A soldier’s wounds from war are not always visible. Louise Erdrich, the author of The Red Convertible, presents a short story about two Native American brothers Henry and Lyman, who live in North Dakota on an Indian Reservation. Henry and Lyman purchased a Red Convertible and took a trip across the United States with the car. Upon their return, Henry is drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. When Henry finally came home, he was a different man. Like Henry, I have a nephew named Bobby, who serves in the United States Army. Bobby has seen more combat than most soldiers would like to see. The effects of war can be tough on a soldier when they are reintroduced back into society, just like Henry, my nephew had a tough time dealing with the effects of war. When a …show more content…
These chores ranged from painting, landscaping, and cleaning. He enjoyed doing the projects, and it gave him something to do, which keeps him from thinking about his time in the military. He worked hours and hours perfecting each and every chore he was given. For example, I had him stain my wood deck. He cleaned the deck until all the prior stain was all removed. Then he removed all the worn and broken board and replaced them with new wood. Then primed and stained the deck till it looked like the day it was installed. My nephew worked just like henry. The author explains, “…himself to death working on that car. He was out there all day, and night.” (Charters pg. 310) The effects of war can be tough on a soldier, especially when they are reintroduced into society, just like Henry my new nephew had a tough time dealing with the effects of war. War is ugly and brutal for both sides. When a soldier comes back from war with no injuries, it does not mean that they perfectly health. No matter what the physical or mental problem a soldier has we still need to understand that they are human and need help
This Newberry award nominated book, written by Irene Hunt, tells the story of the “home life” of her grandfather, Jethro, during the Civil War. Not only does it give a sense of what it is like to be in the war but also it really tells you exactly what the men leave behind. Jethro is forced to make hard decisions, and face many hardships a boy his age shouldn't have to undergo. This is an admirable historical fiction book that leaves it up to the reader to decide if being at home was the superior choice or if being a soldier in the war was.
Tina Chen’s critical essay provides information on how returning soldiers aren’t able to connect to society and the theme of alienation and displacement that O’Brien discussed in his stories. To explain, soldiers returning from war feel alienated because they cannot come to terms with what they saw and what they did in battle. Next, Chen discusses how O’Brien talks about soldiers reminiscing about home instead of focusing in the field and how, when something bad happens, it is because they weren’t focused on the field. Finally, when soldiers returned home they felt alienated from the country and
In the story “Home Soil” by Irene Zabytko, the reader is enlightened about a boy who was mentally and emotionally drained from the horrifying experiences of war. The father in the story knows exactly what the boy is going through, but he cannot help him, because everyone encounters his or her own recollection of war. “When their faces are contorted from sucking the cigarette, there is an unmistakable shadow of vulnerability and fear of living. That gesture and stance are more eloquent than the blood and guts war stories men spew over their beers” (Zabytko 492). The father, as a young man, was forced to reenact some of the same obligations, yet the father has learne...
Wallace Terry has collected a wide range of stories told by twenty black Vietnam veterans. The stories are varied based on each experience; from the horrific to the heart breaking and to the glorified image of Vietnam depicted by Hollywood. Wallace Terry does not insinuate his opinion into any of the stories so that the audience can feel as if they are having a conversation with the Vietnam Veteran himself. Terry introduces the purpose of the book by stating, “ Among the 20 men who portray their war and postwar experiences in this book. I sought a representative cross section of the black combat force.”(p. XV) Although the stories in this book were not told in any specific order, many themes became prominent throughout the novel such as religion, social, and health.
The author, Tim O'Brien, is writing about an experience of a tour in the Vietnam conflict. This short story deals with inner conflicts of some individual soldiers and how they chose to deal with the realities of the Vietnam conflict, each in their own individual way as men, as soldiers.
American soldiers have battled in conflicts they were involuntarily forced into by the draft, only to recognize the war formed within their minds would never truly cease and become a destructive syndrome hampering their ability to cope with society. In 1919, by Toni Morrison and The Red Convertible, by Louise Erdrich, Shadrack and Henry Lamartine are both attempted to reintroduce themselves into society, but suffered extreme psychological damage implanted by their experiences in military conflict. Although Shadrack and Henry attempted the same feat, they were still subject to differences caused by the era of their existence and the situation they were reintroduced into. Both Shadrack and Henry endured extensive amounts of Post-Traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD for short, causing virtually intolerable difficulties and consequently, exposing the idea of either Shadrack or Henry mentally returning to their pre-war psychological state as a fabricated hope.
His months in Vietnam were filled with bloodshed and human atrocity, and from this, no man could feasibly return the same person. Yet beneath what John endured throughout the war, he suffered many unkindness’ and tragedies that shaped him into adulthood. It was not only the war that made John Wade, but it was John Wade’s existence; his whole life that made him who he was. John Wade craved love, admiration and affection. All his life, all he wanted was to be loved, and his father’s constant taunting hurt him immensely.
The relationship of brothers usually lasts forever, but in Louise Erdrich’s short story “The Red Convertible”, the relationship of the main characters Lyman and Henry takes a turn. Erdrich takes her audience through the experiences these brothers face and how they must come to terms that their relationship has changed. Knowing that it will most likely never be the same both Lyman and Henry try to fix their relationship until eventually one falls because of the experiences he faced in life. While Lyman may think the red convertible will save his and Henry’s relationship, Erdrich makes it clear that it will not through the characterization of the brothers, the plot of the story, and the symbolism she uses to tell her story.
Being forced into a war he has no interest in, Tim O’brien recounts his time fighting in the vietnam war. Many of the soldiers there carried things deep to their hearts. Others carried fear, guilt, and despair of what they had done and what was to come. These physical things were a way these soldiers could cope with their feelings and try and stay sane during these times. “Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey.”(1) These letters were coping mechanisms for Jimmy and he read them when he needed comforting or just to read them to help him forget.
While soldiers are away from home, many things might change that they aren’t there for, for example, family problems and disasters. In addition, veterans might come home to a whole different world than when they left, and this already makes their lives more challenging to go with these changes. In addition, soldiers might also come back with physical injuries, like a lost limb, or loss of hearing. As a result, this makes everyday tasks much harder than they actually are. Veterans also might be mentally scarred from war. For example, a mental disorder called post traumatic stress disorder, makes life for the veteran and family much
“War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling; war is drudgery. War makes you a man; war makes you dead,” (80). In the fiction novel The Things They Carried, the author Tim O’Brien reminisces fighting in the Vietnam War and the aftermath of the war with his platoon mates through short stories and memories. He goes in depth about the emotional trauma and physical battles they face, what they carry, and how Vietnam and war has changed them forever. O’Brien’s stories describe the harsh nature of the Vietnam War, and how it causes soldiers to lose their innocence, to become guilt-ridden and regretful, and to transform into a paranoid shell of who they were before the war.
The war destroyed and put an end man's life. It destroyed people in physical and even the emotional. These soldiers with major injuries will hold them all back from what they love to do most and what they w...
Bracken, Patrick and Celia Petty (editors). Rethinking the Trauma of War. New York, NY: Save the Children Fund, Free Association Books, Ltd, 1998.
The soldiers feel that the only people they can talk to about the war are their “brothers”, the other men who experienced the Vietnam War. The friendship and kinship that grew in the jungles of Vietnam survived and lived on here in the United States. By talking to each other, the soldiers help to sort out the incidents that happened in the War and to put these incidents behind them. “The thing to do, we decided, was to forget the coffee and switch to gin, which improved the mood, and not much later we were laughing at some of the craziness that used to go on” (O’Brien, 29).
Even when the war is over, it leaves behind some serious repercussions for people to deal with. War veterans need both psychological and physical care due to the impact of war. Soldiers and civilians who had live through war often witnessed terrible things, which can leave deep emotional scars. Most of them developing psychological problems if not proper psychological care is given. Civilians have to deal to the devastating after effects of war, which includes destroyed and damage to infrastructures