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Life during the Vietnam War
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Harold Steele
Professor Jennifer Vacca
English 2307
15 Sept. 2015
Facing Adversity Yusef Komunyakaa is a Louisiana native, Vietnam Veteran. Born in 1947, Yusef, an African-American, dealt with racism both overseas and within our borders. In the Army, he served one tour in the Vietnam War; the poem Facing It allows the reader a small amount of access into the mind of Yusef Komunyakaa. This poem is the last excerpt in the series called, Dien Cai Dau. This series of, Vietnam War themed, poems express the oppressions he dealt with during his young adult life. The poem Facing It exhibits intense examples of character, voice, and setting. Character is defined as, “One of the attributes or features that make up and distinguish an individual.”(Merriam-Webster)
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The author eludes to the fact that the narrator is not mentally ready for this visit when he thinks, “I said I wouldn’t, dammit: No tears.”(Komunyakaa 63) The narrator, at this time, feels a wave of emotion he must fight back in order to move forward. “This first visit to the Memorial is clearly an emotional experience for the narrator, and he has promised himself he will not cry.”(David Peck) The narrator regrets his past, when describing his reflection, “like [reflection] a bird of prey, the profile of night.”(Komunyakaa 63) The narrator could also, “compare the combatants [Vietnamese] to birds, but also suggesting how the past preys on the present.”(Marvin 243-245) The narrator lives with a constant conflict within himself, and adds yet another layer of depth to the …show more content…
Setting is expressed, in this poem, through the narrator’s perspective. The narrator helps create a sense of alertness, because he starts to notices planes flying, and red birds. He even watches the names reflect off a woman’s blouse. The narrator’s reactions characterize, “the contradictory feelings veterans may experience visiting the site [Vietnam Veterans Memorial]: wondering why they are alive while their comrades are dead.”(Peck) These emotions are expressed throughout the poem, and are a crucial part in shaping the environment around the narrator. In addition, the aloof nature of the other visitors shapes the overall environment the narrator steps into, “No, she’s brushing a boy’s hair.”(Komunyakaa 63) The author’s character enhanced the setting, by allowing the reader insight into the narrator’s mind. The character’s voice enhanced the setting, by comparing his skin color to the black granite memorial, “My black face fades, hiding inside the black granite.”(Komunyakaa
Yusef Komanuyakaa's poem "Facing It" is a brutal examination of the affects that war leaves upon men. The reader can assume that Komanuyakaa drew upon his own experiences in Vietnam, thereby making the poem a personal statement. However, the poem is also a universal and real description of the pain that comes about for a soldier when remembering the horror of war. He creates the poem's persona by using flashbacks to the war, thereby informing the reader as to why the speaker is behaving and feeling the way he is. The thirty-one lines that make up "Facing It" journey back and forth between present and past to tell the story of one man's life.
The timeline carries on chronologically, the intense imagery exaggerated to allow the poem to mimic childlike mannerisms. This, subjectively, lets the reader experience the adventure through the young speaker’s eyes. The personification of “sunset”, (5) “shutters”, (8) “shadows”, (19) and “lamplights” (10) makes the world appear alive and allows nothing to be a passing detail, very akin to a child’s imagination. The sunset, alive as it may seem, ordinarily depicts a euphemism for death, similar to the image of the “shutters closing like the eyelids”
Characterization is generally defined as a graphic description of a character. It could be vague or straight to the point. For example, in page 4 of Butter, a scene is described where Butter refrains from snacking any further, offended by a girl on T.V expressing her opinion on charging obese people more for taking up more than one seat on an airplane. “Can’t a guy enjoy a little sandwich in his own living
Even when the structure of both poems are the same (no stanza breaks), the differences in the speaker’s voice and diction play an enormous part in building the poem’s plot and setting. And though Komunyakaa employs the same techniques in both poems, the end result is so different from the other through meticulous attention to the connotative quality of specific words and phrases that “Blue Light Lounge Sutra” perfectly depicts the thrall of performance through the seductive references of the properties of jazz and lounge music. On other the hand, “Thanks” is a subtle but powerful depiction of the violence seen in the Vietnam War due to its address of personal experience juxtaposed with an extreme outside environment that most readers have never encountered. Each break in a sentence artistically elevates the colloquial voice of speaker and produces an underlying poetic element that emphasizes its content, namely the distinction between the use of the abstract and the concrete. Both pieces are dependent on the reader’s ability to perceive the central theme of the content, but through attentive and purposeful use of linguistic and stylistic techniques, the differences apparent in each poem create an individual voice to that truly brings out the author’s
I saw that soldier’s faces were lit eerily in the dim light. The sculptures apparel seemed fitting due to the light rain that was falling at the memorial site. I noticed the wall glimmering as the raindrops slid down the glassy surface and fall into the wilting flowers while the images illuminated from the glare of rain and light. I felt this morbid and realistic presence of the soldiers and for a mere second felt the gloom and menace of the war they were in. I walked around the site to gather more information on what the memorial was dedicated to. I walked past the mural wall and as I did I paid particular attention to the various images of people and equipment on the wall. All of the facial expressions of the people on the wall gave the memorial a very real presence to it. I continued walking down the granite walk and I read it was the Korean War Veterans Memorial and immediately got the message the artists were trying to convey. It was very clear that they were showing the public that freedom is not free. The memorial symbolizes the soldiers that have fought for the freedom of others and it recognizes the importance of these actions and
	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.
Regret is something that is apparent in everyone’s life whether they want it to be or not. The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, is a collection of short stories about his time in the Vietnam War. A common theme throughout all the stories is regret. Although I have never been drafted to war I can very closely relate to the feeling of regret. Regret is not a good feeling. It is something that follows you around for a long time. It hangs over your head like a gray cloud. In one of Tim’s stories On The Rainy River he says “Still, it’s a hard story to tell” (37). This draws you to believe that Tim found it very difficult to tell others about his time in the war, he did some things he was not proud of and he found it best he keep quiet. The decision my parents made eleven years ago to get divorced, was something that will have an affect on me for the rest of my life. I found it very difficult to talk about the divorce,
Character is often the setting stone on what a person is judged upon. For someone to have character, they must noticeably stand out, and do extraordinary tasks that a normal student would not usually do. From school activities to sports clubs, I myself carry unique characteristics that set me apart from other students.
...often times tragic and can ruin the lives of those who fight. The effects of war can last for years, possibly even for the rest of the soldiers life and can also have an effect on those in the lives of the soldier as well. Soldiers carry the memories of things they saw and did during war with them as they try and regain their former lives once the war is over, which is often a difficult task. O’Brien gives his readers some insight into what goes on in the mind of a soldier during combat and long after coming home.
Kenyon’s choice of a first person perspective serves as one of two main techniques she uses in developing the reader’s ability to relate to the poem’s emotional implications and thus further her argument regarding the futility of mankind’s search for closure through the mourning process. By choosing to write the poem in the first person, Kenyon encourages the reader to interpret the poem as a story told by the same person who fell victim to the tragedy it details, rather than as a mere account of events observed by a third party. This insertion of the character into the story allows the reader to carefully interpret the messages expressed through her use of diction in describing the events during and after the burial.
Therefore, Oliver’s incorporation of imagery, setting, and mood to control the perspective of her own poem, as well as to further build the contrast she establishes through the speaker, serves a critical role in creating the lesson of the work. Oliver’s poem essentially gives the poet an ultimatum; either he can go to the “cave behind all that / jubilation” (10-11) produced by a waterfall to “drip with despair” (14) without disturbing the world with his misery, or, instead, he can mimic the thrush who sings its poetry from a “green branch” (15) on which the “passing foil of the water” (16) gently brushes its feathers. The contrast between these two images is quite pronounced, and the intention of such description is to persuade the audience by setting their mood towards the two poets to match that of the speaker. The most apparent difference between these two depictions is the gracelessness of the first versus the gracefulness of the second. Within the poem’s content, the setting has been skillfully intertwined with both imagery and mood to create an understanding of the two poets, whose surroundings characterize them. The poet stands alone in a cave “to cry aloud for [his] / mistakes” while the thrush shares its beautiful and lovely music with the world (1-2). As such, the overall function of these three elements within the poem is to portray the
...eased soldier, Tung, whom Kien has forgotten. “ ‘Maybe it was Tung. What do you think, Kien?’ ‘Tung who?’ asked Kien. ‘Crazy Tung. The guardsman, don’t you remember?’” (Ninh, 97). Yet, after the war, Kien cannot quit remembering all that died. “He mistook her first for a jungle girl named Hoa…Then, horribly, for a naked girl at Saigon airport on 30 April 1975.” (Ninh, 113). Kien returned to his pre-war culture of remembering the dead.
From the combination of enjambed and end-stopped lines, the reader almost physically feels the emphasis on certain lines, but also feels confusion where a line does not end. Although the poem lacks a rhyme scheme, lines like “…not long after the disaster / as our train was passing Astor” and “…my eyes and ears…I couldn't think or hear,” display internal rhyme. The tone of the narrator changes multiple times throughout the poem. It begins with a seemingly sad train ride, but quickly escalates when “a girl came flying down the aisle.” During the grand entrance, imagery helps show the importance of the girl and how her visit took place in a short period of time. After the girl’s entrance, the narrator describes the girl as a “spector,” or ghost-like figure in a calm, but confused tone. The turning point of the poem occurs when the girl “stopped for me [the narrator]” and then “we [the girl and the narrator] dove under the river.” The narrator speaks in a fast, hectic tone because the girl “squeez[ed] till the birds began to stir” and causes her to not “think or hear / or breathe or see.” Then, the tone dramatically changes, and becomes calm when the narrator says, “so silently I thanked her,” showing the moment of
...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.
To begin, the reader may gather that the poem has a very dark and saddened tone. Due to Lowell's vivid imagery, a mental image of a dark urban setting is created. It also seems very cold, with the mentioning of wind and nighttime. Readers may be able to relate to urban places they know, adding to the reality of the poem. Connections can be made. The imagery is left in such a way that the reader can fill in the gaps with their own memories or settings. Also, since the poem uses free verse, the structure is left open to interpretation. This makes the poem more inviting and easier to interpret, rather than reading it as a riddle. However, though simple in imagery, the poem still captures the reader's interest due to the creation it sparks, yet it never strays away from the theme of bei...