Carleigh Wood AMST 2103 10/27/15 The Vietnam Conflict Born on the Fourth of July is a memoir by Ron Kovic about his experiences in Vietnam during the war. Throughout the novel Kovic struggles to survive. He works relentlessly to be the best at everything. He makes up for being short by working out his arms. Kovic was a conventional all-American man, and he was eager to fight for his country. He grew up playing baseball with his friends and had blissful memories of his childhood. From a young age, Kovic sought to become a hero and would do whatever it took to accomplish this dream. At the age of eighteen, Ron, full of positives feelings for America, went to risk his life for his country. During a battle, Kovic became paralyzed after being …show more content…
Chris dropped out of college to fight for his country. He sought to be a hero, just like Kovic, and serve his country just like his grandfather and father. Chris is also similar to Kovic because they both volunteered their services for their country. When Chris arrived in Vietnam he was naïve to his surroundings and realized the other soldiers in his platoon were only there because they were drafted. The other soldiers did not accept Chris. They were surprised to learn Chris joined of his own free will since they were forced to join. Chris has to “earn his stripes” to become a respected soldier. The reality of war was not what he was expecting. The film emphasizes the harsh reality of the Vietnam War, and despite all the hardships the platoon might actually have a chance to …show more content…
In the film Platoon it seems that the government was not worried about the right or wrong reasons for being in Vietnam. Vietnam became a pawn in a bigger war game of chess. The government gave no help to the soldiers in Vietnam, and every character was questioning why they were there in the first place. Some soldiers wanted to solve the problems in a more civil matter, while conservatives were excessively aggressive towards the Vietnamese. Even though there was brotherhood on the front line there was still a separation because of different political views. The emphasis in Kovic’s story was more on looking back on the war after thirty years and how he felt today. In Born on the Forth of July, the returning soldiers were treated terribly by nurses and doctors who were there to heal them. This angered many soldiers because they were not treated like human beings but just as a body with a beating heart. Vietnam veterans earned the right to be treated with decency. This differentiates from Platoon because it did not focus on the treatment of soldiers by the hospital staff. We can come to the conclusion that they were probably not treated with decency