The expression "Night Life" is used by the soldiers to distance themselves from reality. When a person says "Night Life", it creates this image of a bustling city with a highly active night life. New York, for example, is the known as "the city that never sleeps", a comment on its highly active night life. By using this term for something that is actually highly undesirable, the soldiers can keep the image of an active city in mind so that it can act as a prism, refracting and distorting the dreary, and in Kiley's case horrific, circumstances of the REAL night life in Vietnam.
At the introduction of the hat, the reader views it as just a charming qwerk in Linda, as many children have. It is comparable to a Superman outfit that a little boy never wants to take off, of a "binky" that a certain youngster has become very attached to. The red hat is seemingly a harmless object in which Linda has placed much infatuation and grown very attatched. It's almost cute. But later in the chapter, as the real reason behind why Linda always wears the hat is revealed, the meaning changes. Linda's smile serves the same function as her hat. Tim makes the observation that Linda's face is always stretched out into a happy smile, even during the horror movie they saw together. Tim had no idea that Linda was sick until her hat was ripped off. Both Linda's ever-present smile and her red cap act as a mask to hide her true fear and emotions.
These last two chapters seem to have a recurring theme of distorting, or hiding from reality.
The soldiers used the expression "Night Life" as a party. They described Nam as "one big party" when someone asked them how it was treating them. The significance of the red hat is what keeps Linda alive in Tim's memory because that's what ha remembers most about her. It did surprise me because I thought she just wore it because she liked it, but she wore it to hide what was wrong with her.
If you look back in the "On the Rainy River" chapter, there is a reference to a young girl dying in Tim's grade-school class. I missed it the first time I read the book.
Night Life was all of the action that had shifted to night time instead of during the day. The soldiers make the best of this by saying it is a big party. Although, they are taking drugs and harming themselves the term Night Life makes the situation a little better. The red hat hit Linda's sickness from the rest of the world. It's also how he remembers he the most. It completely shocked me when I found out she had a brain tumor. I just thought she was a little girl who enjoyed wearing hats!
The soldiers used the expression "Night Life" by getting their minds off of what was really going on around them. It was their way of escaping reality. It made things seem tolerable. They would sleep all day and then "party" at night. From what the describe it was just one big panic. Linda's red hat was a mask over the real her. It hid what she didn't want anyone to see or know about. The thing that stuck in Tim's mind about Linda the most, was her red hat. I was very surprised when he revealed the significance behind it because it's something you really wouldn't think about. A normal person would just think she liked the hat or even the color red in general.
The red hat is really a misdirection. O'Brien gets us focused so much on it that we don't think about what's underneath, making the "reveal" all the more devastating.
According to O'Brien, the soldiers used the term "night life" in order to describe that most of the action in Vietnam was happening during the night. This was a comparison to a term that they had all known back home that referenced good times. The idea of "night life" allowed the soldiers to think about happier times in life rather than being in Vietnam. Many of the soldiers referred to Vietnam as "one big party" so the term "night life" fit nicely in order to make it seem less like a war zone. The significance of the red hat was more than just hiding the fact that Linda was balding. Wearing the hat made her feel innocent, and "normal". The hat covered up what could have been viewed as something "wrong" with her that she felt needed to be hidden from her classmates. When the boy pulled the hat off of her, it revealed why Linda truly wore the hat. The revelation of why Linda really wore the hat definitely surprised me. It is very difficult to think of children with terminal illnesses. I believe that is why is was such a shock to me. It seemed as though she wore it just because she liked the hat. O'Brien does a very good job at disguising that situation until he was ready to reveal the true significance of the red hat.
The term night life is used to keep the soldiers minds off of what is happening. It was their way of escaping the reality of the war. Everyone referred to Vietnam as "one big party" to try to ease the horror The red hat was what Linda hid behind. She didn't want anyone to know that she was suffering from a brain tumor. This is what Tim remembers most about Linda, making it significant in his mind. I was surprised to find out that the reason she wore the hat was because of her terminal illness. It's hard to think about a young child having such a serious illness and having to mask it. You would think that she wore the hat simply because she liked it so much; kids have a way of developing attachments to any item. But it is surprising to find out that she actually used it to hide from her illness.
The soldier used the term "night life" as a way to make themselves obvious to what was really going on around them. They described Vietnam as "one big party" and would use drugs and hurt themselves in order to ignore the circumstances that were really happening in the war. The significance of the red hat was to hid Linda's sickness from everyone else and, in a way, hid Linda herself. At the time, Linda was not very opening about her emotions and the red hat hid the fact that she in the process of becoming bald. The red hat also signified how Tim used to look at her. It reminded Tim of how Linda used to be and how she used to behave. I was shocked when O'Brien revealed the TRUE meaning of the hat. I just figured that the red hat was a fashion statement of Linda's and possessed no type of deeper meaning.
Night Life is referring to how soldiers made the war seem tolerable. It wasn't easy but they tried to make it a positive 2 weeks that they did night life. It was a sarcastic way to say it was hell but they were hanging in there. The significance of the red hat is so her sickness isn't revealed. It didn't shock me that she had a tumor because most people who have cancer or tumors wear hats or something to hide their head. When I found out she wore it in class I kind of expected it to be that because usually you can't wear hats in school. I believe that Linda didn't care about it being revealed she just didn't want to be treated in a special way because she had a tumor.
The night life was a term used for the soldiers to escape the harsh reality of war. The soldiers refereed all of the war as one big party. Using a sarcastic tone is easer than expressing the terror of war. The red hat was a way Linda could hide her sickness from the world. I was surprised that she had tumor but not surprised that she hide it. In society people hide many things they are not comfortably to show like a smile when they are sad, humor when they are scared, and confidence when there is none
Night life was an expression used for the time the soldiers used to ge their minds off of what was going on in war. They do all kinds of things like taking drugs to keep their mind off what's going on. The significance of the red hat is how it kept Linda's secret of suffering from a brain tumor. It is also what keeps her in O'Brien's memories. Finding out that she wore the hat to hide her illness was definitely unexpected and surprising from my perspective.
The soldiers used the expression “night life” to describe that most of their time was spent partying at night. They described the war as “one big party”. The significance of the red hat is that it started as just a hat that Linda wore just for fun. Then, the reader learns that the hat was hiding the fact that she had a brain tumor. I was not surprised to learn about Linda. I figured it out when O’Brien said that she wore it to class. I felt horrible for her when her hat was taken off and everyone found out. She was wearing the hat to hide the truth. for her secret to finally be out in the open must have been really hard.
The term night life was said to describe what Vietnam was like. They used this to make what was going on less terrible. The significance of the hat was at first it was just some cool head wear, but in fact it hid Lindas sickness from being seen. It did surprise me slightly because I didn't think about the hat being for an actual reason like that.
O'Brien fools us by talking about the hat as a fashion statement. We accept his observations at face value because he seems like a reliable narrator. It makes the revelation surprising.
The soldiers used the term night life to get their minds off of what was really happening. It was more joke about night life then just quietly accept that they have to stay up all night. The significance of the red hat Linda wore was her means of keeping a very important secret. The hat shows that sometimes you just have to enjoy the hat for being a hat because it can be more difficult to deal with the bigger problems if you have to understand everything. I was pretty surprised, I never expected cancer. I thought it was just a weird hat that a little kid wore.
The men have a few varying definitions of the term "night life", one being to refer to the state of Vietnam, either in that all the action occurs at night or that it was a "party". My favorite definition was when the men used it as a means of escape from the horrors they faced. If I were at war, I would spend every extra second distancing myself from my worst fears. I can relate to relying on the thoughts and imagination to transport you to a happier place. As for the red hat, I was shocked. I didn't assume that an affinity for hats was secretly a way for a girl to hide a sickness. I thought it was bittersweet how Tim remembered Linda best by the red hat, but I thought it was interesting that he defined her by what she tried to hide herself with. The red hat detracted from who she was and hid a part of her, yet still he associates her with that hat. Despite that, I was glad she was able to be happy, even if she sometimes had to fake it, which, when you think about it, was exactly what the Vietnam soldiers were doing.
Nice connection between faking, happiness, and Vietnam. It gives a more concrete reason for why O'Brien chose that particular story as a way to end his novel.
The expression "Night Life" is used by the soldiers to distance themselves from reality. When a person says "Night Life", it creates this image of a bustling city with a highly active night life. New York, for example, is the known as "the city that never sleeps", a comment on its highly active night life. By using this term for something that is actually highly undesirable, the soldiers can keep the image of an active city in mind so that it can act as a prism, refracting and distorting the dreary, and in Kiley's case horrific, circumstances of the REAL night life in Vietnam.
ReplyDeleteAt the introduction of the hat, the reader views it as just a charming qwerk in Linda, as many children have. It is comparable to a Superman outfit that a little boy never wants to take off, of a "binky" that a certain youngster has become very attached to. The red hat is seemingly a harmless object in which Linda has placed much infatuation and grown very attatched. It's almost cute. But later in the chapter, as the real reason behind why Linda always wears the hat is revealed, the meaning changes. Linda's smile serves the same function as her hat. Tim makes the observation that Linda's face is always stretched out into a happy smile, even during the horror movie they saw together. Tim had no idea that Linda was sick until her hat was ripped off. Both Linda's ever-present smile and her red cap act as a mask to hide her true fear and emotions.
These last two chapters seem to have a recurring theme of distorting, or hiding from reality.
Nice observation about theme in the last two chapters. In some ways, that could be the theme of the entire novel.
DeleteThe soldiers used the expression "Night Life" as a party. They described Nam as "one big party" when someone asked them how it was treating them.
ReplyDeleteThe significance of the red hat is what keeps Linda alive in Tim's memory because that's what ha remembers most about her. It did surprise me because I thought she just wore it because she liked it, but she wore it to hide what was wrong with her.
If you look back in the "On the Rainy River" chapter, there is a reference to a young girl dying in Tim's grade-school class. I missed it the first time I read the book.
DeleteNight Life was all of the action that had shifted to night time instead of during the day. The soldiers make the best of this by saying it is a big party. Although, they are taking drugs and harming themselves the term Night Life makes the situation a little better. The red hat hit Linda's sickness from the rest of the world. It's also how he remembers he the most. It completely shocked me when I found out she had a brain tumor. I just thought she was a little girl who enjoyed wearing hats!
ReplyDeleteI felt the same way, Lexi. But as I noted to Emma, above, there is a reference to the little girl earlier in the novel.
DeleteThe soldiers used the expression "Night Life" by getting their minds off of what was really going on around them. It was their way of escaping reality. It made things seem tolerable. They would sleep all day and then "party" at night. From what the describe it was just one big panic. Linda's red hat was a mask over the real her. It hid what she didn't want anyone to see or know about. The thing that stuck in Tim's mind about Linda the most, was her red hat. I was very surprised when he revealed the significance behind it because it's something you really wouldn't think about. A normal person would just think she liked the hat or even the color red in general.
ReplyDeleteThe red hat is really a misdirection. O'Brien gets us focused so much on it that we don't think about what's underneath, making the "reveal" all the more devastating.
DeleteAccording to O'Brien, the soldiers used the term "night life" in order to describe that most of the action in Vietnam was happening during the night. This was a comparison to a term that they had all known back home that referenced good times. The idea of "night life" allowed the soldiers to think about happier times in life rather than being in Vietnam. Many of the soldiers referred to Vietnam as "one big party" so the term "night life" fit nicely in order to make it seem less like a war zone. The significance of the red hat was more than just hiding the fact that Linda was balding. Wearing the hat made her feel innocent, and "normal". The hat covered up what could have been viewed as something "wrong" with her that she felt needed to be hidden from her classmates. When the boy pulled the hat off of her, it revealed why Linda truly wore the hat. The revelation of why Linda really wore the hat definitely surprised me. It is very difficult to think of children with terminal illnesses. I believe that is why is was such a shock to me. It seemed as though she wore it just because she liked the hat. O'Brien does a very good job at disguising that situation until he was ready to reveal the true significance of the red hat.
ReplyDeleteGlenn, I agree. O'Brien hides what's beneath the hat in plain sight, as it were. It's a masterfully written chapter.
DeleteThe term night life is used to keep the soldiers minds off of what is happening. It was their way of escaping the reality of the war. Everyone referred to Vietnam as "one big party" to try to ease the horror
ReplyDeleteThe red hat was what Linda hid behind. She didn't want anyone to know that she was suffering from a brain tumor. This is what Tim remembers most about Linda, making it significant in his mind. I was surprised to find out that the reason she wore the hat was because of her terminal illness. It's hard to think about a young child having such a serious illness and having to mask it. You would think that she wore the hat simply because she liked it so much; kids have a way of developing attachments to any item. But it is surprising to find out that she actually used it to hide from her illness.
Many people who have chemotherapy wear hats. You're right, though, we don't expect it in one so young.
DeleteGood semicolon use, too. :)
The soldier used the term "night life" as a way to make themselves obvious to what was really going on around them. They described Vietnam as "one big party" and would use drugs and hurt themselves in order to ignore the circumstances that were really happening in the war. The significance of the red hat was to hid Linda's sickness from everyone else and, in a way, hid Linda herself. At the time, Linda was not very opening about her emotions and the red hat hid the fact that she in the process of becoming bald. The red hat also signified how Tim used to look at her. It reminded Tim of how Linda used to be and how she used to behave. I was shocked when O'Brien revealed the TRUE meaning of the hat. I just figured that the red hat was a fashion statement of Linda's and possessed no type of deeper meaning.
ReplyDeleteThe hat is fooling everybody, Kira, just as O'Brien intended (even though he planted a big hint earlier in the book).
DeleteNight Life is referring to how soldiers made the war seem tolerable. It wasn't easy but they tried to make it a positive 2 weeks that they did night life. It was a sarcastic way to say it was hell but they were hanging in there.
ReplyDeleteThe significance of the red hat is so her sickness isn't revealed. It didn't shock me that she had a tumor because most people who have cancer or tumors wear hats or something to hide their head. When I found out she wore it in class I kind of expected it to be that because usually you can't wear hats in school. I believe that Linda didn't care about it being revealed she just didn't want to be treated in a special way because she had a tumor.
You are one of the few who wasn't fooled by the hat, Leelee. When I first read the book, the revelation that Linda was sick completely blew me away.
DeleteThe night life was a term used for the soldiers to escape the harsh reality of war. The soldiers refereed all of the war as one big party. Using a sarcastic tone is easer than expressing the terror of war. The red hat was a way Linda could hide her sickness from the world. I was surprised that she had tumor but not surprised that she hide it. In society people hide many things they are not comfortably to show like a smile when they are sad, humor when they are scared, and confidence when there is none
ReplyDeleteGood points about how people hide aspects of themselves that are uncomfortable, Grant.
DeleteNight life was an expression used for the time the soldiers used to ge their minds off of what was going on in war. They do all kinds of things like taking drugs to keep their mind off what's going on. The significance of the red hat is how it kept Linda's secret of suffering from a brain tumor. It is also what keeps her in O'Brien's memories. Finding out that she wore the hat to hide her illness was definitely unexpected and surprising from my perspective.
ReplyDeleteGood point about the hat and its connection to O'Brien's memory. Objects that are out of the ordinary tend to stick with us years later, don't they?
DeleteThe soldiers used the expression “night life” to describe that most of their time was spent partying at night. They described the war as “one big party”. The significance of the red hat is that it started as just a hat that Linda wore just for fun. Then, the reader learns that the hat was hiding the fact that she had a brain tumor. I was not surprised to learn about Linda. I figured it out when O’Brien said that she wore it to class. I felt horrible for her when her hat was taken off and everyone found out. She was wearing the hat to hide the truth. for her secret to finally be out in the open must have been really hard.
ReplyDeleteYes, the big revelation of Linda's illness is shocking. O'Brien handles that aspect of the story masterfully.
DeleteThe term night life was said to describe what Vietnam was like. They used this to make what was going on less terrible.
ReplyDeleteThe significance of the hat was at first it was just some cool head wear, but in fact it hid Lindas sickness from being seen. It did surprise me slightly because I didn't think about the hat being for an actual reason like that.
O'Brien fools us by talking about the hat as a fashion statement. We accept his observations at face value because he seems like a reliable narrator. It makes the revelation surprising.
DeleteThe soldiers used the term night life to get their minds off of what was really happening. It was more joke about night life then just quietly accept that they have to stay up all night. The significance of the red hat Linda wore was her means of keeping a very important secret. The hat shows that sometimes you just have to enjoy the hat for being a hat because it can be more difficult to deal with the bigger problems if you have to understand everything. I was pretty surprised, I never expected cancer. I thought it was just a weird hat that a little kid wore.
ReplyDeleteGood point about focusing on the hat as an object of joy. Live in the moment, yes?
DeleteThe men have a few varying definitions of the term "night life", one being to refer to the state of Vietnam, either in that all the action occurs at night or that it was a "party". My favorite definition was when the men used it as a means of escape from the horrors they faced. If I were at war, I would spend every extra second distancing myself from my worst fears. I can relate to relying on the thoughts and imagination to transport you to a happier place.
ReplyDeleteAs for the red hat, I was shocked. I didn't assume that an affinity for hats was secretly a way for a girl to hide a sickness. I thought it was bittersweet how Tim remembered Linda best by the red hat, but I thought it was interesting that he defined her by what she tried to hide herself with. The red hat detracted from who she was and hid a part of her, yet still he associates her with that hat. Despite that, I was glad she was able to be happy, even if she sometimes had to fake it, which, when you think about it, was exactly what the Vietnam soldiers were doing.
Nice connection between faking, happiness, and Vietnam. It gives a more concrete reason for why O'Brien chose that particular story as a way to end his novel.
Delete