In Country by Bobbie Ann Mason is about a girl name Sam who lives with her uncle who is a veteran from the Vietnam War. The story follows Sam’s journey as she tries to know more about the war in order to connect to her father, who died in the war. Mayson uses every day objects that allows characters in the book to connect to the war.
In part one of the book Sam was driving past a family cemetery when she “shot up onto the exit ramp a little too fast, and the tires squeal” (3). An everyday object helps one remember specific details from the past or someone we are thinking about. People carry items that have emotional value to them. Some don’t but there is always an object that they may constantly see every day that does. Sam was distracted …show more content…
This jacket represents memories of what happened throughout the war. It has sentimental value to him; he brought it to Washington even if it wasn’t cold. As they travel closer to Washington they stop at a hotel to get some rest. Emmett suddenly said “I miss Moon Pie” (20) and Sam said she misses Tom. Tom and Moon Pie is a representation of an everyday object that they are used to seeing. They are no longer near home where they live, their lives with Moon Pie and Tom. The only things they have are the memories of them. It causes a cultural shock because they aren’t seeing Moon Pie and Tom as often as they used to. It is the same feeling a soldier gets when he goes to war. They have to adapt to a new environment and abandon their everyday life, not to mention the things they care about the most. Soldiers only have the memories of what they love the most just like Sam and Emmett. In part two of the book In Country by Bobbie Ann Mason, “It was the summer of the Michael Jackson Victory tour and Bruce Springsteen Born in the USA”. The tour gave an atmosphere of positive thoughts about it, Bruce Springsteen Born in the USA kind of encourages the same feeling. It encourages Americans to feel proud of being born in an …show more content…
O’Brien uses these objects in order to explain the emotional burden that each soldier carry. Majority of soldiers that went to the Vietnam War were young. One of the many burdens that these soldiers have to deal with was being able to separate reality from fantasy. Cross was one of those soldiers, he was focus on Martha so much that he forgot his mission was to lead his man. He was obsess with Martha and all he could do was think about her. “While Kiowa explained how Lavender died, Lieutenant Cross found himself trembling”. He blames himself for the death of Lavender because of his obsession with him and Martha living together after the war led him to lose focus of his surroundings. He feels that because he lost the sense of reality lavender pay the price. He couldn’t let go of the fact lavender was dead, he put all the blame on himself because all of his focus was on Martha instead of his man. He carried the burden of the death of Lavender, he “burned Martha 's letters” in order to completely forget about her. He also burnt the pictures to try to burn the blame away, he burnt the pictures in order to metaphorically burn his guilt. Cross mention in the end “no more fantasies”. It is revealed that the death of lavender had a great toll on Cross mentally and emotionally. In the story In Love, we can see that Cross hasn’t been able to get
In part one of the book Sam was driving past a family cemetery when she “shot up onto the exit ramp a little too fast, and the tires squeal” (3). An everyday object helps one remember specific details from the past or someone we are thinking about. People carry items that have emotional value to them. Some don’t but there is always an object that they may constantly see every day that does. Sam was distracted …show more content…
This jacket represents memories of what happened throughout the war. It has sentimental value to him; he brought it to Washington even if it wasn’t cold. As they travel closer to Washington they stop at a hotel to get some rest. Emmett suddenly said “I miss Moon Pie” (20) and Sam said she misses Tom. Tom and Moon Pie is a representation of an everyday object that they are used to seeing. They are no longer near home where they live, their lives with Moon Pie and Tom. The only things they have are the memories of them. It causes a cultural shock because they aren’t seeing Moon Pie and Tom as often as they used to. It is the same feeling a soldier gets when he goes to war. They have to adapt to a new environment and abandon their everyday life, not to mention the things they care about the most. Soldiers only have the memories of what they love the most just like Sam and Emmett. In part two of the book In Country by Bobbie Ann Mason, “It was the summer of the Michael Jackson Victory tour and Bruce Springsteen Born in the USA”. The tour gave an atmosphere of positive thoughts about it, Bruce Springsteen Born in the USA kind of encourages the same feeling. It encourages Americans to feel proud of being born in an …show more content…
O’Brien uses these objects in order to explain the emotional burden that each soldier carry. Majority of soldiers that went to the Vietnam War were young. One of the many burdens that these soldiers have to deal with was being able to separate reality from fantasy. Cross was one of those soldiers, he was focus on Martha so much that he forgot his mission was to lead his man. He was obsess with Martha and all he could do was think about her. “While Kiowa explained how Lavender died, Lieutenant Cross found himself trembling”. He blames himself for the death of Lavender because of his obsession with him and Martha living together after the war led him to lose focus of his surroundings. He feels that because he lost the sense of reality lavender pay the price. He couldn’t let go of the fact lavender was dead, he put all the blame on himself because all of his focus was on Martha instead of his man. He carried the burden of the death of Lavender, he “burned Martha 's letters” in order to completely forget about her. He also burnt the pictures to try to burn the blame away, he burnt the pictures in order to metaphorically burn his guilt. Cross mention in the end “no more fantasies”. It is revealed that the death of lavender had a great toll on Cross mentally and emotionally. In the story In Love, we can see that Cross hasn’t been able to get