The Jungle By Philip Caputo Sparknotes

SIGNIFICANT ROADBLOCKS FOR THE UNITED STATES IN THE VIETNAM WAR In Philip Caputo’s book he describes the difficulties that faced the United States Marine Corps in fighting a foreign war in the jungles of Vietnam. The most significant roadblock to success was a fighting force unprepared for Guerilla warfare in the jungles of Vietnam. The other major roadblock was a mental one, which was the mental toll the war took on a military trying to overcome an unfamiliar type of warfare where the enemy was difficult to locate and identify. The lack of a clearly defined path to victory was another psychological impediment for the Americans. Vietnam was a never ending conflict that did not seem to have a goal or strategy for victory. The

The Viet Cong Guerillas used the jungle strategically to their advantage to fight the war. The Jungle was blinding, which made it a source of constant psychological tension for soldiers. As stated by Philip Caputo, “The company seemed to be marching into a vacuum, haunted by a presence intangible yet real, a sense of being surrounded by something we could not see. It was the inability to see that vexed most of us. In that lies the jungle’s power to cause fear: It blinds.” (Caputo, 85) The dense shrub that made up the jungle’s floor was good for hiding all sorts of land mines, and traps which could cause soldiers to lose their feet and legs. Some parts of the jungle contained swamps with thick mud that was difficult to walk through. According to Caputo, “With the mud, heat, leeches and clawing thorns, and the risk of a wounded VC lobbing a grenade from his hiding place, the mood of the company turned savage.” (Caputo, 118) Other challenges regarding Vietnam’s climate were the sun and the hot temperature. When the canopy cover of the jungle was not dense, perhaps due to clearing of certain areas, the sun was harsh. Caputo writes, “It is an extremely hot day, hotter than any we have yet experienced. We have been told that the temperature is over one hundred and ten degrees, but the figure is meaningless. The cruelty of this sun cannot be measured by an

At the start of the war Caputo has to search a women’s living space (hut) to make sure that she was not hiding any Viet Cong. Caputo recalls saying to the women, “See lady we’re not like the French. We’re all American good guy GI Joes. You should learn to like us. We’re Yanks, and Yanks like to be liked. We’ll tear this place apart if we have to, but we’ll put everything back in its place. See that’s what I’m doing now.” Toward the end of the war, Caputo is in a similar scenario, where he is questioning a civilian woman about the Viet Cong. Caputo recalls, “I had my first violence fantasy then, a hint that I was breaking down under the strains and frustrations peculiar to that war. In my mind the red liquid in the woman’s mouth was blood, not betel-nut juice. In my mind I had slapped her across her mouth with the back of my hand and blood was pouring out from between her lips as she told me all I wanted to know [about the Vietcong]. I had beaten the truth out of her.” (p.