Bobbie Ann Mason’s novel, In Country, is both a coming of age story and a story about the Vietnam War. Sam struggles to come to term with her life as she searches for answers to her father’s past. She has trouble deciding what to do with her life and much of her difficulty is caused by the emptiness she has inside due to the lack of information about her father and lack of a strong mother figure. Mason writes, “She’s in limbo, stationed right in the center of this enormous amount of energy” (17). Sam is stuck in-between her teen age years and adult hood. She has been pre-disposed to adulthood while taking care of Emmett and having her best friend become pregnant. Her unconventional home life makes it difficult for her to find her place in the world. Sam begins to understand that not all of her questions will be answered. Emmitt says to Sam, “There are some things you can never figure out” (226). Emmitt says this to help her recognize that she will never be able to truly understand what it was like in Vietnam. Sam is holding back her life with the constant struggle to learn about Vietnam. While at the Vietnam memorial, Sam has an epiphany. Mason writes, “And she will never really know what happened to all these men in the war” (240). Sam had to learn that she can not dwell on the past and must take what she has learned and apply it to the future.
Mason uses pop culture in the novel to show how the war has influenced society and to display how Sam and other people have been only exposed to what is present around them. As she searches for answers, Sam begins to think about the war when seeing things that have sheltered her from the war her whole life. Mason writes, “All the flags flying from the stores that week made Sam preoccupied with the Vietcong flag Emmett had flown from the courthouse clock tower years before” (89). The small town happenings that used to seem mundane to Sam have deeper meaning now that she has dedicated herself to find out more about Emmitt and her father’s past. All of the other franchised stores and media images, such as MTV, represent the way times have changed since the war and the way many people have lost interest in the veterans. As people are more interested in what is going on in the present, veterans are looked down upon. Another reason for Mason’s constant cultural references is to show how music and culture are heavy influence on Sam’s life. Mason writes, “On the cover, Bruce Springsteen is facing the flag, as though studying it, trying to figure out its meaning” (236). This is representative of how certain artists at the time had contrasting views of America and what it meant to be American. Just as Bruce Springsteen did not like the way Vietnam veterans were treated, so too did Sam constantly question the treatment of the veterans, especially pertaining to Agent Orange.
While the media and advancements of society have distracted people from the occurrences of the war, the time has displaced Sam from the war era. The displacement has made her struggle to learn more about her father and the war even more difficult. What she wished to unearth the veterans want to keep hidden and out of mind. Emmitt does not like talking about the war and feels that Sam should leave the subject alone. Mason writes, “Don’t fret too much over this Vietnam thing, Sam” (57). Emmitt does not want the war to take over Sam’s life as it has taken over his own life and the other veterans’ lives. The time that has passed separates Sam from the culture of society during the time of war. She is drawn to soldiers during the time of the war, shown through Sam’s love affair with Tom, one of Emmett’s friends. Sam eventually accepts the fact that she will never be able to truly understand. While living in a small town the characters are sheltered from the big city. In the city there were often more war protests and movements. Where the novel takes place is a more conservative area and is less likely to see political friction from the war.
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Bobbie Ann Mason’s novel, In Country, is both a coming of age story and a story about the Vietnam War. Sam struggles to come to term with her life as she searches for answers to her father’s past. She has trouble deciding what to do with her life and much of her difficulty is caused by the emptiness she has inside due to the lack of information about her father and lack of a strong mother figure. Mason writes, “She’s in limbo, stationed right in the center of this enormous amount of energy” (17). Sam is stuck in-between her teen age years and adult hood. She has been pre-disposed to adulthood while taking care of Emmett and having her best friend become pregnant. Her unconventional home life makes it difficult for her to find her place in the world. Sam begins to understand that not all of her questions will be answered. Emmitt says to Sam, “There are some things you can never figure out” (226). Emmitt says this to help her recognize that she will never be able to truly understand what it was like in Vietnam. Sam is holding back her life with the constant struggle to learn about Vietnam. While at the Vietnam memorial, Sam has an epiphany. Mason writes, “And she will never really know what happened to all these men in the war” (240). Sam had to learn that she can not dwell on the past and must take what she has learned and apply it to the future; Sam can only truly come of age by understanding.
ReplyDeleteMason uses pop culture in the novel to show how the war has influenced society and to display how Sam and other people have been only exposed to what is present around them. As she searches for answers, Sam begins to think about the war when seeing things that have sheltered her from the war her whole life. Mason writes, “All the flags flying from the stores that week made Sam preoccupied with the Vietcong flag Emmett had flown from the courthouse clock tower years before” (89). The small town happenings that used to seem mundane to Sam have deeper meaning now that she has dedicated herself to find out more about Emmitt and her father’s past. All of the other franchised stores and media images, such as MTV, represent the way times have changed since the war and the way many people have lost interest in the veterans. As people are more interested in what is going on in the present, veterans are looked down upon. Another reason for Mason’s constant cultural references is to show how music and culture are heavy influences on Sam’s life. Mason writes, “On the cover, Bruce Springsteen is facing the flag, as though studying it, trying to figure out its meaning” (236). This is representative of how certain artists at the time had contrasting views of America and what it meant to be American. Just as Bruce Springsteen did not like the way Vietnam veterans were treated, so too did Sam constantly question the treatment of the veterans, especially pertaining to Agent Orange.
While the media and advancements of society have distracted people from the occurrences of the war, the time has displaced Sam from the war era. The displacement has made her struggle to learn more about her father and the war even more difficult. What she wished to unearth, the veterans want to keep hidden and out of mind. Emmitt does not like talking about the war and feels that Sam should leave the subject alone. Mason writes, “Don’t fret too much over this Vietnam thing, Sam” (57). Emmitt does not want the war to take over Sam’s life as it has taken over his own life and the other veterans’ lives. The time that has passed separates Sam from the culture of society during the time of war. She is drawn to soldiers during the time of the war, shown through Sam’s love affair with Tom, one of Emmett’s friends. Sam eventually accepts the fact that she will never be able to truly understand. While living in a small town the characters are sheltered from the big city. In the city there were often more war protests and movements. Where the novel takes place is a more conservative area and is less likely to see political friction from the war.
ReplyDeleteAs Sam grows into an adult she must learn that she can never truly know. She begins to understand this after spending the night in the swamp. Emmitt tells her that she must accept the fact that she can never truly understand because she was not there. She must accept the kind of man her father was during the time of the war and realize that she cannot be upset for the things that he wrote in his diary. Her father was in a different time and she cannot comprehend the hardships he was going through and the fact that he had no education. Coming of age dovetails with what she had to learn about the war because to be able to grow into adult hood she had to accept different aspects about the war that was presented before her.