Rebecca
Eggers’
Portfolio
Ms. McGee
1B
Table of Contents
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Quick Navigational Instructions
Letter to the Reader
Soul Project
Soul Essay
Bucket List
3 Artifacts—Elementary School
2 Twelfth grade assignments
One additional assignment
Letter to the Reader
The pages are still blank, but there is a
miraculous feeling of the words being
there, written in invisible ink and
clamoring to become visible.
~Vladimir Nabakov
Quick Navigational Instructions
After hearing the letter to the reader, a map with three different Russian cities is
provided. Click on each city’s picture. You will be taken to another title page
where links are available for each requirement of the portfolio.
When you are done viewing that link, click on the page background and it will
automatically take you back to the city’s title page.
If you have seen every link from a particular city, just click on the
of the city’s page and it will take you back to the original map of Russia.
St. Petersburg
Moscow
Yekaterinburg
St. Petersburg-The
Window to the West
Artifact #1
Artifact #2
Artifact #3
The Goldfish Myth
Moscow: The Soul and Capital
of Russia
• Soul Project
• Soul Essay
• Bucket List
Yekaterinburg-From Russia
With Love
• Six Word Life Story: Determination to
prevail against all odds
• One additional assignment
Back to St.
Moscow
Next page of assignment
Next page of assignment
Back to St. Moscow
Back to St. Petersburg
Back to St. Petersburg
Back to St. Petersburg
Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong
pages 111 and 116
“…Mary Anne was still somewhere out there in the dark. Odd movements, odd shapes.
Late at night, when the Greenies were out on ambush, the whole rain forest seemed to
stare in at them—a watched feeling—and a couple of times they almost saw her sliding
through the shadows. Not quite, but almost. She had crossed to the other side. She was
part of the land.”
Mary Anne symbolizes the dramatic change in a person during war. She becomes part of
the land, part of the terror—the terror itself maybe. People always hear war stories, and
hear of men coming back, but never the same as before. Mary Anne is a prime example of
that. She becomes so engulfed in a world she never really understood, or never knew
existed. By being brought into such and extreme environment her whole view on life
changed from the original naïve thoughts of a teenager to an understanding of what the
real world of war is. She immerses herself in it. “I want to swallow the whole country—
the dirt, the death—I just want to eat it and have it there inside me.” With this
acknowledged, we find that Mary Anne isn’t the same. She is obsessed, and quite
animalistic—such a surprising thing to think of, especially in a woman. I believe this is
why O’Brian used a female character to express this role. It’s uncommon, never heard of,
but a way to show the animalistic change that occurs in veterans of war.
“She was part of the land.” I find this sentence really moving. It’s not even an exciting
sentence, but when you think of the whole situation with Mary Anne, the idea hits you.
It’s like Mary Anne isn’t a human. Like she transformed and morphed to become
something new. Mary Anne is just another terror, a shadow of war, and anNext
example
of assignment
the
page of
change that O’Brian wanted us to see.
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Speaking of Courage
I understand why Norman Bowker would never want to tell the story about how he lost
the Silver Star. What started out as a courageous feat ended in a pathetic attempt at
saving somebody’s life, and quitting at the last possible moment. I would feel the same
way as Bowker, though suicide seems a bit drastic. Sometimes the worst things that
come from war are not about the horrific sights you have seen, but about the things you
know you should have done. Maybe Bowker should have withstanded the smell that
engulfed him and saved his friend’s life, and maybe he would have died in Kiowa’s
place. Die to save a life. Doesn’t that seem like the more heroic action. And then again,
war in a sense is about survival. Is it really a selfish thing to want to stay alive. Wasn’t
he about to go down with Kiowa? We will never really know for sure, but we can’t
always blame ourselves for things that we should have done. It seems though, that
Bowker focuses on the Silver Star more than his friend, but knowing that he committed
suicide tells us something else. Maybe by taking his life, he thought that it would make
up for what he couldn’t do during the war. Maybe the fact that not receiving that Silver
Star always reminded him about what he should’ve done. What I really want to know
is why he never told somebody about it. I have always been told that it’s unhealthy to
bottle things up inside. Was the shame too much for Bowker to express? Was he too
disappointed in himself to ever talk about it again? I know that for some people it’s
harder to show emotion and talk about it and maybe the same goes for Bowker, but
why wouldn’t somebody notice his inner turmoil?
Next page of assignment
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Field Trip
This chapter really irks me to say the least. It's a shorter chapter, and one that I
think holds little insight to the rest of the book. It feels misplaced, yet necessary at
the same time. What bothers me most is not that O'Brian went back to visit certain
scenes of previous horror, but that he brought his ten year old daughter, Kathleen,
with him. A ten year old isn't mature enough to understand the complexity and
meaning of the "field trip" to Vietnam. Why wasn't she left at home with her
mother? Why didn't O'Brian take his wife instead of his daughter? I can't grasp the
significance of this chapter, other than the fact that he wants to keep the memories
of his comrades in arms (to say the least) in mind. He never wants to forget about
them, but he still wants to be at peace with them. That may be the reason why he
went back to Vietnam, but what is the significance of his daughter? Was it to show
the young innocence and ignorance of a child in contrast to the cruelness and reality
of war? For example, “Behind me, Kathleen let out a little giggle. The interpreter
was showing her magic tricks.” This particular sentence seems so wrong and even
off in contrast with the barely noticeable field that had “swallowed so much.” It
feels like a mixture of light and dark, that’s become an uneven form of gray. Is
O’Brian trying to create peace with this chapter?
Back to Yekaterinburg
The Goldfish Myth
I once heard the myth that a goldfish,
Could only remember a bit.
His tiny brain fooled him,
Because he really had no wit.
I swear he can only remember,
A small wee bit.
And every time I ring the chime
Recognition flickering as if lit.
I swear my goldfish has amnesia,
He cannot remember a thing.
I swear his memory is fading,
When I ring with a little bing.
Sometimes I feel so lonely
When my goldfish cannot see
That he is really only
The goldfish who could be
He hides in his gloomy cave,
Captivated by some spell.
Who knows if he will really hear,
My little gold bell.
The greatest friend to me.
Back to St. Petersburg