Bloods sheds light on the war from the perspective of African Americans soldiers at the time were unappreciated. Bloods is a collection of accounts of the war from 20 African American soldiers who at some point was involved in the Vietnam war. It was written by Terry Wallace who was an African American Journalist and Oral Historian. The stories ranged from gruesome to sorrow accounts. When discussing about the Vietnam war, it should be retold from those who actual involved and not those looking from the outside because they provide a better insight of what was really happening.
The first story that is introduced to us is from Private First Class Reginald “Malik” Edwards. Malik starts off his story by telling us how U.S. had this so called “protocol” that if a
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Edwards’s story shows not only the cruelty of the American peoples but sorrow of the war. Innocent people were being killed. His story reflects on how those involved had feelings and wasn’t all patriotic and gung ho. American soldiers were seen as these big boys who weren’t afraid of anything which included the Vietcongs . Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore in the movie Apocalypse Now fits this description perfectly. Malik story of him crying because he could have potential killed innocent people goes to show that everyone weren’t these big bad Americans. Malik at the time of joining the marines was only age seventeen. Details of the Vietnam war is usually told in high school where the kids are around the ages of 14-17. Malik’s age makes the audience think about how the way of life was then compared to now. His story also sheds light on how those of color were being treated in during the war. During his story his talks about how he once gotten caught up in a riot on base and was sent to jail where he was harassed and finally stood up and hit a warden. Of course, he got into more trouble for that incident and was eventually kicked out. Malik believed, “If I had been white, I would
Countless Americans lack education of the Vietnam War and what treatment the Vietnamese population received during the war. Many times the behavior conducted towards the Vietnamese portrayed American soldiers mistreating the noncombatants. James W. Loewen’s chapter nine of Lies My Teacher Told Me leads readers through the occurrences in the Vietnam War by elaborating the war crimes enacted by American soldiers, examining the intervention of America in the war, and describing pictures that were taken during the war. One subject Loewen uncovers is the analysis of the war crimes throughout the Vietnam War.
In A Viet Cong Memoir, we receive excellent first hands accounts of events that unfolded in Vietnam during the Vietnam War from the author of this autobiography: Truong Nhu Tang. Truong was Vietnamese at heart, growing up in Saigon, but he studied in Paris for a time where he met and learned from the future leader Ho Chi Minh. Truong was able to learn from Ho Chi Minh’s revolutionary ideas and gain a great political perspective of the conflicts arising in Vietnam during the war. His autobiography shows the readers the perspective of the average Vietnamese citizen (especially those involved with the NLF) and the attitudes towards war with the United States. In the book, Truong exclaims that although many people may say the Americans never lost on the battlefield in Vietnam — it is irrelevant.
Readers, especially those reading historical fiction, always crave to find believable stories and realistic characters. Tim O’Brien gives them this in “The Things They Carried.” Like war, people and their stories are often complex. This novel is a collection stories that include these complex characters and their in depth stories, both of which are essential when telling stories of the Vietnam War. Using techniques common to postmodern writers, literary techniques, and a collection of emotional truths, O’Brien helps readers understand a wide perspective from the war, which ultimately makes the fictional stories he tells more believable.
A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo shows the hard work and difficult tasks the men had to go through to prove themselves and protect their country. The war will change the men’s attitudes and the way they do everything. Men made sacrifices in the Vietnam War most people would never make in a lifetime, they will not just sacrifice but push themselves physically harder than most any other men. The men will also emotionally change from constantly watching other men die, or killing other men. The mens first kill was always the hardest for them, mentally they had so many thoughts of the other mans close ones back home and what they would go through and how it would be all their fault.
The author also recounts the propaganda of the Vietnam war with despise. Herr wrote of the fears and pain of the young soldiers. He explains his overall experience at
Young or old, male or female, the war was told differently by every person who was involved in the battle, no matter how small their role. Despite the cacophony of standpoints vying to tell the definitive tale of what happened in Vietnam, the perspective of
In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, the author retells the chilling, and oftentimes gruesome, experiences of the Vietnam war. He utilizes many anecdotes and other rhetorical devices in his stories to paint the image of what war is really like to people who have never experienced it. In the short stories “Spin,” “The Man I Killed,” and “ ,” O’Brien gives reader the perfect understanding of the Vietnam by placing them directly into the war itself. In “Spin,” O’Brien expresses the general theme of war being boring and unpredictable, as well as the soldiers being young and unpredictable.
This chapter “The Ghost Soldiers”, showed us how Tim O’Brien and the other soldiers were dealing with the war both physically and psychologically. It also shows us how the Tim O'Brien behaved and felt when he was shot, wounded and had a bacteria infection on his butt and how the war changed the way he thought, and viewed the other soldiers around him. This chapter also contain a lot of psychological lens. From the way Tim O’Brien felt when he was shot and separated from his unit to a new unit to when he wanted revenge on Bobby Jorgenson for almost “killing” him.
He fought a war in Vietnam that he knew nothing about, all he knew was that, “Certain blood was being shed for uncertain reasons” (38). He realized that he put his life on the line for a war that is surrounded in controversy and questions. Through reading The Things They Carried, it was easy to feel connected to the characters; to feel their sorrow, confusion, and pain. O’Briens ability to make his readers feel as though they are actually there in the war zones with him is a unique ability that not every author possess.
How he hated being drafted and how badly he wanted to run away. He tells how he took time to himself to decide whether or not he was going to run away and risk being caught and imprisoned or go join the army and risk dying over in Vietnam. He states at the end, “ I passed through twins with familiar names, through the pine forests and down to the prairie, and then to Vietnam, where I was a soldier, and then home again. I survived, but it's not a happy ending. I was a coward.
In the autobiography, a Rumor of War, Philip Caputo, talks about his experience in the Vietnam War. He tells us why he joins the Marines until the day he was released from active duty. A rumor for the story about war and how it changed men like Phillip Caputo, John Kerry Silvio Burgio and Tim Carey. This paper is based on Philip Caputo and how the Vietnam War changed him through his time before the war, during the war and after the war.
Bloods: Black Veterans of the Vietnam War The historical identity of the African American military experience is deeply rooted in the life and legacy of author Wallace Terry. His legacy has been immortalized in the scores of periodicals and columns he authored throughout his career. Well-read and well-traveled, he brought a balanced context to the field of journalism. To date, he is one of Black America’s greatest contributors to African American journalism.
Imagine being drafted to move thousands of miles away from the life you love to fight a war you hated. This is the unfortunate reality for Tim O’Brien In The Things They Carried. O’Brien explains his experiences of war in Vietnam, what it took to get him there, and his relationships with the other men in his platoon. He portrays guilt and pride through storytelling and intertwines the two by showing how the men often feel guilty for the actions they pursue or decisions they make based on their pride.
Kerry then describes how he and the rest of the soldiers tried to rationalize the destruction of the Vietnam land by thinking they were in fact saving the people. It is here that Kerry personifies America by explaining how her morality was lost. He also used this time to call out the false image of American soldiers being kind and gentle, “My Lai and refused to give up the image of American soldiers who hand out chocolate bars and chewing gum”(John F.
The soldiers in the Vietnams war were there for different reasons, some soldiers were forced against their will and some were there by choice. Because of that, each soldier has their own thoughts about the war, O’Brien has interpreted that “The twenty –six men were very quiet: some of them excited by the adventure, some of them afraid”. This clearly shows how the men