Answer the following question in one to two paragraphs. 1. Read the following excerpts from the beginnings of "Ambush" and "Symptoms," which both
start out with a longer first paragraph, followed by a short second paragraph. How does the
purpose of the second paragraph from "Ambush" compare and contrast with that from
"Symptoms"? How do these short paragraphs each exemplify a particular genre?
When she was nine, my daughter Kathleen asked if I had ever killed anyone. She knew
about the war, she knew I'd been a soldier. "You keep writing war stories," she said, "so!
guess you must've killed somebody." It was a difficult moment, but I did what seemed right,
which was to say, "Of course not," and then to take her onto my lap and hold her for a while.
Someday, I hope, she'll ask again. But here I want to pretend she's a grown-up. I want to tell
her exactly what happened, or what I remember happening, and then I want to say to her
that as a little girl she was absolutely right. This is why I keep writing war stories:
He was a short, slender young man of about twenty. I was afraid of him-afraid of
something--and as he passed me on the trail I threw a grenade that exploded at his feet and
killed him.
(Tim O'Brien, "Ambush")
During the years between the last war and this one, I was always puzzled by the reticence
of ex-soldiers about their experiences in battle. If they had been reticent men it would have
been different, but some of them were talks and some were even boaster. They would
discuss their experiences right up to the time of battle and then suddenly they wouldn't talk
anymore. This was considered heroic in them. It was thought that they had seen or done
was so horrible that they didn't want to bring is back to haunt them or their listeners But
many of these men had no such consideration in any other field.
Only recently have I found what seems to be a reasonable explanation, and the answer is
simple. They did not and do not remember--and the worse the battle was, the less they
remember.
(John Steinbeck, "Symptoms")
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