A story about a young man being drafted into the Vietnam War, Tim O'Brien's novel If I Die in a Combat Zone is one that is focused heavily on the theme of technology and weaponry during the war. O'Brien uses the imagery and description of weaponry to show the fatality of the American soldiers in Vietnam through the haphazard manner with which death was treated during the war. This casual and mechanic mentality of weapons such as grenades and bayonets leads to a sentiment of hopelessness, as conveyed by the tone of the protagonist who shows no room for optimism and searches for a way out of the war for fear of the death he thinks is inevitable as an infantryman. O’Brien uses the protagonist’s tone to shed light on the popular sentiment of opposition to the Vietnam War and enforces this opposition through the imagery of violence and weaponry as a means of showing the horrors of a war that many thought was unnecessary and not justified.
OR
O’Brien uses his depiction of the unhealthy attitude toward excessive weapon-use to comment on the mirroring attitude of the American government as lead by President Lyndon Johnson and his dependence on highly developed US military technology and massive production of war material.
OR
O'Brien uses the protagonist's inner struggle to leave the war or to not leave the war as a means to represent the struggle America was facing with its citizen's divided on whether the war was right or wrong.
I can't decide between the three, what do you guys think?
Tying the disillusionment of the infantrymen to the use of violent weapons is an interesting point. Also, it is clear that the disillusionment of the soldiers was also present in the larger American society. Perhaps you should examine the rise of weapons culture within the United States and how that affected American reactions to the violent images they were flooded with throughout the Vietnam War.
ReplyDeleteMadiha, I would go with the first one if I were you. It seems to be the most fleshed out and has a tremendous number of directions you can take it in. I would suggest however rewording some of that paragraph, at times it is beautifully written and making clear concise points but in other sentences like the one beginning "This casual . . ." are convoluted and long.
ReplyDeleteThere are some great scenes in the novel where the protagonist talks about his weaponry and how it is literally his lifeline. Maybe you can try to incorporate that.
Goodluck,
Adam