The Influence Of The Vietnam War In Tim O 'Brien's' The Things They Carried

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The Vietnam war was started on November 1 ,1955 and lasted until April 30, 1975. It included North Vietnam and its southern allies, aka the Viet Cong, against South Vietnam and the United States. The Vietnam war started because the North Vietnamese government and the Viet Cong were fighting to rejoin Vietnam under communist rule, which they viewed the conflict as a colonial war, fought initially against forces from France and then America, and later against South Vietnam. Nixon later announced at a conference in Midway in June that the United States would be following a new program he termed “Vietnamization” that was aimed at ending American involvement in the Vietnam War (1954-75) by transferring all military responsibilities to South Vietnam. …show more content…

On page 21 “ They were tough. They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing--these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight. They carried shameful memories. They carried the common secret of cowardice barely restrained, the instinct to run or freeze or hide, and in many respects this was the heaviest burden of all, for it could never be put down, it required perfect balance and perfect posture.”This quote is very significant because it talks about how U.S. soldier experiences during the Vietnam War. It examines the confidence and mentality of soldiers to be subjected in a very harsh and blunt way that does not exhibit the pretentious honor that some memoirs of other wars might be tempted to do. Many soldiers have died just to avoid shame because they didn 't want to face the embarrassment. According to The Voice Of Freedom by Eric Foner. On pages 210-213 #153, talks about the Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1945), “ The United states Declaration “All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among them are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."This means: All the peoples on the earth are equal from birth, all the peoples have a right to live, to be happy and

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