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Stop The Sun Terry Erickson Character Analysis

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“Stop The Sun” by Gary Paulson is about a boy named Terry Erickson who had a father that suffered from the “Vietnam Syndrome”, also known as “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder”. Terry tries to figure out why his father has it so he can help him, but he can’t get a good understanding of it. After a long, terrifying story that his father told him one day, Terry realizes that he’ll never understand what happened during the Vietnam War, however, he still continues to support him. Through the dialog of the characters, readers understand that Gary Paulson shows that whether or not someone understands what someone else is going through, they still have to try their best to support them. The story begins with taking notice of Terry Erickson’s father’s “Vietnam Syndrome”, and how his eyes always “went away”. Terry seems to be bothered by this, and he wants to find out why this happens. “He knew almost nothing of the war, and when he tried to find out about it he kept hitting walls.” (Page 122) As Terry tries to do his research, he is clearly confused and lost when it comes to the Vietnam War. But what matters most is that Terry is trying. This shows how hard people can try when it comes to giving support to people. …show more content…

While Terry and his father were in the mall one day, he started squirming on the ground and crying in the hardware store. While this was happening, “He knelt next to his father and helped the owner of the store get him up on his feet.” (Page 123) Terry was clearly embarrassed by this. However, he helped his father regardless. This represents the supportiveness people can give to others, whether or not it’s an embarrassing

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Tim O’brien’s historical fiction book The Things They Carried is focused around soldiers involved in the Vietnam War. This war was a difficult time for both the Americans who were drafted to fight in the war as well as for those who were at home and disagreed with the idea of currently being in war in Vietnam. As he writes about his own fictional experiences during the war along with the stories of many other fellow troops, O’brien expresses that it is difficult to “tell a true war story”. With the use of imagination and invention, he is able to successfully convey the difficulties involving truth-telling and wartime conditions. O’brien is open with his intended audience and blatantly states that it is hard to tell a true war story.

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Terry is a good kid deep down but had a rough upbringing with being an orphan. Once he started working for Friendly he became what would be considered a “mug”. After a day at work on the dock, he was to go the church meeting that revolved around how Friendly cheated many people out of jobs that day. Terry’s job was to make sure no one said anything, but then that changed when the church was broken into by many more of Friendly mugs. Instead of assisting the other mugs beat up the citizens, he helps one escape which brought a whole different side of Terry Malloy to the surface.

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Tim O’Brien is a novelist and a retired soldier from the Vietnam War. He wrote a semi-autobiographical novel titled, The Things They Carried, in a format that seemed as if we were in the novel itself. As readers continue with this novel one can envision and have the impression of deaths and all the effects war has on a soldier from the war. O’Brien explores the effect of war on an individual through fictionalized stories he tells in this novel in order to show how humans can change through drastic events that happen to them due to the war. Being in a war affects the way we think and the people we love.

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He fought a war in Vietnam that he knew nothing about, all he knew was that, “Certain blood was being shed for uncertain reasons” (38). He realized that he put his life on the line for a war that is surrounded in controversy and questions. Through reading The Things They Carried, it was easy to feel connected to the characters; to feel their sorrow, confusion, and pain. O’Briens ability to make his readers feel as though they are actually there in the war zones with him is a unique ability that not every author possess.

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