Blog Eleven- LdT

In Country is clearly a novel on the Vietnam War and the soldiers after they came home, but it can also be seen as a novel about a teenage girl growing up. In the novel, Samantha Hughes who is trying to figure out what happened to her father, who died in Vietnam and what happened to other Veterans of the Vietnam War. Throughout the novel, Emmett, Sam’s uncle, is shown as a typical Veteran who cannot go on through life normally as many other soldiers faced this same reality. Emmett clearly has a form of posttraumatic stress disorder because he has trouble holding a steady job and going about life “normally”. Most of what Emmett does during his day is activities that will distract him from thinking about memories of the war. The character of Sam brings the innocent point of view on the Vietnam War, not understand the horridness that could exist such as things from Agent Orange or shell shock. Sam does cannot fathom why her father is dead and cannot understand why Emmet will never have a normal life or even a normal relationship with her. In Country looks at what happened to America years after the Vietnam War.

In Country takes place in 1984 when Sam, Emmett and Mamaw are on a road trip from their home in Kentucky to Washington D.C. to visit the Vietnam Memorial. The Vietnam Memorial was established in 1982 in attempts to make up for the injustices the country served upon the Veterans after they returned home.

M*A*S*H* was a popular TV show that was series that ran from September 1972 to February of 1983. The TV show was seen as an allegory for the Vietnam War even though it was about the Korean War. Through the novel, Sam realizes that what her knowledge of War is based off a romanticized version, which she learned from watching the show M*A*S*H*. Pop culture can typically be used to generalize what is popular within certain generations. In this novel, there are many times when there is a pop culture reference. There is the Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen tours going on, Sam enjoys listening to music by the Beatles and Bob Dylan. The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen all sung about the hard times. Michael Jackson brought on a new wave of music that did not seem to have as much of a connection to something as strong as the Vietnam War. Although there are still those who are touched by the music of such revolutionists, by the time the 1980’s were coming around, the youth could not understand the war, even though it was still so obviously present.