Vietnam War Short Stories Essay -- Literary Analysis

The Vietnam War was the first war in history to be commit on national television. Due to the increasing popularity of television ownership and the introduction of the nightly news programs such as CBS and NBC, the horrors of war found a home in living rooms across the country. Between 1965 and 1975, nine million people served in the Vietnam War, and of those nine million, 58,156 were killed or declared missing in natural action (Vietnam War Statistics.). Of the 58,156 soldiers killed, 11,465 of them were under the age of twenty (Statistics about the Vietnam War). After surviving the war, Tim OBrien and Susan ONeill wrote rook stories and novels including Tim OBriens The Things They Carried, and Susan ONeills The Boy from Montana. By putting audiences in the shoes of the grunts led by Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and the surgical gloves of Agnes Reedy, Tim OBrien and Susan ONeill immortalized the struggles see by their compatriots and themselves.The things they carried is a short story about Lieutenant Jimmy Cross leading his manpower through Vietnam. OBrien describes all of the things carried by the men as a way to symbolize all of the burdens they had. One thing that Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carries is a pack of letters from Martha, a female child he was in love with (OBrien). One night Ted Lavender, one of the men in Lieutenant Crosss squad, left to use the bathroom and on his return, is shot and killed (OBrien).This causes Cross to realize that his main priority is to lead his men, not swoon over a woman (OBrien). The Boy from Montana is a short story about Agnes Reedys account of watching a boy die in the field hospital she worked at in Vietnam. She says that she estimation that all death was the same, but one day s... ...Short Stories of Vietnam. New York Ballantine, 2001. 3-11. Print. Roush, Gary. Statistics about the Vietnam War. Vietnam Helicopter Flight Crew Network (VHFCN). 2 June 2008. Web. 18 Mar. 2012. . Taormina, Agatha. Author write Tim OBrien. Northern Virginia Community College. Www.nvcc.edu, 10 Mar. 2011. Web. 16 Mar. 2012. . Tim OBrien Interview The Things He Carried. Interview by David L. Edelman. Wordpress, 19 Oct. 1994. Web. 17 Mar. 2012. . Vietnam Veterans Terminology and Slang. VIETNAM VETERANS HOME PAGE. 22 Mar. 2000. Web. 15 Mar. 2012. .Vietnam War Statistics. The Mobile Riverine Force Association. Web. 18 Mar. 2012. .