Rumor Of War Essays - A Rumor Of War, Philip Caputo, Rumor

Rumor Of War Summary of Symbolism Presented by 'Vietnam/War' In reading Philip Caputo's book, A Rumor of War, I discovered that he strongly presented a similar idea to that of Tim O'Brien in his book, The Things They Carried. This is the idea that war can not bring or cause good, it only produces varying amounts of evil. Philip Caputo volunteered for the Marines because he was looking for a way to prove himself, and he saw the Marines as an honorable way to do so. He also originally saw the war as glorious. However, after he became a lieutenant, he soon found out that war is not as glorious as it is made to seem. He found himself fighting in the war not for the defense of his ideals or morals, but rather for his reputation, or as he puts it, I was ready to die for considerably less [than medals], for a few favorable remarks in a fitness report. Words. (35). Tim O'Brien shares this feeling that war brings about only varying amounts of evil. He shows this in his book through his vignettes about the brutality of war, and his lack of vignettes about heroism. In fact, he believes that heroism cannot exist in war, because no good can come from war. In this piece that I created, 'Vietnam/War', I drew mainly on the work of Philip Caputo as the basis for the imagery. He describes a scene from an officer's club: Murph McCloy and I were on the terrace of the Officers' Club, drinking beer and admiring the view. The club stood atop a high hill, and the scene below was straight out of South Pacific, lacking only a lovesick Ezio Pinza singing to Mary Martin. A turquoise lagoon shimmered in the sun, mahogany-skinned fishermen paddled skiffs across its still surface, and beyond the barrier reef the bright expanse of the East China Sea stretched to the horizon. Content, we lay back in our deck chairs, the sun warm on our faces and the beer icy-cold in our hands. P.J., this sure is gracious living, McCloy said. The telephone rang, and Sammy, the club's Okinawan manager, popped out onto the terrace. Any offasuh from the One-Three Battalion, he paged, call your OD right now! (40) This phone call officially put Philip Caputo's battalion into the thick of the war. In this piece, I have the background of a beautiful sunset on the water, a rather serene setting, seen through the leaves of trees. This picture is split by the fading of color from the upper-left to black and white in the lower-right. The lower-right side of my piece represents the starkness and desolation of war, the only color in it being a deep blood-red (red and black being traditionally symbolic colors of evil). The color side of this piece represents the beauty of Vietnam, as it was a very picturesque country with beautiful lagoons and scenery. But at the same time, it held the evil of the war that was going on within its borders. Looking closely, it is noticeable that the transition between the color and black and white sides is not a clear, sudden transition. The Vietnam War itself was uclear. Many people did not know who the real enemy was. People both supported and hated the war at the same time. It is also noticeable that there are grey edges creeping onto the leaves of t he trees in the colorful side, but that there is not any color creeping into the black and white side. This is symbolic of the idea that there is no good that can come of war, but rather that war produces evil. It is also symbolic of the fact that the war will forever mark Vietnam as a place of dread and death for some people, so that its beauty is forever marred. Vietnam recollections relive the war's surreal horror THE THINGS THEY CARRIED Written by Tim O'Brien. Houghton Mifflin/Seymour Lawrence. 273 pages, $19.95. By MARK WEBSTER THE VIETNAM WAR has produced a new generation of writers concerned with the American experience in Vietnam. Primarily, they are former foot soldiers who were down in the mud and mess, and who are now trying to write about what they saw