Terry Erickson's Father And George Robinson In Stop The Sun And Dear America

Title

Hundreds of bodies litter the ground. The smell of blood, sweat, and gunpowder fill the air. Sounds of explosions and endless gunfire can be heard in the distance, but the soldiers continue to focus on their main objective: to win the fight. They fight viciously, but also with a newfound desperation to stay alive. Those soldiers are fighting in a war in which over thousands of people have died: the Vietnam War. This war’s victims, although each person’s experience may vary, live through some of the most atrocious events. However, Terry Erickson’s father and George Robinson, two fictitious characters from “Stop the Sun” and “Dear America” respectively, stand out from the rest. The differences and similarities between Terry’s father

The most salient difference between the two veterans is the way they were injured. While Robinson was physically injured, Terry’s father was mentally injured. For that reason, Terry’s father ends up suffering from PTSD, which induces several occasions where he acts in a peculiar way. To emphasize, he often imagines himself in a situation where he is not, and either gets a far-away look in his eyes or has an episode. Terry’s father also views himself as a dead man while Robinson does not. Unlike Terry’s father, Robinson has a more positive look on his experiences in the war. This may be because of the difference of their experiences in the war. Terry’s father’s entire platoon was killed and to survive, Terry’s father had to hide under his friend’s severed body. On the other hand, Robinson has only witnessed the death of one man. In addition to Terry’s father’s horrific experience, he also did not seem to have any family at the time he was serving. Conversely, George Robinson had his mother and could send letters to her. More so, Robinson also gained more respect for GIs while Terry’s father seems to hold no opinion on them. Lastly, one of the major differences between George Robinson and Terry’s father is that Robinson had communicated beforehand that his reasons of why he would prefer it if he wasn’t asked about his experiences about the Vietnam War while Terry’s father seemed to let his wife do all the talking. In short, while George Robinson and Terry’s father may have in much in common, they have many more prominent