Fireworks On The Fourth Of July Analysis

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Fireworks on the Fourth of July can be horrifying to veterans because it brings back memories of the war. Whether it is genuine PTSD or not, it does not matter because war changes people. Tim O’Brien emphasizes both the positive and negative aspects of the Vietnam War and the different influences it has on the soldiers on the battlefield and back at home in order to help the reader better understand the affects of war. Mary Anne’s transformation from a lover to a soldier/warrior enhances the loss of innocence that other soldiers face. When she first arrives to see Mark Fossie, she seems all pure and innocent with no worries. Rat Kiley describes her as a “seventeen-year-old doll in her goddamn culottes, perky and fresh-faced, like a cheerleader visiting the opposing team’s locker room” (O’Brien 92). Mary Anne’s curiosity and persistence to see the village, though Fossie tells her it is too dangerous, aids to her losing her innocence. She is seen with Green Berets holding “the standard M-16 automatic assault rifle” which foreshadows the juxtapose of her character. After Mary Anne comes back from the war, “her eyes [were] …show more content…

O’Brien is overwhelmed by everyone going to war and is pressured to go, even when it is against his beliefs. He informs the reader that he is against the war from the beginning by saying “A million things all at once. I [am] too good for this war. Too smart, too compassionate, too everything” (O’Brien 39). The war slowly breaks Tim down, which results in him losing himself and killing a young soldier. Tim drowns in guilt and regret thinking about what kind of life the soldier is living. Kiowa reassures O’Brien and says, “ask [yourself] what the dead man would’ve done if things were reversed” (O’Brien 127). Mary Anne, Norman Bowker, and Tim O’Brien all changed immensely in the duration of the

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