Fortunate Son By Creedence Clearwater Revival Analysis

1136 Words3 Pages

Vietnam War Survey
1. Since the 19th century, Vietnam had been under French colonial rule. During World War II, the country was taken over by Japanese control. Following the Japanese defeat in the war, Vietnam was back in the hands of the French; however, France was short of troops to occupy the nation. This led to the Nationalist Chinese forces occupying North Vietnam and British troops landing in the South to help the French (Hickman). Taking advantage of the split, Ho Chi Minh established a Communist organization with goals to defeat the French. Ho’s communist forces took over North Vietnam, which caused France to want to regain control of the North. This meant that Ho Chi Minh and his supporters would have to fight for the area. After hearing of this conflict in the U.S., President John F. Kennedy feared the dreaded “domino theory,” which meant that if one Southeast Asian country became communist, then many others would follow the same track. The U.S. military presence in Vietnam, slowly but surely, increased from 800 troops …show more content…

During the Vietnam War, many types of works were created to express society's opinions on the war. “Fortunate Son,” by Creedence Clearwater Revival, served as a powerful anti-war song that demonstrated society’s bitterness toward the violence of the war. The song makes a clear distinction between the “fortunate sons” that would never have to serve in the war and the “unfortunate sons” that would be drafted into the war (Shmoop Editorial Team). The novel, “Paco’s Story” by Larry Heinemann deals with the emotional trauma of returning back to normal life after witnessing so many deaths in war. Paco, the main character, survived the war, but he had to watch as the people around him were killed (Lindsay). Curtis Bennett is a well-known poet who wrote a variety of poems dealing with the war. In these poems, he did not criticize the soldiers, rather he criticized the trauma of the war. (“Anti-War Poetry of Curtis Bennett / Read by Ed

More about Fortunate Son By Creedence Clearwater Revival Analysis

Open Document