Closure At The Wall An Analysi
In the novel In Country, Bobbie Ann Mason writes about a young woman and her uncle searching to heal their scars caused by the Vietnam War. Sam Hughes, the young woman and Emmett Smith, her uncle, travel to Washington D.C. in the summer of 1984. Their destination is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial or the Wall, possibly one of the nation's most dramatic monuments. Some come to the Wall in dedication, while others need to find answers or lay something to rest; Sam and Emmett venture there for the latter.
Emmett Smith returned from the war, but it never really ended for him. He didn't come home with gun shot wounds or list limbs, but according to Sam; he shows the effects of Agent Orange. ...
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your head? And ask him why that pimple on your nose hasn't healed in two months? And why you've got pimples creeping down the back of your neck? He'll say it's Agent Orange, I bet you money" (53-54).
The war mentally upsets Emmett as well. Most veterans returned from the war and readjusted well, but this is not the case with Emmett. "After his discharge…Emmett could not adjust" (23). At first, he lived with his niece Sam, and his sister Irene, who babied him. He attempted to go to college and worked odd jobs, but neither lasted. He is left unemployed, despite the fact that he owes the V.A. over five hundred dollars for checks he continued to collect even after he quit college (28).
Since Emmett does not work, he spends his time doing various nonproductive things. For instance, many mornings he meets fellow veterans at McDonald's. During the rest of the day, he watches M*A*S*H, plays Atari, obsesses over killing the fleas that his cat, Moon Pie, brings in, and ...
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Heather (56). Sam lives in the past, while her mother moves on without her and proceeds to move toward the future with her new family. Irene tries to break all ties to the past whereas Sam attempts to piece them together.
Sam longs to discover the mystery of the war's effect on her. She tries to relive the war era, through listening to Beatles Records and watching M*A*S*H reruns with Emmett. Like Emmett and his feeling of worthlessness upon returning from war, Sam feels that she has no other purpose than to help resolve the problems of those close to her:
Maybe she was going nuts. It wasn't just Tom. Or just Emmett. Or Lonnie. Or Dawn's predicament. It was her. She ...
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"Closure At The Wall An Analysi." Essayworld.com. October 8, 2008. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Closure-At-The-Wall-An-Analysi/91104.
"Closure At The Wall An Analysi." Essayworld.com. October 8, 2008. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Closure-At-The-Wall-An-Analysi/91104.
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