The idea of love and war is ironic in the story. One of the themes that seems to burst out to me is the fear of being shamed before one’s friends/loved ones. It seems to be a strong, yet motivating factor in war. Such an example is when he is unsure to flee to war. He is not unsure because of the dedication and work effort that will have to be put forth, but because of what his family and community will think of him if he does not fight. This idea can be a conflict between the misinterpreted expectations of a certain group of people that are significant to O’Brien and that he is unsure regarding an appropriate path of achievement.
This idea also takes part in the soldiers heading to Vietnam. In social acceptance being a major conflict between the soldiers leads them to be prone to more dangerous actions. The hardships of war, the young age of the soldiers, and the uneasiness of Vietnam create a rather insecure psychological misunderstandings that strengthen the actions of fighting ultimately. This ultimately misguided because of rather inescapable incentive for heading to war.
Other ideas of themes might include physical and emotional states of the characters. Physical flaws always tie into the emotional ones; same was vice versa. They carry fear and care too much of his or her reputation instead of just automatically doing things because it is right. It is ironic how people who survive live in guilt.
Mmm….that is about all the ideas I can think of. I am not sure if it made sense or not but I hope so =)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Brookie !
ReplyDeleteHello! Okay, so I really liked your blog. I liked how instead of centering your focus on one of the stories in the novel (as I did), you focused on themes that have been provided within a lot of the stories.
Anyways, one of the lines within your blog really stood out to me, “The hardships of war, the young age of the soldiers, and the uneasiness of Vietnam creates rather insecure psychological misunderstandings that strengthen the actions of fighting ultimately.” I really enjoyed this quote, it made me think that the soldiers potential weaknesses (the ones that you listed), are what enable them to fight at Vietnam. Their confusion and disgust in the war is what enables them to continue their fight. The war in essence, is all that they can give themselves to right now. I believe that they’d rather stay committed to the war rather than be committed to nothing. It keeps them sane.
Well, great job Brooke!