Bobbie Ann Mason’s In Country is a war novel that details the life of girl named Samantha Hughes who is trying to figure out what happened to her during the Vietnam War. Although it can be viewed as strictly a war novel, it can be portrayed as a story of struggle, truth, and growing up. In the novel Sam lives with her uncle Emmett who is a Vietnam Veteran and simply tries to make it through each day the best he can. Like many who returned home from the war, Emmett suffers from a form of PTSD and does not know how to go about a “normal” day. He says, “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).The Vietnam War has taken a piece of Emmett’s heart, and he has seen things no human being should ever be a witness to and that is why he is the way he is. In addition to this, In Country can be viewed as a story of truth and growing up because Sam is trying to figure out what happened to her father in Vietnam, but at the same time she is trying to find herself.
This novel takes place in the summer of 1984 as Sam, Emmett, and her grandmother Mawmaw drive from their Kentucky home to Washington D.C. The time period is crucial to the understanding of this story because unlike the other war novels, this novel is not a firsthand account. It is told through the voice of a young girl who was removed from the Vietnam War, but was still affected by it through the death of her father Dwayne. The setting of this novel also plays into the role that pop culture had.
In the epigram of this book Mason uses the lyrics of a classic American song. “I’m ten years burning down the road/ Nowhere to run ain’t got nowhere to go” (Bruce Springsteen, “Born in the U.S.A.). Here it is evident that almost ten years after the war was over people were still trying to put their lives back together. Before the Vietnam the music of the Beatles and Bob Dylan was popular, but after the war people were trying to find a way to explain what had happened. The 1980’s was a time when people were finally putting to rest some of the pain and suffering they had endured so that they could hope for a better tomorrow. The use of this particular album is especially telling because it expresses the emotions of most people which included pain, loss and searching.
Pop culture serves as a comparison between the Vietnam generation and the MTV generation. During the 1980’s many of the soldiers who had children were coming of age, but unlike their parents who went to war at the age of eighteen, they born to a different culture. MTV was created in 1981 and featured the musical styling of artists such as Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen, who were mentioned in the book.
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Bobbie Ann Mason’s In Country is a war novel that details the life of girl named Samantha Hughes who is trying to figure out what happened to her father during the Vietnam War. Although it can be viewed as strictly a war novel, it can be portrayed as a story of struggle, truth, and growing up. In the novel Sam lives with her uncle Emmett who is a Vietnam Veteran and he simply tries to make it through each day the best he can. Like many who returned home from the war, Emmett suffers from a form of PTSD and does not know how to go about a “normal” day. He says, “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).The Vietnam War has taken a piece of Emmett’s heart, and he has seen things no human being should ever be a witness to and that has lead him to be the way he is. In addition to this, In Country can be viewed as a story of truth and growing up because Sam is trying to figure out what happened to her father in Vietnam, but at the same time she is trying to find herself.
ReplyDeleteThis novel takes place in the summer of 1984 as Sam, Emmett, and her grandmother Mamaw drive from their Hopewell, Kentucky home to Washington D.C. The time period is crucial to the understanding of this story because unlike the other war novels, this novel is not a firsthand account. It is told through the voice of a young girl who was removed from the Vietnam War, but was still affected by it through the death of her father Dwayne. The setting of this novel also plays into the role that pop culture had on this generation.
In the epigraph of this book Mason uses the lyrics of a classic American song. “I’m ten years burning down the road/ Nowhere to run ain’t got nowhere to go” (Bruce Springsteen, “Born in the U.S.A.). Here it is evident that almost ten years after the war was over people were still trying to put their lives back together. Before Vietnam the music of Bob Dylan and the Beatles was popular, but after the war people were trying to find a way to explain what had happened. The 1980’s was a time when people were finally putting to rest some of the pain and suffering they had endured so that they could hope for a better tomorrow. The use of this particular album is especially telling because it expresses the emotions of most people which included pain, loss and searching.
ReplyDeletePop culture serves as a comparison between the Vietnam generation and the MTV generation. During the 1980’s many of the soldiers in Vietnam who had children were coming of age, but unlike their parents who went to war at the age of eighteen, they born to a different culture. MTV was created in 1981 and featured the musical styling of artists such as Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen, who were mentioned in the book. Along with MTV and HBO, shows like M*A*S*H were popular during this time period. Although M*A*S*H was based on the Korean War it was the closest portrayal of war that Americans could see in the comfort of their own homes. Just as the culture of music changed so did the entire American culture. Up until this point many families would sit down to a home cooked dinner and they would spend time with each other. However, during the 1980s Americans were starting to turn to a faster paced life that revolved around work and money. This created a need for fast food restaurants such as McDonald’s, Country Kitchen, and Stuckey’s. The 1980s was a time that involved a great deal of change the American culture, and in this novel Sam’s transformation into an adult could be a result of this.