"APO 96225"
Larry Rottman
Question #2, page 847
Can you relate the material in this poem to the attitudes of the American public toward the war in Vietnam?
With the information provided in question one, I was able to confirm my notion that the poem was about the Vietnam War. The war was a very controversial issue in the American public. Technically, it was not a war, but an abuse of presidential power that angered many American citizens. One of the largest of the original complaints about the war was that President Johnson was not looking for a definite win in the country but rather a negotiated peace. The Kent State University shooting also added to the controversy surrounding the war.
The Vietnam War was the first war to be televised in the United States. For the first time, Americans were able to witness the atrocities of war within the comfort of their own living rooms. They had asked to be informed of all that was going on, and they were granted their wish. However, they were not so happy with what they were seeing. Just as the mother in the poem does not relinquish her inquiry into her son's life until she hears the truth, the American people had always wanted to be fully informed until they actually saw of what they were being informed. "'Please don't write such depressing letters. You're upsetting your mother.'" said the father reflecting the feelings of the American people (Rottman, 846). Citizens were pleading "Please don't show such depressing images," yet they were simply being given what they asked. They wanted to know, didn't they?
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