War and Literature - Essay Example

As a result, though the stories contain fictitious additions, they are mostly based on real events witnessed by the author. Several themes recur through these stories. Chief among them are love, camaraderie and courage. Love is most pronounced in the relationship between Cross and Martha. Cross agrees to narrate his love story to O’Brien, in the hope that Martha will read the story and contact him again. The story is a touching and emotional one, full of nostalgia and longing. O’Brien, on his part, takes on the role of a compassionate documenter of the love story.

He embellishes the story with more details so as to accentuate its overall effect. The exercise of listening to Cross and empathetically acknowledging his feelings also strengthens their friendship. Equally, O’Brien’s collection of stories do not lack in celebrating valor. Although political scientists today look back on the Vietnam War with a sense of regret, the American soldiers who participated in it never shied away from their missions. Even while longing to go back home to reunite with their families the soldiers fulfill their arduous combat duties with utmost courage.

In contrast to Things They Carried, Michael Herr’s Dispatches adopts a different method of documenting war. While the former uses short-stories as the medium for communicating important social and political messages, the latter uses journalistic reportage. But Herr’s is not straightforward, understated method of reporting from the ground. His is a style that pushes the genre to new terrains. Dispatches can also be considered as a historical document because it faithfully records the experiences of soldiers in the Vietnam War.

The time of publication – 1977 – is also key here because to openly question official propaganda and producing the contrarian view is both personally and professionally risky.