Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk Essay

My father was admitted to the Vail Valley Medical Center after suffering from withdrawal symptoms from alcoholism on June 21st, 2015 (Father’s Day), one week before I left for the United States Naval Academy. Within the first week of Plebe Summer I learned that he had almost passed away after developing a staph infection and that Flight For Life Colorado had to transport him to a larger hospital in Denver. During Plebe Summer I also learned that my grandfather, whom I had been extremely close with, had passed away on July 14th, 2015. I missed the funeral that was held on July 21st, 2015 in Durango because I was in Annapolis, and I was therefore unable to be there for my grandmother. These two events reinforced how much I value my family and my proximity to them. I made the difficult decision to depart the United States Naval Academy because I felt that I needed to be in Colorado to support my family, especially my mother and my 14-year-old brother. I want you all to know that I do not place any blame on my father for what happened. He decided to quit drinking alcohol solely for the reason that he wanted to be sober in order to give me the the best possible final week at home. It was an act of love that turned into disaster, despite his pure intentions. If you know him you are extremely fortunate, and I truly

One month later my mom and I are standing in the living room playing with my little brother James when someone knocks on our door. My mom hustles to the door to see who it was. The person standing at the door introduced himself to us and said his name is Ted. Mother asked him why he was here and he said, “I’m sorry to tell you this but we got a report that your husband and son died at war.” At that moment all my hope was lost, and it felt like my life was over and it hasn’t even begun. My mom fell to her knees and started bawling her eyes out. I rushed down there to comfort her, and we just sat there for a little bit in the agony of knowing that part of our lives is gone and we have no choice about it.

My mom and I ran out to see what all the noise was. We see soldiers. Taking people and dragging them aggressively by the arm. My mind was filled with so many questions that no one could answer. Why are they taking these people? Where are they taking these people? Who are these people taking them? What are they going to do with them? Am I next? Are we next? The lost could go on and on. My mom and I went back inside and locked the doors. But the soldiers broke right through our door. At that moment I had a feeling It wasn’t going to be easy from here and on. I was wondering where my dad was. He had left off to work but I didn't know what they would do to him since he wasn’t with us. But back then I had no idea that morning of January 30th would be the last time I saw my dad. It was the last time. We were then told to pack our stuff and that we only had 10 minutes to do so, but it felt more like 5 mins. I helped my little brothers pack their stuff so I really didn’t have time to pack mine. The soldiers put us on a train along with the others, they didn’t say where they were taking us. I held my smaller brothers tight in my hands. I didn’t know what was going to happen to us, or where they were taking

After Billy remarkably returns from World War 2, he is unable to let go of the war experiences he suffered in, which were very traumatizing, He is institutionalized with post-traumatic stress disorder and this was the source to him feeling very isolated and lost. While Billy was being treated in the hospital:

“Sometimes it’s not as if they have died so much as that I myself have died and become a ghost. ”(43). Billy becomes an alcoholic and stays away from everyone and everything. Although all of these awful things that have happened to Billy, he remains as strong as he can throughout these hard times and moves on as much as he can with every

assumed that Billy Pilgrim relives his war-time experiences on a near daily basis. Another thing is that Billy avoids connections with people like his mother, and even his own fiancé.

Billy seems to see death as just a moment that will disappear and that there are other moments when people are totally fine. This shows that Billy doesn 't think much about death and thinks that it is insignificant.

The family we created within our platoon was being torn apart by our enemies. I fought hard, and relentlessly trying to keep the enemy back but still hoping to help save James, who was closest to me during our training and

He woke up beside his mother. “Oh Billy are you okay?” frightenedly asked Billy’s mother

One afternoon a couple weeks after the war had ended, when my siblings and I had gotten home from school, my mother was at home. She normally wouldn’t get home until later because of her job, so I immediately knew something was wrong. She told us that her job got taken away from her because a man had wanted it since he just got back from the war. My mother was not happy about that for many reasons. One was because some things were going back to the way they were before the war and another was she needed the job just as much as that man since father had still not returned.

I was born in Pueblo, Co in the year of 1943. My father was away serving in the US Army in the Philippines during World War II, at the time of my birth. My sister Jackie was 18 months older than me, at the time of my birth. My mother's name was Doris; she worked in the afternoons at a fashion store downtown. My sister and I were taken care of by my grandmother tell my sister was seven years of age, and I was five. At that time my grandmother’s failing health, would not allow her to take care of us. It was at that time, Jackie became my surrogate mother, till my mom returned home from work around seven o'clock. My sister would prepare us a snack after school, mostly Rice Krispies cereal or bread and butter with sugar sprinkled on it, as it

In the first page of Billy’s narrative, he confesses to having an affair with Risa Walker (37). In his narrative, he also reveals that his family was far from perfect. He states that he and his wife smoked pot, and even left their daughter

At one point Billy speaks of having even seen his own death during one of these jumps. He admits that he has come to terms with his inevitable death and has taken comfort in knowing

Billy was on the balcony of his half a million dollar house that was tucked back in a secluded valley. Today marked one full year without his father and he was taking in all the memories from his childhood at this very moment. All the memories about how he got to where he is in his life and the memories of his parents and meeting his wife. He has had a great life for the forty-seven years he has been around, although things were tough at times, he was always grateful for the people who had helped him through those times. Today was a day of reflection upon himself, he was content with spending all day on the balcony recollecting the events from his life that have led up to this point.

My intentions were good when I suggested moving away from Vietnam. I wanted a better life for me and my family, especially for my son. I imagined that getting a job in the U.S. to provide for my family was the best way, but my husband wouldn’t support me. He told me that he wouldn’t leave Vietnam, but if I wanted to take our son with me then he isn’t one to stop me. Devastated but persistent, I told him that I will come back for him one day and have him join me in America. No matter what obstacle I would have to face, I had to do everything I can for my plan as a happy family to work out. Several years has passed since I had left Vietnam and set foot on American soil. My son was now ten-years-old and had not seen his father for so long. My grandmother was still alive and healthy, but she eventually