Why is O'Brien angry with Jorgenson? Think both in the short and the long term.
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Anonymous
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Kierstynn
O'Brien is angry with Jorgenson because he almost killed him. That is the first reason why O'Brien wants revenge on Jorgenson. O'Brien was humiliated bacause of his diaper rash from being shot in the butt, "All I know is, you shouldn't feel embarrassed." Jorgenson caused O'Brien to feel embarrassed about getting shot because everyone made jokes about his big yellow stains from his butt ointment. Then when O'Brien's platoon came back they told him, "I hate to say this man but you're out of touch. Jorgenson- he's with us now." I think this hurt O'Brien even more than almost dying. O'brien was just a civilian now and not part of what was going on in Vietnam even though he was there and shot twice it didn't matter.
I think that most of O'Brien's anger stems from the fact that Jorgenson is someone who has been accepted into a group of people that O'Brien had once closely related himself with and after his injury had become disconnected with that group. To make things worse between O'Brien and Jorgenson, Rat Kiley was no longer the assigned medic. Jorgenson had taken over and failed to treat O'Brien immediately for shock which resulted in his near death experience. This gave O'Brien a legitimate reason to act hateful towards Jorgenson, but I think the toughest thing for O'Brien to overcome was losing his buddies to Jorgenson, and for that he wanted revenge.
O'Brien is angry with Bobby for the obvious reason of him not caring for his wounds. Instead of comforting and preventing shock (like Rat Kiley did), Bobby is nervous and clueless. "Later I found out I'd almost died of shock. Bobby Jorgenson didn't know about shock, or if he did, the fear made him forget. To make it worse, he bungled the patch job, and a couple of weeks later my ass started to rot away. You could actually peel off chucnks of skin with your fingernail" (O'Brien 190). O'Brien was so frightened of what was going on, that there was nobody helping him, and that the extremity of the wound had gotten that bad. On the other hand, O'Brien is angry at Jorgenson for joining the brotherhood and causing O'Brien to be cast as an outsider. Instead of his comrades sticking up for him, O'Brien hears them defending Jorgenson. Also, O'Brien comments, "I hated him for making me stop hating him" (O'Brien 200), which is O'Brien's way of venting.
Elisabeth, O'Brien is mad at Jorgenson for short term reasons because Jorgenson didn't react fast enough after he got shot and that he didn't really know how to treat O'Brien. "Bobby Jorgenson didn't know about shock, or if he did, the fear made him forget"(O'Brien 190). O'Brien was in a lot of pain after that because he couldn't sleep, walk, or sit. The short term anger O'Brien had towards Jorgenson was because of the physical pain, but the long term anger dealt more with his mental aspect. O'Brien keeps remembering the pain Bobby Jorgenson had caused him and how he had almost died because of him. He never could forget that, so it really affected him mentally. Another long term anger O'Brien had was he was no longer close with his platoon. He was an outsider and Jorgenson seemed to just take his place. "You become a civilian...forfeit membership in the family, the blood fraternity...can't pretend to be apart of it"(O'Brien 194). O'Brien doesn't belong anywhere now and he blames Jorgenson for that completely.
Nothing can make a person more angry if he is stuck in a difficult situation and there's someone to help but help refuses to move. O'Brien was bleeding to death and almost dies from shock. I was angry with Jorgenson. Why is he in the battlefield if he won't do his job? Even after O'Brien was flown away he could've died from gangrene. Decay to death. How disgusting is that.
O'Brien is angry with Jorgenson because 1) Jorgenson wasn't there quick enough when O'Brien got shot like Rat would have been and 2) Jorgenson didn't take the bullet out correctly. After all, "[Rat] trotted back to check [him] out" (189) maybe four times when O'Brien got shot the first time. And Rat would joke around with him, relieving the tension, by saying "Easy does it, just a side wound, no problem unless you're pregnant." (189). All Bobby Jorgenson was compared to Rat was "green and enompetent and scared" (190). O'Brien's but started to rot away because of the terrible way that Jorgenson tried to repair it. Then, O'Brien doesn't like the way that, when Jorgenson decides to apologize, he makes a whole bunch of excuses for himself, which, under such circumstances, would make sense except Jorgenson made a mistake and an apology is not going to help with a rotting butt.
Tiffany Friedlund O'Brien is angry with Jorgenson because Jorgenson was the medic when Tim was shot. Jorgenson had seen that Tim had been shot, yet it took him "almost ten minutes"(190) to move the small distance to reach him. That caused Tim to "almost [die] of shock"(190) and when Jorgenso "bungled up the patch job", the wound became infected with gangrene. What makes Tim mad before the prank is played took place "during evening chow"(203). Tim was already mad about Sanders telling him that Jorgenson is "with [them] now"(197). So, when Jorgenson "was sitting there with Dave Jensen and Mitchell Sanders and a few others, and he seemed to fit in very nicely"(202), Tim felt as if he was being replaced by Jorgenson which made him decide once and for all to get his revenge on Bobby Jorgenson.
Carole Surfus.... Jorgenson, O'Brien feels, is responsible for Tim's alienation from his comrades and for the pain and misery that Tim experienced via his wound. Jorgenson "bungled the patch job"(190) on Tim's rear which led to the rotting away of the skin near the wound. Not only was this extremely embarrassing for O'Brien, but it was extremely painful. It was so painful, in fact, that Tim was "gone with the pain"(190) after only a few minutes. This painful "diaper rash"(191) and the humiliation of constantly having to "find a private place and drop my pants and smear on this antibacterial ointment"(197) really pushed Tim's hate for Jorgenson over the edge. This, of course, was not helped by the "stains left on the seat of [Tim's] trousers"(197) from the ointment. For Tim, the worst part was the fact that he was no longer a "member in the family"(194). And his wound had forfeited Tim "the blood fraternity"(194) that were his friends. This loss hurt Tim more than his once-festering wound.
Jasmine Duplechin O'Brien is angry with Jorgenson for not aiding him quick enough when he got shot in the butt. O'Brien talks about the outcome of Jorgenson's mistake, "Later I found out I'd almost died of shock. Bobby Jorgenson didn't know about shock, or if he did, the fear made him forget. To make it worse, he bungled the patch job, and a couple weeks later my butt started to rot away (190)." Jorgenson almost killed O'Brien that is why he wants revenge on him and that is also why he so angry. Later on Jorgenson confronts O'Brien, he tells him that he is sorry for what happened and that he couldn't control his actions because he was so afraid. "Listen, man, I messed up. What else can I say? I'm sorry. When you got hit, I kept telling myself to move, move, but I couldn't do it, like I was full of drugs or something. (199)." O'Brien describes Jorgenson as looking, "so earnest, so sad and hurt" saying that it almost made him feel guilty and that he hated him for making him stop hating him. I think another reason why O'Brien is so angry is because he isn't a part of the men anymore, while Jorgenson is. When O'Brien tries to convince Sanders of helping him get back at Jorgenson Sanders says, People change. Situations change. I hate to say this, man, but you're out of touch. Jorgenson-he's with us now(197)."
Shayna O'Brien is mad at Jorgenson for almost letting him die. He was obviously so angry because "it took that son of a [gun] almost ten minutes to work up the nerve to crawl over to me](190). Its like Jorgenson had to think about saving him or not saving him. O'Brien was in need of his help but his help would not come. The "bungled pat job", lead to his butt eventually "rot[ing]" away. Also he found out he almost died of shock and was angry at Jorgenson because "how could he forget to treat for shock"(192) How could he have froze up when i needed him most? O'Brien is so anygry with Jorgenson because it is partially his fault that O'Brien faced all the mental and emotional pain that he did. A commradery with men that O'Brien once had, had disappeared. He was humiliated because "Three times a day, no matter what, I had to stop whatever i was doing. I had to go find a private place and drop my pants and smear on this antibacterial ointment"(197). The ointment left "yello splotches" on his trousers and so he was made fun of. He was once part of the family but now he was an outcast. People who were once so close to him were not sticking up for Jorgenson instead of him. "These guys had been my brothers" and losing all the people who mattered to him hurt him significantly more than being shot in the butt.
I agree completely. I think being embarrassed also played a role in O'Brien's anger towards Jorgenson as well as no longer being a "member in the family"(194). Nice quotes in relation to the question!!
Bethanie- Shayna I understood O'Brien loosing his "family" but I'd never really considered how much Jorgenson took his place. Shayna said "People who were once so close to him were no[w] sticking up for Jorgenson instead of him." Jorgenson wasn't just the new doc. on the block, he had now assumed enough rank and respect for the men to back him up more than they backed up O'Brien, even though O'Brien took two bullets for the squad.
14 comments:
Kierstynn
O'Brien is angry with Jorgenson because he almost killed him. That is the first reason why O'Brien wants revenge on Jorgenson. O'Brien was humiliated bacause of his diaper rash from being shot in the butt, "All I know is, you shouldn't feel embarrassed." Jorgenson caused O'Brien to feel embarrassed about getting shot because everyone made jokes about his big yellow stains from his butt ointment. Then when O'Brien's platoon came back they told him, "I hate to say this man but you're out of touch. Jorgenson- he's with us now." I think this hurt O'Brien even more than almost dying. O'brien was just a civilian now and not part of what was going on in Vietnam even though he was there and shot twice it didn't matter.
Cassondra Patrick
I think that most of O'Brien's anger stems from the fact that Jorgenson is someone who has been accepted into a group of people that O'Brien had once closely related himself with and after his injury had become disconnected with that group. To make things worse between O'Brien and Jorgenson, Rat Kiley was no longer the assigned medic. Jorgenson had taken over and failed to treat O'Brien immediately for shock which resulted in his near death experience. This gave O'Brien a legitimate reason to act hateful towards Jorgenson, but I think the toughest thing for O'Brien to overcome was losing his buddies to Jorgenson, and for that he wanted revenge.
Amy
O'Brien is angry with Bobby for the obvious reason of him not caring for his wounds. Instead of comforting and preventing shock (like Rat Kiley did), Bobby is nervous and clueless. "Later I found out I'd almost died of shock. Bobby Jorgenson didn't know about shock, or if he did, the fear made him forget. To make it worse, he bungled the patch job, and a couple of weeks later my ass started to rot away. You could actually peel off chucnks of skin with your fingernail" (O'Brien 190). O'Brien was so frightened of what was going on, that there was nobody helping him, and that the extremity of the wound had gotten that bad. On the other hand, O'Brien is angry at Jorgenson for joining the brotherhood and causing O'Brien to be cast as an outsider. Instead of his comrades sticking up for him, O'Brien hears them defending Jorgenson. Also, O'Brien comments, "I hated him for making me stop hating him" (O'Brien 200), which is O'Brien's way of venting.
Elisabeth,
O'Brien is mad at Jorgenson for short term reasons because Jorgenson didn't react fast enough after he got shot and that he didn't really know how to treat O'Brien. "Bobby Jorgenson didn't know about shock, or if he did, the fear made him forget"(O'Brien 190). O'Brien was in a lot of pain after that because he couldn't sleep, walk, or sit. The short term anger O'Brien had towards Jorgenson was because of the physical pain, but the long term anger dealt more with his mental aspect. O'Brien keeps remembering the pain Bobby Jorgenson had caused him and how he had almost died because of him. He never could forget that, so it really affected him mentally. Another long term anger O'Brien had was he was no longer close with his platoon. He was an outsider and Jorgenson seemed to just take his place. "You become a civilian...forfeit membership in the family, the blood fraternity...can't pretend to be apart of it"(O'Brien 194). O'Brien doesn't belong anywhere now and he blames Jorgenson for that completely.
Tabitha
Nothing can make a person more angry if he is stuck in a difficult situation and there's someone to help but help refuses to move. O'Brien was bleeding to death and almost dies from shock. I was angry with Jorgenson. Why is he in the battlefield if he won't do his job? Even after O'Brien was flown away he could've died from gangrene. Decay to death. How disgusting is that.
O'Brien is angry with Jorgenson because 1) Jorgenson wasn't there quick enough when O'Brien got shot like Rat would have been and 2) Jorgenson didn't take the bullet out correctly. After all, "[Rat] trotted back to check [him] out" (189) maybe four times when O'Brien got shot the first time. And Rat would joke around with him, relieving the tension, by saying "Easy does it, just a side wound, no problem unless you're pregnant." (189). All Bobby Jorgenson was compared to Rat was "green and enompetent and scared" (190). O'Brien's but started to rot away because of the terrible way that Jorgenson tried to repair it. Then, O'Brien doesn't like the way that, when Jorgenson decides to apologize, he makes a whole bunch of excuses for himself, which, under such circumstances, would make sense except Jorgenson made a mistake and an apology is not going to help with a rotting butt.
Elizabeth and Amy - don't let your quotes stand ALONE!! They have to be introduced or made part of a sentence!!
Good discussion of O'Brien's resentment over JOrgenson as part of the brotherhood.
Tiffany Friedlund
O'Brien is angry with Jorgenson because Jorgenson was the medic when Tim was shot. Jorgenson had seen that Tim had been shot, yet it took him "almost ten minutes"(190) to move the small distance to reach him. That caused Tim to "almost [die] of shock"(190) and when Jorgenso "bungled up the patch job", the wound became infected with gangrene.
What makes Tim mad before the prank is played took place "during evening chow"(203). Tim was already mad about Sanders telling him that Jorgenson is "with [them] now"(197). So, when Jorgenson "was sitting there with Dave Jensen and Mitchell Sanders and a few others, and he seemed to fit in very nicely"(202), Tim felt as if he was being replaced by Jorgenson which made him decide once and for all to get his revenge on Bobby Jorgenson.
Carole Surfus....
Jorgenson, O'Brien feels, is responsible for Tim's alienation from his comrades and for the pain and misery that Tim experienced via his wound. Jorgenson "bungled the patch job"(190) on Tim's rear which led to the rotting away of the skin near the wound. Not only was this extremely embarrassing for O'Brien, but it was extremely painful. It was so painful, in fact, that Tim was "gone with the pain"(190) after only a few minutes. This painful "diaper rash"(191) and the humiliation of constantly having to "find a private place and drop my pants and smear on this antibacterial ointment"(197) really pushed Tim's hate for Jorgenson over the edge. This, of course, was not helped by the "stains left on the seat of [Tim's] trousers"(197) from the ointment.
For Tim, the worst part was the fact that he was no longer a "member in the family"(194). And his wound had forfeited Tim "the blood fraternity"(194) that were his friends. This loss hurt Tim more than his once-festering wound.
Jasmine Duplechin
O'Brien is angry with Jorgenson for not aiding him quick enough when he got shot in the butt. O'Brien talks about the outcome of Jorgenson's mistake, "Later I found out I'd almost died of shock. Bobby Jorgenson didn't know about shock, or if he did, the fear made him forget. To make it worse, he bungled the patch job, and a couple weeks later my butt started to rot away (190)." Jorgenson almost killed O'Brien that is why he wants revenge on him and that is also why he so angry. Later on Jorgenson confronts O'Brien, he tells him that he is sorry for what happened and that he couldn't control his actions because he was so afraid. "Listen, man, I messed up. What else can I say? I'm sorry. When you got hit, I kept telling myself to move, move, but I couldn't do it, like I was full of drugs or something. (199)." O'Brien describes Jorgenson as looking, "so earnest, so sad and hurt" saying that it almost made him feel guilty and that he hated him for making him stop hating him. I think another reason why O'Brien is so angry is because he isn't a part of the men anymore, while Jorgenson is. When O'Brien tries to convince Sanders of helping him get back at Jorgenson Sanders says, People change. Situations change. I hate to say this, man, but you're out of touch. Jorgenson-he's with us now(197)."
Shayna
O'Brien is mad at Jorgenson for almost letting him die. He was obviously so angry because "it took that son of a [gun] almost ten minutes to work up the nerve to crawl over to me](190). Its like Jorgenson had to think about saving him or not saving him. O'Brien was in need of his help but his help would not come. The "bungled pat job", lead to his butt eventually "rot[ing]" away. Also he found out he almost died of shock and was angry at Jorgenson because "how could he forget to treat for shock"(192) How could he have froze up when i needed him most? O'Brien is so anygry with Jorgenson because it is partially his fault that O'Brien faced all the mental and emotional pain that he did. A commradery with men that O'Brien once had, had disappeared. He was humiliated because "Three times a day, no matter what, I had to stop whatever i was doing. I had to go find a private place and drop my pants and smear on this antibacterial ointment"(197). The ointment left "yello splotches" on his trousers and so he was made fun of. He was once part of the family but now he was an outcast. People who were once so close to him were not sticking up for Jorgenson instead of him. "These guys had been my brothers" and losing all the people who mattered to him hurt him significantly more than being shot in the butt.
Shayna
"bungled patch job"****
Cassondra to Carole
I agree completely. I think being embarrassed also played a role in O'Brien's anger towards Jorgenson as well as no longer being a "member in the family"(194). Nice quotes in relation to the question!!
Bethanie- Shayna
I understood O'Brien loosing his "family" but I'd never really considered how much Jorgenson took his place. Shayna said "People who were once so close to him were no[w] sticking up for Jorgenson instead of him." Jorgenson wasn't just the new doc. on the block, he had now assumed enough rank and respect for the men to back him up more than they backed up O'Brien, even though O'Brien took two bullets for the squad.
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