Monuments To Our Better Nature Analysis

“We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who gave their lives that nation might live” (paragraph 2, Gettysburg Address). Lincoln explains it all by saying that the soldiers who gave their lives during the war should get a special place dedicated to them. He gave them a cemetery dedicated to those fallen soldiers who have fought. Since Lincoln dedicated a place for the soldiers, he believes that they should get that type of recognition for their brave service since they did a huge task for the nation by risking their lives. The strong men, alive and no longer living, who had a hard time here, have officially made it, higher than our weak strength to attract or let go (paragraph 3).

To completely understand “Facing It,” It helps to examine the three elements theme, Tone, and symbol. The theme of “Facing It” is that Veterans who has served in any wars are still carrying sad emotions and memories with them and those memories will stick in their head until they die. In this poem, the black veteran man look at the granite wall that has over 58 thousand names on it and all of the sad memory come back to him like it just happens now. Survive during the war is what all soldiers want, but losing their battle buddy is a big loss to them. Many Veterans have gone through a depression after they’ve survived during the war.

Most stories of war have a hard time showing positivity in something as dismal as war. It's a story of brotherhood, love of people and their country, heroism, and pride. Bradleys father, a hardened WWII veteran, told his son, “Your teacher said something about heros… and I want you to always remember something. The heroes of Iwo Jima are the men who did not make it back,” (Bradley 343). He wants his son to know that all people involved in the war deserved to be honored and remembered, the ones who died more so than the ones who lived.

This connects to the theme by showing age can have an impact on somebody. As I kept reading, in the middle of the book RIchard Perry and his other soldier and friends who were older, began to get injured and killed in action from the war. Another quote from the book shows that Richard was happy that he hasn’t severly injured anyone or killed anyone else, “I’m not a killer,” I said. He looked at me and smiled. I hated him saying that.

In Komunyakaa’s second poem “Facing it,” he describes a veteran after the war returning to the Vietnam War Memorial. The poem begins with, “My black face fades / hiding inside the black granite” (lines 1-2). These lines indicate that he is an African American, and his black face is not the only thing that hides in the black granite. The stone and his black face is a reminder of the war casualties that he faced. The poem continues: I said I wouldn't, dammit: No tears.

The Complexity of Forgetting In the short story Love and Honour and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice by Nam Le, readers are acknowledged the reason behind the conflict between the two protagonists, the father and the son, that it is rooted from overly strict nurturing. Not to let readers dislike the character of the father too far, the story of Thanh, the father, about his experience in Vietnam War is inserted to offer the reason of his suffering from the memory of the war which, perhaps, leads him to bring up Nam, the narrator and his son, strictly as if his life is in the war camp. The story probably arouses some readers ' pity, understanding, or interest in his attempt to forget the battle considered both his action and speech. Yet, in the meantime, although Thanh, in the first place, tries not to mention the years of service as a soldier as if to imply that it should be forsaken, getting confused later by his inconsistent actions and speeches, some readers may question whether Thanh really wants to forget the bitter experience in Vietnam War or not. There are two possibilities to consider the case: he really wants to forget the event but he cannot, or he is unable to forget because he still never puts all the effort in trying to forget it.

In the book The Things They Carried, Tim O’brien explores various stories he experienced during his time serving in the Vietnam War. He goes in depth into the casualties of his fellow troops in order to analyze the significance and how it affected him and his friends psychologically. One of the many things he makes sure to include is the specific silence and sounds that occupies the tense situations they endure. Whether it is a death or a more uplifting moment, he never failed to include the recurring silence the environment produced. O’brien manipulates the use of silence throughout his novel to further enhance the reader 's imagination to get as close as they can to being as emotionally impacted the way O’brien was while experiencing the stories first-hand.

Yusef Komunyakaa, the author of “Facing It,” is a Vietnam Veteran who appears to write as a means to express his grief, pain, and postwar experiences. Being a Veteran myself and having been to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. several times, I empathize with Komunyakaa. The first thing I noticed upon walking down the path to the monument was how quiet and peaceful it was, yet the sorrow and pain was deeply rooted. I located the names of family, friends, and the MIA Marine’s name “CAPT RICHARD R. KANE” on my MIA/POW bracelet. This experience sent chills throughout my body and was emotionally overwhelming.

Its shocking devastation, however, it shows the nation how the future is creating new things. “We mourn seven heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe. We mourn their loss as a nation together” (2). Listing creates a moment for the nation to mourn together. Also shows how much care and empathy Reagan has for the families who had loss their member from the

The wound healed, but the scar in the earth remained to remind of the similar psychological impact of the war. Some veterans thought the memorial being underground disrespectful and that the black granite symbolized destruction and death. She claimed, “The Memorial is composed not as an unchanging monument, but as a moving composition to be understood as we move into and out of it.” On Veteran’s Day in 1982, the dedication of the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial took place with an American flag and statue added against Lin’s suggestion.Hochman, M. (2006). Maya Lin, Vietnam Memorial. Green Museum, http://www.greenmuseum.org/c/aen/Issues/lin.php Lin began graduate school at Harvard University prior to the installation and she was forced to testify against the addition and for her design in general so many times that she withdrew from the college after one semester.