"Around the Corner" and "The Things They Carried"

In Sharon Byran's "Around the Corner," the speaker is greatful for the devotion and attention her mother gives her. However, she is also intrigued by her mysterious past. Her mother's old horseback riding equipment, diary written in shorthand, and old journalism aspirations make her wonder who her mother was before she left all of her dreams behind for a family life, and why she considers them nothing more then "relics of a distant past."

Sharon Bryan does an excellent job in incorporating imagery in describing the mother's diary. "It was a little red leather book with gilt-edged pages, and I was most intrigued by it's little gold lock," creates a vivid (a strong distinct mental image) for the reader. This is vivid to me because I can visualize the diary and register it's importance due to the detailed description it was given.

In "Around the Corner," the author is first naive to the fact that her mother is in fact a person, not just a caregiver. This experience was important to her because by learning about her mother's past, she now views her in a different perspective.

The object that stood out to me the most in Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried," was the good luck pebble Martha found on the beach and gave to him. This is a very sentimental object to the soldier because when marching, the pebble is always in his mouth and she is always on his mind. This gives him the moral he needs to continue the fight. This stood out to me because a tiny pebble gave this man the motivation he needed to perform his duties, regardless of it's simplicity.