Analyzing Themes Of War In Dirty Work By Larry Brown

War is often idealized and romanticized. The violence is excluded from these ideals and themes. The soldiers are painted as heroes that go and protect the country. Dirty Work by Larry Brown makes no effort to label its characters as gallant. Instead, it revokes the romantic concepts of war by examining the emotional and physical harm characters like Braiden and Tommy suffered from it.

In Dirty Work, two Vietnam veterans from Mississippi find themselves in the same VA hospital room exchanging war and life experiences. One is a black man named Braiden who lost all his limbs during war. The other is a white man, Walter, with a severely disfigured face. Over the course of a few days, Braiden convinces Walter to assist in his suicide because

He is unable to complete simple tasks like feeding or wiping himself. Walter goes as far as to compare Braiden to a dependent infant. (Brown 15) His reward for servicing his country in the Vietnam War is a free lifetime stay at the VA and an increasing bank account balance he has no use for. Before Braiden is deployed to Vietnam he expresses his lack of understanding of going and it is clear that the realities of it are not yet realized. “I laid in there that morning. Had my uniform hanging up in there. Soldier of the most powerful nation in the world. And all I could think was Why, you know, why? I didn’t even understand the whole thing. Just went cause it was my duty.” (Brown 23) Prior to his exposure to war itself, Braiden possessed some glamorous idea of war. He describes the country he is fighting for as the authoritative power of the world. Making this declaration along with his misunderstanding of the conflict suggests that Braiden believes he has an obligation to uphold the fanciful notions of

Tommy is described as fearless and prideful. The audience begins to feel a slight romanticized war story about brave soldiering. This tone or form of storytelling is not received anywhere else in the novel. Walter says, “He was straight, now, he was all God and country.” (Brown 198) However, this sense is immediately abolished once Walter’s girlfriend Beth asks him what happened to Tommy Joiner. “He got killed in a tunnel, finally.” (Brown 200) The reality of the suffering both men encountered as a result of war is once again established. He ends his answer with the word “finally” as if he is stating an inevitable truth. With war come the dead and the injured. After Tommy’s death is announced, gruesome details of war’s effects are again introduced. “They had to gather him up and ship him home to his mama.” (Brown 200) The language used is important because it objectives Tommy and his character loses his humanity with his life. Gathering the body parts of someone is stated as routine and describes the deceased as disposable. No prowess or even grief described. Tommy is a superfluous body that is vital now but nonetheless expendable. The objectification of soldiers and their sacrifice is also seen in other literature such as A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway. It states, “... and the things that were glorious had no glory and the sacrifices were