Blog 11 DRS

"In Country" is not a typical novel of war. While it is a "coming home" story for Sam's uncle, Emmett, it is also a coming of age story for the main character, Samantha Hughes. The story takes place in 1984, and chronicles Sam's investigation into her father's life and into the Vietnam War. Sam's father had been killed in Vietnam, yet she has no idea of what kind of person he was, nor any idea of the war. In the midst of this story, Sam is said to be "at a crossroads...in limbo, stationed right in the center of this enormous amount of energy" (17), which suggests her struggling transition from childhood to adulthood.

The book takes place in 1984, detailing life in the small town Hopewell, Kentucky, as well as a road trip to the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington D.C. This setting is important to the novel, since the small town suggests a close-knit community, and the year is only 10 years after the end of the war. The town has a sort of respect for veterans of the war, since many of them live there and have come home and more or less "transitioned" back into society, such as Emmett's friend Tom and Jim Holly, the local head of the Vietnam veterans organization.

Sam lives and takes care of her uncle Emmett, a Vietnam War veteran that suffers from PTSD. Emmett has a hard time transitioning fitting in with the rest of the community, which exemplifies the dramatic effect the war has had on his life. He can't hold down a steady job, and tries to forget memories of war by preoccupying himself with mundane tasks such as digging the ditch on the side of the house. Emmett says of himself “There’s something wrong with me. I’m damaged. It’s like something in the center of my heart is gone and I can’t get it back” (225).When pressed to reveal details of Vietnam and of her father, Emmett is reluctant. Eventually this culminates in Emmett yelling at Sam telling her she'll just never know. The final moments of the novel bring closure to Sam's investigation when she sees her own name on the Vietnam Memorial, bringing her closer to the war and to her father.

Pop culture has an immense presence in the novel. Sam and Emmett share an affinity for the show M*A*S*H, which although is about the Korean War, brought Sam some better understanding of war. Sam is also a big time Bruce Springsteen fan, whom recurs regularly throughout the novel. The novels epigraph comes from "Born in the USA" and says "ten years burning down the road, nowhere to run and got nowhere to go." This reflects the situation of many war veterans, emphasizing the alienation their war experiences have subjected them to. The novel also chronicles the rise of MTV and gossip magazines. These sort of note a transition of values in society, which stresses more importance on popularized cultural themes than it does on more traditional values such as care for the veterans.