Escapism In Vietnam Stories

In many of the stories we have read in class there seems to be a common theme amongst a few of them. The theme that is noticed is that of escapism. Escapism is the tendency to look for a distraction and relief from unpleasant realities, especially by seeking entertainment or engaging in fantasy. In a few of the stories there is at least one moment of self-imposed escape for the characters. The characters seem to try and escape either mentally or physically or both. From Sammy in A&P, to the narrator in the story Moths, and the men in Vietnam in How to Tell a True War Story. There tends to be a defining moments across these stories for each character. The different characters choose to escape their situation in a number of ways, from hiding away, distracting themselves with stories and their imaginations. The characters chose to reject there …show more content…
The young girl has her own devices she would use for her “escape.” She would often use her grandmother as an escape from here staunch traditional family life. During the story she references how much she loved her Abulilta’s porch because she was “shielded by the vines of the chayote and I could get a good look at the people and car traffic on Evergreen without them knowing.” She uses this as a physical and literal escape from the rest of the world she doesn’t feel comfortable in. Lastly, in the last paragraph in the story which she is describing her grandmother dying and the moths are released. They become her vessel for her to escape with. She decides she “wanted to go where the moths we were, stay with her and plant chayotes whose vines would crawl up her fingers into the clouds.” She wants to be with the moths and her grandmother. She sees them as an escape again both physically and mentally. She assumes it would be much better with them then to stay and grow up without her grandmother and a family she is not comfortable