Vietnam Assignment
Love
In the chapter "Love", Jimmy Cross talks about Martha. How he still loves her after all that he has gone through. How they met up during a college reunion and spent the time together. Nothing had changed though, she still didn't love him and he still loved her.
"Jimmy kept smiling. For a while he stared down at the photograph, his eyes very bright, then he shrugged and said, 'Well, I did-- I burned it. After Lavender died, I couldn't . . . This is a new one. Martha gave it to me herself."
In this passage you sort of wonder what would've happened if Jimmy hadn't gone to Vietnam. If he had stayed and instead of yearning for her love, actually fought to woo her into loving him.
Napalm
The poem "Napalm", by Bruce Weigl, mentions how everything he thinks about relates somehow to the war even after coming home. How he did it in order to survive and come home to her.
"Okay. The storm stopped pounding.
I am trying to say this straight: for once
I was sane enough to pause and breath
Outside my wild plans and after the hard rain
I turned back on the old curses."
In this passage it is important for the reader to comprehend what he is trying to describe in what he is seeing and hearing. He is still traumatized after the war, trying to forget but he keeps seeing everything that happened and its keeping him from being happy with his wife.
The return home
I believe everyone wanted to be home. Love drove that yearning because everyone wanted to be with the one they love. Like Jimmy Cross.
Discussion Questions
What the authors are trying to convey to the readers is that the Vietnam War took its toll on many peoples lives, especially soldiers. The impact war has on people is that it makes you value more what you have.
Country Joe's Anti Vietnam War Song Woodstock
The song that he is singing expresses how he and many people feel about the reason the US got into the war. We discussed how many soldiers also began to question why they were fighting.