Exposing the Truth in Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong Essay -- Things

Exposing the Truth in Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong Dear Mom and Dad The contend that has taken my life, and many thousands of others before me, is immoral, unlawful, and an atrocity, (letter of anonymous soldier qtd. In Fussell 653). Tim OBrien, a Vietnam state of war vet, had similar experiences as the soldier above. Even though OBrien didnt die, the war still took away his life because a part of him will never be the same. Even in 1995, almost thirty years afterwards the war, OBrien wrote, Last night suicide was on my mind. Not whether, but how. this night it will be on my mind again... I sit in my underwear at this unblinking fool of a computer and raise to wrap words around a few horrid truths (Vietnam 560). 1 think that OBrien is still suffering from what he experienced in Vietnam and he uses his writing to help him deal with his conflicts. In order to deal with war or other traumatic experiences, you sometimes unsloped have to experience the experiences over and over . This is what OBrien does with his writing he expresses his emotional truths even if it means he has to change the facts of the literal truth. The literal truth, or some of the things that happen during war, be so horrible that you dont command to believe that it couldve actually have happened. For instance, one colonel wanted the hearts cut out of the dead Vietcong to feed to his dog.... Ears were strung unneurotic like beads. Parts of Vietnamese bodies were kept as trophies skulls were a favorite... The 25th Infantry Division left a visiting card, a torn rancid shoulder patch of the divisions emblem, stuffed in the mouth of the Vietnamese they killed, (Fussell 655). While we dont want to believe these things because they sound too atrocious, soldi... ...e who sent the soldiers to war are just as responsible as the soldiers for any acts of war they committed. Works Cited Fussell, Paul. Vietnam. The flaming(a) Game An Anthology of Modern War. Ed. Paul Fussell. London Scribne rs, 1991. 651-6. OBrien, Tim. How to Tell a full-strength War Story. Writing asRe-Vision. Eds. Beth Alvarado and Barbara Cully. Needham Heights, MA Simon & Schuster Custom Publishing, 1996. 550-8. _________. In the Lake of the Woods. newfound York Houghton Mifflin, 1994. __________. The Lives of the Dead. The Things TheyCarried. New York Viking Penguin, 1990. 255-273. __________. The Vietnam in Me. Writing as Re-Vision. 559-571. Schroeder, Eric James. Tim OBrien Maybe So. Vietnam,Weve All Been on that point Interviews with American Writers. Ed. Eric James Schroeder. Westport, Conn Praeger, 1992. 125-43.