The Short Story; passionately interpreted by Henry D'Angelo

"The things they carried were largely determined by necessity," so claims the narrator behind the story of  "The Things They Carried."  But what does this sentence mean exactly ? It's tough to pin a definitive answer down, especially when you read on: Henry Dobbins, for example, carries "extra rations," that is, canned peaches in heavy syrup over pound cake. Dave Jensen carries dental floss. Meanwhile, Ted Lavender, before his death, even carried pounds of marijuana and tranquilizers. Clearly, "necessity" isn't to be taken literally.  Yet, if that's true, then what does the narrator mean by "necessity?" To me, this is indicative of how the human condition manifests itself within the harsh conditions created from the setting within the story. I think the story's most profound message is up the alley of "there's a difference of being alive and living." While some of these characters' items aren...

When reading "The Evolution of My Brother," I felt that while the title that certainly explains the narrative of the story succinctly, that is, how a brother evolves and changes over time, to me the title still didn't sound quite right. Is the brother's personality itself that important? To me, the more significant aspect of the story is that the narrator's perception of her brother is what is "evolving," more crucially than his personality itself. And while the original title somewhat captures this notion, I still advocate for a new, different title: "Bittersweet." Why? Basically, the conflict of the story comes largely from the narrator's uncertainty: she simply doesn't know how she feels about her little bro. Does she love him? Or does she hate him? She certainly resents him, but that's largely a function of the former question: essentially, she hates that she loves him. Further, a crucial element of the story is its depiction ...