put on is just a front. War is something that inflicts extreme ware onto a person and I think that Lt. Cross character is an example of this. Also, It is easy to relate this example to present day. Recently a marine was brought back here to be buried. He died on the same day of his daughter's first birthday and he never met his new son. I think that it is a example of how it takes a high level of honor to fight for your country and you must be able to withstand so much pain. Pain that is emotional rather than purely physical.

Agreed with both. Also, to put a spin on something is to put a new perspective on a topic, which is exactly what O'brien does in this section. By adding emotional appeals such as the little boy with a plastic leg, reading this touches the audience and creates a sense of sympathy towards the subject. The "spin" comes into play because up until this point the mood of the story had been the things they carried such as burdens and hardships from being away from home. Instead, in this section he used the same types of things, everyday things that the men did and had a positive outlook on them. Such as Norman Bowker and Henry Dobbins playing checkers in the evenings, which in some cases might be exemplified as a sign of boredom and isolationism but instead in this section it is portrayed as a friendly game which kept them entertained and unified the two men, as well as the whole group as they occasionally glanced to see how the game was going. The spin creates a new way to look at the things that were happening, it represents the mindset that they needed to have, despite their surroundings, "everything is gonna be alright."