The title of my book was Northern Lights. The title of the book had very little significance to do with the plot structure of the novel. The only time that the title came into the story was when the main character, Paul, was so absorbed in his activities at the lake that he barely noticed the northern lights. I think Tim O"Brien just used it as an example of Paul's state of mind when he was completing his goal at the lake. "He did not notice the northern lights. He did not look up. He did not see the rocketing, wavering, plummeting red in the sky. The mosquito rattled in his ear and he plunged toward Pliney's Pond"(343). .
Conflict and Plot.
One of the major conflicts was when Paul's brother Harvey came back from Vietnam to live with him and his wife. The other conflict was selling their house after Paul lost his job and moving somewhere that didn't contain so many memories of his childhood. The complications that surrounded Harvey were his obsession with the bomb shelter he built for his fire and brimstone preacher father, and the other section of the complication was his drinking problem.
The other complications surrounded Paul was that he lost his job and had to face the decision of whether to move or not. The climatic moment in the novel was when Paul finally faced up to his past with his father and his father's death. A quote that illustrated the climatic moment is the paragraph that said, "It seemed almost a ritual, but he knew it was neither a ritual nor an armistice, for his universe was fear and memories, and as he waded inch by inch into the hot algaed waters he said, "Here we are, at last."."(343). The only recognizable resolution to the novel was Paul facing up to his father in the lake. None of the material problems (such as finding a job, solving Harvey's drinking problem, or moving) were solved by the end of the book. .
Character.
Paul: His major actions were getting lost in the woods with his brother Harvey, getting drunk, and taking a final swim in the lake.
Tim O'Brien must be frustrated, in a way, that he is associated so strongly with the Vietnam War. ... His first novel, Northern Lights (1975), remains obscure, but O'Brien fans have unearthed it to find the roots of his fictional vision. ...
The name of that author is Tim O"Brien. O"Brien's life began as a young boy growing up in a small town in Minnesota called Austin in 1946 (Tim O"Brien Bio, 1). ... He has also written several other stories such as "Northern Lights", "If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home", and "Nuclear Age" (Tim O"Brien Home Page, 1). ... It's very evident by the information enclosed in this paper that Tim O"Brien's writing style has been influenced by his war experience. ... I never had heard about Tim O"Brien until we read the story in our English class. ...
The book I decided to read for the assignment is "The Northern Lights" written by Lucy Jago. This book by Jago details the true story of Kristian Birkeland, the man who put his life aside to figure out the secrets of the Northern Lights. ... Some questions they were hoping to answer were; are the lights accompanied by a crackling noise, could the lights make hair stand on end, did they touch the ground, did they occur during daytime? ... In this book by Lucy Jago I learned that the Northern Lights are not a sign of bad omen or evil spirits but merely the collision of active particles an...
Essay on Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) The Aurora Borealis, other known as northern lights, are a very colorful, striking image of curtain like colors moving throughout the sky. ... The southern lights are called Aurora Australis. ... Electrons react to oxygen and nitrogen to create a glorious display of colors and lights. ... The most common is the yellow-green light formed by oxygen atoms roughly sixty miles up in our atmosphere, high altitude lights(200 miles) display a rare-red color, ionized nitrogen molecules display blue, and neutral nitrogen molecules display violet in lower...
"The Things They Carried" is a book about a boy named Tim O"Brien. ... Elroy pulls the boat up to the northern shore of the river seemingly to taunt Tim with the opportunity to run to Canada. Elroy Forces Tim to confront himself in his quest for Canada away from the war. Tim however can't do it. ... Tim the Coward he would hear in his mind over and over again. ...
In Northern Lights Phillip Pullman is exploring ideas of the influence of the church on people and how it keeps that influence. ... Northern Lights doesn't give us a definite answer as to whether Dust is good or evil but everyone has their own view. ... I think Dust is evil as through the whole of Northern Lights it is connected with sin and forbidden knowledge and is related all the way back to the evil of Adam and Eve. ... Northern Lights, although set in a different time, is able to show the church for what it really is without saying so directly. ...
"The Things they carried-, the renowned author, Tim O'Brien, uses several literary devices to show the spiritual burden on the soldiers in the Vietnam War, by contrasting this burden with the actual physical load they have to carry. ... In The Things They Carried' Tim O'Brien does a tremendous job to show the spiritual and mental crisis of the soldiers through imagery and symbols. ... Tim O'Brien's-The Things They Carried Eating Them Away For young people, the Vietnam War is a thing of the past and they can Only learn about it from second hand sources. ... ...
One day the expected sign from OBrien comes. ... This is what OBrien is waiting for. ... The main characters are Winston Smith, Julia and OBrien. ... » OBrien is a member of the Inner Party. ... This is the complete surrender which OBrien works for. ...
I told Kyle and Tim that I couldn't go and watch the game with them. ... I went off to work as Kyle and his brother Tim went off to the soccer game. ... I was just waiting in my room, wasting time, until I saw lights in my driveway. I looked outside to see whose blinding lights those were beaming in my bedroom window. ... We knew that we weren't alone in the loss of Kyle and Tim. ...
