From af6c1e6da05ca140c11637a03529abc614ffb3e4 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Holden Rohrer Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2020 21:18:43 -0400 Subject: added Song Analysis for TTTC by O'Brien --- jones-la/song-tttc.tex | 36 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 36 insertions(+) create mode 100644 jones-la/song-tttc.tex (limited to 'jones-la') diff --git a/jones-la/song-tttc.tex b/jones-la/song-tttc.tex new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4af398d --- /dev/null +++ b/jones-la/song-tttc.tex @@ -0,0 +1,36 @@ +\input mla8.tex +\numberfirstpage +\clas{AP Lang} +\name{Holden} \last{Rohrer} +\prof{Jones} +\header +\title{``Sweetheart on the Song Tra Bong'' and + {\it The Edge of Darkness} by Iron Maiden} +% Written in 19 very distracting minutes + +Rat Kiley's story is about the specific instance of a soldier's +girlfriend coming to Vietnam during the war and becoming so enthralled +with the country that her old personality gets lost in combat. The more +general theme that Rat is hinting at is that the war changes people +irreversibly. In the case of Mary Anne, that is an extremely broadened +cultural point of view to the degree that she switches sides and begins +to live in the Vietnamese country side. + +The song {\it The Edge of Darkness} describes, in homage to {\it +Apocalypse Now} with a similar theme, the war changing (often damaging) +one's sense of normalcy. The song says, at the end, ``Here I am, the +knife in my hand/ And now I understand.'' This describes the change in +norms that involvement in the war causes, and is related to Mary Anne's +or even Fossie's change from the war because killing becomes so +normalized in the war that it permanently changes one's point of view. + +Other parts of the book refer into this part, with the ``main +character'' of the song wanting a ``mission'' ``in the jungle,'' and the +book paralleling that with the author cowardly giving in and becoming +one of the soldiers who participates willingly despite the bizarre +and unseemly nature of the war. They both point to ``your soul beginning +to bend'' because of the war, which O'Brien notes isn't always the case +but even when someone makes it through ``intact,'' the war has a +lifelong effect regardless. + +\bye -- cgit