Colloquial Language

In the Vietnam songs, all of the songs were made as protest songs against war. These songs sent a message that war is not something that we as humans should be doing and that we shouldn't have to solve our problems by killing each other. The American society felt the same way. Why are we doing this? This is not what we should be doing as humans, and this was partly why the American people didn't really welcome veterans back from war. They thought that what they were doing was "wrong" and it's not really solving anything, it's only taking lives. In the first song, "War" by Edwin Starr, there is a very clear message that war is good for nothing. Life is to short to spend fighting in wars. War is nothing but a heart-breaker and it shatters young

Many soldiers talk in slang and use vulgar language, even referring to women. One soldier refers to his wife as a “goddamn pig” and a “fuckin’ whore” (335). Only a man with no respect would talk about a woman like that. Another example of soldiers having no respect is the way a soldier talked to the chaplain. He says, “You lied to me, Father… You cocksucker. You lied to me.” (333). Normal amount of anger would cause disrespect towards such a largely respected position in the church. Many men used acting tough as a mask for their real fear. These were life and death situations. Herr quotes a soldier saying, “Shee-it, I go firin’ back, I might kill one a th’ Brothers, you dig it?” (337). He acts as if he has no sympathy. He treats war situations almost as a hobby or something enjoyable to do. One of the colonels explains the purpose of the nickname for Vietnamese : “I’ll bet you always wondered why we call ‘em Dinks up in the part of the country… Never did like hearing them called Charlie. See I had an uncle named Charlie, and I liked him too.” (335). He didn’t feel that even an American nickname was worthy of this origin, so he felt entitled to change it. The drastic change in attitude towards life and vocabulary towards other displays the feelings of hatred and anger war

The Vietnam War was undeniably huge loss for the United States. This is confirmed by the tens of thousands loss of American men, the excessive period of time it occurred, and it being seemingly unwarranted. The general public protested against the United States’ participation in the Vietnam War. A multitude of people, even those who had participated had frowned upon their involvement. People indicated their antiwar sentiments through different means of expression including music, art, writing. A particularly successful example of said antiwar sentiment includes the letter written by Sandy Kempner. Through the use of sarcasm, Kempner is able to effectively convey his particularly negative view of the war.

The Vietnam War was a nightmare for many soldiers. It re-defined the meaning of war to an entire generation. As the conflict grew it became known around the world that this was a war that could not be won. After this was realized by America the main focus became to "get out" instead of "getting a victory". In the 2002 film We Were Soldiers, directed by Randall Wallace, a true account of the first major battle in Vietnam is given. At the beginning of the film he introduces to us many of the soldiers and their families. This is a very smart technique, because it ensures that the audience not only will care about each one, but also tell them apart. Wallace exemplifies

The public was on board the war train for the first few years of the war, until they found out what it was actually like in Vietnam. Public view of the war immediately changed negatively. When the news reached the soldiers in Vietnam, reactions were mixed. While they could understand why the people didn't like the prospect of war, they were still killing-even when they didn't want to-for their country. Some soldiers didn't know how to respond. One solder wrote to his mother and told her that for one second he felt as if he was on vacation because it was so beautiful in Vietnam. Another one told his mom “not to worry, there is nothing I can't handle”. While the soldiers could handle the physical horrors happening to them, it was the mental stuff that was breaking them down.

Vietnam was an entirely new type of war for the United States. It still remains morally and historically problematic in today’s society. The Vietnam War had a tremendous impact on American society and culture, primarily because it was the first war to be televised. The American press played a significant

The war in Vietnam was a war against communism that tore apart the US. The United States of America plunged together with its allies and played a tremendous role as far as fight against communism is concerned. A huge number of American soldiers were deployed in Vietnam a practice that coupled with much unpreparedness. The soldiers were not aware what exactly they were up to in Vietnam. Most Americans at the time were very much against the act. It was one of the most deliberating wars America plunged herself into and the only one to have been lost. Most intriguing is the amount of publicity and media buzz created by the film industry. Vietnam War was the topic of many television networks, music and Hollywood. Journalist and veterans and scholar were never left behind and went ahead to produce tones of literature on the legacies and lessons to be learnt from the war (Hochgesang, Lawyer, and Stevenson). The exploitation of the soldiers and rejection of the veterans created just as much interest as the war had created. One such commentary came from George Kennan, who depicted the war as one of the most disastrous mission The United States has ever undertaken (Westheider 155-159).. This essay will establish the effects the war had to the US soldiers.

Vietnam made a big portion of history also through its use of slang and war specified language.  This language came about through many means including its adaption to the Vietnamese language, coded words, phrases, profanity and initials that represent war objects, and other means, and to represent or even hide their emotional stand points.  On page 19, O'Brien describes the young soldiers as actors.  They were afraid of dying but they were even more afraid to show it.  On page 12, Lieutenant describes his feelings for Martha as dense, crushing love.  He then explains how he wants to sleep inside her lungs, breathe her blood, amd be smothered.  This sounds like extremely harsh description for love.  However, the soldier's environment became the most they could relate to.  For example, to describe the death of a soldier, they'd used phrases such as "Boom. Down. Like Cement," or "flat fuck fell."  O'Brien explains how the soldiers would make conscious efforts to joke about things and make comical references to have themselves laugh.  Page 19 describes that they used a hard vocabulary to contain the terrible softness.  At the end of page 18 and beginning of page 19, we find that the men would now and then panic and have the desire to cry out for the misery to stop.  They'd make unguaranteed promises to God and their parents in hope that that would be their source of survival.  On page 11 O'Brien tells that the Imagination was a

Itemized In Tim O'Brien's book, The Things They Carried, the gruesome Vietnam War involving loss of companions, witnessing countless deaths and engagement in repulsive incidents prove dehumanizing and withdraws purity from once innocent soldiers. Norman Bowker committed suicide 3 years after the chapter “Speaking of Courage” was written, and this proved difficult for O’Brien. Bowker could not live with his agonizing memories after the war, and the inhuman scenes he witnessed. Mary Anne, a woman who joins her lover in the Vietnam War, begins as an innocent young girl.

“the was nakedly and aggressively boring.” (Page 34). “War is nasty, war is fun, war is thrilling, war is drudgery, war makes you a man; war makes you dead.” (Page 80). Most veterans that survived in the Vietnam War wanted to forget some of the things and events that took place within the war.

In German it's Krieg, in Latin it's bellun, in Spanish it's Guerra, in English it's War, a no man's land where deception meets chaos and death is no stranger. No matter the era, war has and will always creep up on us. Vietnam was no exception. Like in the book “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien he clarifies that war is war and regardless how big it is it leaves nothing more than trails of bodies, guilt, and scars for people to live with. As a result of such an experience, it's engraved as a mark on history, but at what cost?

People’s opinion on the war was greatly influenced by the media. During the Vietnam War, the horrors that were happening on the battlefield were shown to Americans in their living rooms. There was no censorship meaning Americans back home saw dead bodies, Vietnamese children being shot and villages being burnt, all done by American Soldiers. Watching children, babies and old people being killed caused people to label soldiers as murderers and baby killers. Before Vietnam, soldiers had always been shown in a heroic way. But now, reporters would show only parts of a story, the parts that made soldiers look bad. In the Vietnam War, reporters could literally follow soldiers onto the battle fields and show it on television. Also, most photographers were interested in showing the bad aspects of the war such as the remaining destroyed village of Vietnamese or the suffering of soldiers. The media built stereotypes of soldiers at war as part of anti- war protests so photographers would show the parts that benefited anti-war protests and captured only half the story in his photograph. For

While fighting for what one believes in can be a noble cause, O’Brien points out that war in itself is not automatically righteous. Many didn't even know what was truly being fought for in Vietnam; and subsequently, the lines between morality and immorality became blurred on the battlefield. In the book, O’Brien states, “A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing the things men have always done. If a story seems moral, do not believe it” (O’Brien, p. 65). The last line “if a story seems moral, do not believe it” challenges everything Americans had once believed about war. From propaganda and military parades, to war movies and patriotic music, Americans had always been subjected to believe that America was always the “good guy” in every war. Vietnam changed that. O’Brien begs his audience to question whether or not what is being done is right. Both this work of writing and the war itself had immense impacts on how the American public would view going to war and foreign affairs for many years

According to the author a true war story “does not instruct nor encourage virtue, nor suggests models of proper human behavior.” (1) O’Brien states the basic guideline for determining a story true or false. If a war story contains uplifting and inspiring messages, then the audience is being fed a lie. This concept runs against our general perception of what a war story is. For example, in a U.S. Army advertisement, the main heading says that “Being proud is strong.

The “Masters of War” by Bob Dylan and “Ball of Confusion” by The temptations depict the sociopolitical situation of the United states during the Vietnam war and Nixon’s presidency. Both songs criticize the role of the government in the Vietnam war and the socioeconomic toll it had on the nation. For example Dylan sings “You put a gun in my hand and you hide from my eyes and you turn and run farther when the fast bullets fly” (Dylan, Stanza 2). Dylan claims that the government of the United States have blindsided americans by enforcing patriotic sentiments and putting guns in the hands of citizens. Even though the government encouraged people to go to war, soldiers were mistreated and disrespected upon their return to the United States. Soldiers