The Metamorphosis of Vietnam " Rejoice O young man in thy youth..." (Ecclesiastics). This quote begins the movie, Platoon, and serves as an ironic comment on what is to follow. Both the interviews in the text and the movie, Platoon, attempt to explain a significant human experience, one that was essentially a metamorphosis for many who took part in it. Vietnam was crucial to all who experienced it. The one constant thing is change. Each of the people interviewed, explained the changes they went through. Some were drafted, some enlisted, most entered Vietnam with a naive, youthful attitude. They were hardened, their souls rapidly aged. Most left, having changed drastically in their attitudes toward our involvement as a country, as well as their own personal involvement. Many despised the protesters at home, and ended up despising the Vietnamese people. Chris Tucker (Charley Sheen) was the focus for change in the movie. He was surrounded by stock characters from whom he could take or leave whatever they had to offer. He was the one to watch, the moral center of the film whose experience would explain it all for us. The film is told from his point of view. He wanted to live up to what his grandfather did in World War I and what his father did in World War 2, just as Mike, one of the interviewees, felt he had an obligation to live up to his family's heroics (Wheeler/Becker 273). And, just like Mike, Chris Tucker dropped out of college to do so. Chris Tucker jumped into the war not fully knowing what to expect. He vomits at his first sign of violent death, and can hardly keep up on his first search and destroy mission. But after some exposure to the war he feels as if he were born of two fathers. One, whose morals have not been pillaged and burned by his exposure to death. And one who embraces death and kills without guilt. The character of Sgt. Barnes (Tom Berringer) in Platoon, represented what was worst in the range of reactions to the hell that is war. Sgt. Barnes displays vicious, unexplained wounds on his face. He makes no attempt to hide these. From one view he looks normal, from another he looks positively robotic. He is literally mean as a snake.
The film brilliantly portrays the war with no enemy’s, just people and relationships. It is the story of friends, Paul Baumer (Lew Ayres) and his friends joining the war through propaganda, and leaving through death.
	The novel illuminates light on the situation not just during the Vietnam era, but also rather throughout all history and the future to come. Throughout mankind’s occupation of earth, we have been plagued by war and the sufferings caused by it. Nearly every generation of people to walk this earth have experienced a great war once in their lifetimes. For instance, Vietnam for my father’s generation, World War 2 for my grandfather’s, and World War 1 for my great-grandfather’s. War has become an unavoidable factor of life. Looking through history and toward the future, I grow concerned over the war that will plague my generation, for it might be the last war.
In the twentieth century many young adults and many other men were chosen/ drafted to enter the war. The Vietnam War started during the time period of 1959 and this brutal war ended on 1975. It started with the United States sending aid and military advisors to the Southern part Vietnam. The U.S helped the southerners of Vietnam because the northern part of Viet was a communist state so the south wanted to end Communism up in the north. Also, this war was said to be one of the bloodiest wars that took place in the twentieth century. It was a very bloody war because more than 58,000 American soldiers had perished in combat. Also, during the decade of direct U.S Military participation in Vietnam, during early time of the year, 1964 the U.S treasury spent over 140 billion dollars on this war. “This was enough money to fund urban projects in every major American city” (history.com). As this war effected the American’s, it affected the Vietnamese people to. This war affected both the American’s and the Vietnamese, because in the year of 1973 the United States began withdrawing troops. This caused the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon to fall to the Northern Vietnamese forces. Just like how the war was long and bloody many characters from the novel The Things They Carried experienced many things that were relatable to people who in reality dealt with the war. The very brutality of war cause indelible psychological and emotional changes in most of its
In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, the readers follow the Alpha Company’s experiences during the Vietnam War through the telling’s of the main character and narrator, Tim. At the beginning of the story, Tim describes the things that each character carries, also revealing certain aspects of the characters as can be interpreted by the audience. The book delineates what kind of person each character is throughout the chapters. As the novel progresses, the characters’ personalities change due to certain events of the war. The novel shows that due to these experiences during the Vietnam War, there is always a turning point for each soldier, especially as shown with Bob “Rat” Kiley and Azar. With this turning point also comes the loss of innocence for these soldiers. O’Brien covers certain stages of grief and self-blame associated with these events in these stories as well in order to articulate just how those involved felt so that the reader can imagine what the effects of these events would be like for them had they been a part of it.
Vietnam was a highly debated war among citizens of the United States. This war was like no other with regards to how it affected people on the home front. In past war’s, the population of the United States mainly supported the war and admired soldiers for their courage. During the Vietnam War, citizens of the U.S. had a contradictory view than in the past. This dilemma of not having the support of the people originates from the culture and the time period.
Robert S. McNamara's book, In Retrospect, tells the story of one man's journey throughout the trials and tribulations of what seems to be the United States utmost fatality; the Vietnam War. McNamara's personal encounters gives an inside perspective never before heard of, and exposes the truth behind the administration.
The Vietnam War holds a different meaning for people both young and old. The longest known US war lasted a solid eighteen years. Some would describe the war as a puzzle since not everyone was for the war. At the age of 21 Tim O’Brien was drafted for the Vietnam War. He states that The Things They Carried is a way for readers to feel what he felt during the war. The key experiences and emotions that he wants the reader to feel are frustration, not being able to find your enemy, having soldiers all around you losing their life, and being upset about being in a war in which you yourself do not believe in. Now forty years later after the Vietnam War first started O’Brien is left with face-less responsibility and face-less grief. He says it best himself “You bring war back home with you. The things you carried in the war are also things you brought back home.”
The Vietnam Veteran I interviewed was my grandfather; he was 27 years old during the time of the war. He volunteered to go to Vietnam because he didn’t like picking fruits and vegetables in the hot sun with his father. That’s when he decided to join the service and he volunteered to go to Vietnam. My grandfather only served one tour, because he wanted to go home to his family. So, his younger brother Rick who was single volunteered to go to Vietnam. My grandfather told me that Rick had a death wish so it didn’t really matter to him if he came back dead or alive.
The impact of the Vietnam War upon the soldiers who fought there was huge. The experience forever changed how they would think and act for the rest of their lives. One of the main reasons for this was there was little to no understanding by the soldiers as to why they were fighting this war. They felt they were killing innocent people, farmers, poor hard working people, women, and children were among their victims. Many of the returning soldiers could not fall back in to their old life styles. First they felt guilt for surviving many of their brothers in arms. Second they were haunted by the atrocities of war. Some soldiers could not go back to the mental state of peacetime. Then there were soldiers Tim O’Brien meant while in the war that he wrote the book “The Things They Carried,” that showed how important the role of story telling was to soldiers. The role of stories was important because it gave them an outlet and that outlet was needed both inside and outside the war in order to keep their metal state in check.
Since these soldier are of such a young age the emotions and burdens are highly intensified. The men that were drafted for Vietnam were in their late teens to early twenties. They had absolutely no concept of killing. These young men were students or boyfriends, they had no idea how to handle the loss of a fellow soldier who they have forged a friendship with. The author Tim O'Brien uses details to point out what the experience was like for these young men. To illustrate the fear and cowardice that none of them could admit to. This is something that all of the soldiers had to deal with. Even though they were scared to go out and fight they did so anyway because, it was hard for these men to face the burden of emotion. When Ted Lavender died his fellow soldiers were indeed sad for his loss but, every single one of them was happy that it wasn't them who was dead. They can still live one more day deal...
The Vietnam War was a traumatic experience for everyone that fought on the ground. American soldiers were up close and personal with the Viet Cong (enemy) which made them live in constant fear for their lives. They never knew how they would die or when they would take their last breath, and this thought was always in the back of their minds. The Vietnam War was very brutal, and the amount of death from both sides was enormous. Tim O’Brien’s story “The Things They Carried” is an accurate description of the Vietnam War. He paints a good, yet brief, description of what the war was like for the American soldiers who fought on the front lines.
When the Vietnam War was heating up, he tried his very best to keep his words very straightforward and honest. He used pathos in his speech through the usage of the phrases, “a celebration of freedom,” and, “forge against these enemies.” By using these phrases, instead of making the war a task for the people, he made it out as saving the country for the people and for their kids. It wasn’t just a "go and fight," but more of a "go, win, and when you come back enjoy what you have accomplished. " Ask not what your country can do for you but ask what you can do for your country.”
One of them is about the crimes that they committed while they were over there with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command. Second main point is the feelings that these men carry with them after coming back from Vietnam. How country doesn’t know what monsters they created for nothing. Third main point is how they don’t consider themselves heroes, America’s best men, because they were ashamed of and hated for what they were called to do in Southeast Asia. The last main point is how veterans don’t get the support that they deserve when they came back to the States after the war. They can’t find jobs and the hospitals across the country won’t or can’t meet their demands. Each main point and sub-point is supported by facts, testimony, and examples. He talked how they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, and a lot more that they did. He talks how angry they were when they came back, because they committed crimes because of the war that didn’t even supposed to happen. Because there was nothing in Vietnam which could happen that could realistically threatens the United States of America. He talked how some veterans died while they were in the VA hospital because there was no personnel to help
...ust deal with similar pains. Through the authors of these stories, we gain a better sense of what soldiers go through and the connection war has on the psyche of these men. While it is true, and known, that the Vietnam War was bloody and many soldiers died in vain, it is often forgotten what occurred to those who returned home. We overlook what became of those men and of the pain they, and their families, were left coping with. Some were left with physical scars, a constant reminder of a horrible time in their lives, while some were left with emotional, and mental, scarring. The universal fact found in all soldiers is the dramatic transformation they all undergo. No longer do any of these men have a chance to create their own identity, or continue with the aspirations they once held as young men. They become, and will forever be, soldiers of the Vietnam War.
As we got further and further into the Vietnam War, few lives were untouched by grief, anger and fear. The Vietnamese suffered the worst hardship; children lay dead in the street, villages remained nothing but charred ashes, and bombs destroyed thousands of innocent civilians. Soldiers were scarred emotionally as well as physically, as