The term Dien Cai Dau is the Vietnamese translation of crazy, which is how they described the American soldiers fighting in Vietnam. Dien Cai Dau, is a collection of poems written by Vietnam veteran and journalist, Yusef Komunyakaa. These poems reflect his experiences of the war, and many social issues that go along with the war.
Based on some of these poems, Komunyakaa is able to describe the Vietnam War. There is a lot of mentioning of nature in this collection, and nature seems to be a common factor in the previous books and movies we have read and seen. The writers often use nature to lighten the mood or in a sort of contrast to the war. While Komunyakaa does use this writing technique, he also points out that nature is not always what it seems, and can often have a dark side. Another prevalent opinion of Komunyakaa is the physiological role of the war. I think that he does this to show both the physical and mental distress of the soldiers in the war.
Yet another aspect of this book is the race factor. Several poems deal with him being a black soldier and how certain things affected him. The first poem is Hanoi Hannah. This is the name given to a women who speaks over a loud speaker, directed at the black soldiers. She asks why they are fighting for a country that does not want them, nor respects them. This plays into the physiological warfare aspect of the writing. In Tu Do Street, the black soldiers are refused service to a Vietnamese bar, due to their race. The author raises the point of why they are being treated differently simply because of their race. They are fighting and dying just like everyone else, yet they are still not considered equal. The final story is the One Legged Stool. The points raised here are very powerful. They VC think that they can torture the prisoner until he breaks, and tells them what they want to know. However, the soldier brings up the point that no matter what they do to him, it can be no worse than what he has had to deal with, and will have to continue to deal with from his fellow citizens.
This collection of poems was much more than poems about the war, and typical war stories. These writing samples bring the reader into the physiological warfare, and I think more importantly, it discusses how incredibly different the war experience was for a black soldier, compared to a white soldier.
The term Dien Cai Dau is the Vietnamese translation of crazy, which is how they described the American soldiers fighting in Vietnam. Dien Cai Dau, is a collection of poems written by Vietnam veteran and journalist, Yusef Komunyakaa. These poems reflect his experiences of the war, and many social issues that go along with the war.
ReplyDeleteBased on some of these poems, Komunyakaa is able to describe the Vietnam War. There is a lot of mentioning of nature in this collection, and nature seems to be a common factor in the previous books and movies we have read and seen. The writers often use nature to lighten the mood or in a sort of contrast to the war. While Komunyakaa does use this writing technique, he also points out that nature is not always what it seems, and can often have a dark side. Another prevalent opinion of Komunyakaa is the physiological role of the war. I think that he does this to show both the physical and mental distress of the soldiers in the war.
Yet another aspect of this book is the race factor. Several poems deal with him being a black soldier and how certain things affected him. The first poem is Hanoi Hannah. This is the name given to a woman who speaks over a loud speaker, directed at the black soldiers. She asks why they are fighting for a country that does not want them, nor respects them. This plays into the physiological warfare aspect of the writing. In Tu Do Street, the black soldiers are refused service to a Vietnamese bar, due to their race. These men are sharing battles together, sharing the same women, minutes apart, yet are not permitted to share a drink in the same bar. The author raises the point of why they are being treated differently simply because of their race. They are fighting and dying just like everyone else, yet they are still not considered equal. The final story is the One Legged Stool. The points raised here are very powerful. They VC think that they can torture the prisoner until he breaks, and tells them what they want to know. However, the soldier brings up the point that no matter what they do to him, it can be no worse than what he has had to deal with, and will have to continue to deal with from his fellow citizens.
This collection of poems was much more than poems about the war, and typical war stories. These writing samples bring the reader into the physiological warfare, and I think more importantly, it discusses how incredibly different the war experience was for a black soldier, compared to a white soldier.