Powder/Things They Carried

1. "We returned our skis and my father put the chains on the Austin-Healy while I swayed from foot to foot, clapping my mittens and wishing I were home. I could see everything. The green tablecloth, the plates with the holly pattern, the red candles waiting to be lit." 

After reading "Powder", the preceding selection was the one passage that, to me, seemed the most vivid. It seemed full of life to me. There were plenty of selections that were just as, if not more, descriptive than that one. But, after reading this not only could I identify with his emotional state but, it evoked memories that I have of Christmas dinners with my own family. Through his description I could see the room in my mind. It was easily, to me, the most vivd passage in the story. 

2. In Powder, the main character is the narrator. He is the son of  separated couple. An over-bearing mother and a free-wheeling, easy going dad. His story takes place in between his home and a ski lodge he visited with his dad. Although he obviously wants to just get home, it seems as though there is more he wants out of the relationship he has with his father.  In some circumstances it seems as though he resents his father for his lack of responsibility. He talks about how his dad bought a car that was too expensive for him, how he stayed too long at the ski resort and how he kept him out late at a night club. I think the narrator wants his father to be more responsible so he could see his parents get back together. And although he does get home, his parents do not get back together. But, at the end it seems as though he feels that he will always have that trip through the "powder" with his dad.

3. My favorite item in TTTC was Rat Kiley's collection of comic books. To me it was sad. I am a huge comic book fan, and many of my friends in high school were too. It showed the youth of these soldiers that died for what seemed like no reason at all. It made the story a little more real to me. My dad and my sister have been to India on several occasions, they have told me how when they go they usually take magazines, not just books. They take things that are obviously American to give them a connection to back. So they don't feel entirely lost in a world so foreign to them. Seeing that this man took with him, comic books, to war allowed me to share a greater sense of connection an understanding with that character.