APO 96225
Don't act like that's not the first image that came to mind.
Okay, so my group saw a lot of similarities between this poem and The Things They Carried. It reminded me particularly of Norman Bowker, which is disturbing because of how he ended up. Both stories, though, explain how in the case of Vietnam, people always wanted to know what was going on until they did, and then they wanted to erase it from memory and flee any more discussion on the topic because they just can't handle the truth.
It's the old "story-truth v. happening-truth" coming back to visit again. I think Margaret pointed out that the "It sure rains a lot here" could be symbolic of the raining down of ash from the napalm and whatnot. (#doesn'tknowwhatnapalmisreally) And then the sunrise could be explosions and the funny monkeys... were symbolic of something else... possibly Vietnamese citizens, but that seems messed up.
The speaker utilizes understatement in his letters until he finally gets worn down and tells his mom the truth. Then, in what I believe is situational irony, the dad tells him he's upsetting his mother and to try to be less ominous.
No comments:
Post a Comment