Vietnam War - Piece 1 Statement of intent: I aim to write a piece of formal writing explaining how texts can be used to show the reader/ viewer that morality is corrupted at war The Vietnam war began on the 1st of November 1955 and lasted 20 years ending on the 30th of April 1975. The war was fought between the government of South Vietnam and the Communist of North Vietnam, also known as the Viet Cong (VC). The war was fought through the leadership of President Ho Chi Minh, a North Vietnamese Communist revolutionary leader who proclaimed the independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) in Hanoi September 1945. Proclaiming independence, Ho Chi Minh formed the Communist group “Viet Cong” to unite and impose a Communist system to …show more content…
Some believe that being away from the home means the same rules don't apply out on the battlefield. Which is wrong all humans are equal no matter which nation you’re in war or no war. Everyone has the same moral desire to survive and live. This display of killing innocent Vietnamese civilians was shown in all four texts “Casualties of War”, “Apocalypse Now”, and in the short stories “The Things They Carried” and “On a Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien. The film “Casualties of War” directed by Brian De Palma shows multiple examples of corrupted human morality at war. During the film, we see the corrupted morals through the film characters of Sgt. Tony Meserve (Sarge), PFC Antonio Diaz (Diaz), PFC Herbert Hatchet and Cpl. Thomas E.Clark(Clarke). The film's plot is set around the kidnapping of a young Vietnam teenager Oanh. The kidnapping of the girl was an idea from the group leader Sarge who viewed it as having little fun on their travels through the Vietnam. Eriksson the sane one of the group being the only one to try take action against the kidnapping as stands up to …show more content…
O’Brien doesn’t wish to go to war because in his mind violence is inhumane. For O’Brien war seemed an unnecessary cause, as it’s an inhumane act where humans go against their morals to fight to see who's the stronger side. O’Brien didn’t know what to do he was stuck between two choices of going to the war and going against his morals killing people or run away and risk being ashamed by the people around him and being called a coward by his community. A quote said by O’Brien “The day was cloudy. I passed through towns with familiar names, through the pine forests and down to the prairie, and then to Vietnam, where I was a soldier, and then home again. I survived, but it's not a happy ending. I was a coward. I went to the war”. This quote shows O’Brien’s accepts he regretted going to war against his morals. At war it made him realize afterward he wasn’t a coward for wanting to stay home to draft dodge the war but actually for O’Brien being a coward going to war against his morals to avoid the shame. This text about Tim O’Brien’s actions during the Vietnamese connects to the film “Apocalypse Now” as the character Captain Willard loses his morality at war going insane and hard on the drugs when he got sent home. O’Brien didn’t go to the full extent that Willard did, it was O’Brien similar loss of morals due to the war. Willard