Good Form

Summary:
In "Good Form" Tim O'Brien discusses the difference between story truth and happening truth and the structure of all of his stories. He makes a confession about the man that he killed in My Khe that he did not really kill him, but being in his presence was enough guilt for him. He explains that he might have exaggerated a bit because he wanted his audience to feel what he felt, to be present with him. O'Brien strongly believes that story truth is sometimes much more real than happening truth. His view was that his stories made everything feel so raw and present.

Response:
When I got to the point of reading "Good Form" it all made sense to me. I had finally figured out his tactics when it came to his style of writing. I agree with O'Brien and his idea of story truth being truer than happening truth because it entices more emotions and makes the reader feel like they are in his own shoes. Something about war stories like his have always interested me because they create an image in my mind of every minor detail from the setting to the characteristics of the soldiers and it makes me feel like I am on the same journey as them. It is a much different light to imagine, but something so invigorating and eye-opening.

Expansion Topical Proposal

I plan on expanding my second essay, where I discussed how our society is infatuated with the idea of receiving attention, the lengths we will go to receive it, and the constant crave for attention. I chose this essay because I did well on this essay and I feel like with our social media world today it would be easy to further elaborate. In Ian Daly's “Virtual Popularity Isn’t Cool -- It’s Pathetic,”, he talks about how when we receive attention we feel this sensation that we desire for more. In my expanded essay I am going to break up the different types of social media like Twitter and Instagram, and discuss its effects on us regarding how it fuels our addiction for attention.

 Key Terms:

• Twitter (text based)
• Instagram (photo based)
• Social media dynamics
• Addiction to attention 
• Desire for popularity