Blog 11 TJM

The novel In Country is the first one that we have read that deals more with the home life after the war than the war itself. This novel does not deal with soldiers directly, but more how the war and their involvement has effected their family since they have returned. Sam's father never returned from war, widowing her mother who had since remarried. This shook up Sam's life when her mother moved away to Lexington with her new husband and new baby. Sam lives with her uncle Emmett, who is also a war veteran. Sam and her uncle take care of each other and in a way they ware both outcasts. Sam's mother left with her new family to live their lives in another town. Sam's mom has a new baby daughter and it seems as though her mother has just brushed her aside and forgotten about her. Sam has decided to stay behind and take care of Emmett, who is also an outcast, but is not bothered because he is a veteran.Sam worries that her uncle is suffering from the aftereffects of exposure to Agent Orange, which was a chemical used to defoliate the jungle in the Vietnam War. Throughout most of the book we see her trying to get him to get checked out and she constantly asks friends what their opinions are.

We find that Sam is very curious about her father, since she never met him. She constantly asks her uncle and his other veteran buddies about her father and the war. She never seems to get more than how he was a good guy and lucky man to have died so quickly, until she talks to his mother, Mamaw. Mamaw says the same things about her father, then gives her his notebook which was returned with his personal effects. When Sam reads the diary she is disgusted. She had always known that as a soldier he carried a weapon, but now knew that he had killed someone. This sickened Sam, especially the vivid descriptions that her father gave. When she finally reaches the memorial she doesn't know what to say or do. This is just another example of how the horrors of war take away live and the new memories they might share with others.

We also see lots of pop culture in this book, especially that which surrounded the war. The Beatles and Bruce Springsteen were popular in 1984, the time in which the story is set. Sam listens to her mothers old Beatles records and wondered if their music could have helped the war effort. "If they had understood English, maybe music would have won the war"(111). She says many times that music brings people together. Sam and Emmett also watch MASH together. It is a show bout an army medical group in the Korean War, but many of the episodes remind Emmett of something he saw or did in Vietnam. They make sure they watch this together every time it is on and we see just how strong the bond is between the two and how this television show kind of bridges the gap between his experience in Vietnam and what she thinks she knows about war.