Caputo's View On Death
Although injury and death were inevitable in the time of war, it never got any easier to cope with. Caputo discovered someone who he got close to in his battalion, Sullivan had died and another friend, Ingram will never be able to walk again due to attacks by the Viet Cong. This is the first time someone close to him had lost their life in Vietnam and it is the moment he understood any soldier can be killed at any time. He expresses, “Ingram crippled and Sullivan dead. Dead. Death. Death. I had heard that word so many times, but I had never known its meaning” (Caputo 159). Mortality is finally starting to be a real awareness for Caputo; if death can get Sullivan, a young 22-year-old that was filling up canteens, death can happen to anyone.
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When Levy, his friend died, that is when the small part of him that was still young and not cynical was taken. A very powerful quote from Caputo states, “You were faithful. Your country is not. As I write this, eleven years after your death, the country for which you did wishes to forget the war in which you died” (Caputo 223). This is a very critical part in the war for him, this is the point in which he lost his faith in the country and lost all his patriotism. This quote also shows readers that even 11 years after his death, he is still very bitter. His mood from here on out was disdainful and miserable. He was sick of writing reports on dead people and was started to feel guilty about living relatively safe while others were dying in combat. In 1966, he was transferred to a line company in first battalion. While here, he discovered two big things: first, he had a deep hatred for the Viet Cong and wanted a chance to kill one of them; second, he is no longer afraid of death because it is meaningless. He described death in the Vietnam War as, “I didn’t care how death came so long as it came quickly and painlessly. I would die a casualty as a beetle is crushed under a boot heel, and perhaps it was the recognition of my insect like pettiness that had made me stop caring” (Caputo 261). He does not care if he dies because he feels as little and meaningless as a beetle; so many people lost their lives in Vietnam and have been forgotten
When Levy, his friend died, that is when the small part of him that was still young and not cynical was taken. A very powerful quote from Caputo states, “You were faithful. Your country is not. As I write this, eleven years after your death, the country for which you did wishes to forget the war in which you died” (Caputo 223). This is a very critical part in the war for him, this is the point in which he lost his faith in the country and lost all his patriotism. This quote also shows readers that even 11 years after his death, he is still very bitter. His mood from here on out was disdainful and miserable. He was sick of writing reports on dead people and was started to feel guilty about living relatively safe while others were dying in combat. In 1966, he was transferred to a line company in first battalion. While here, he discovered two big things: first, he had a deep hatred for the Viet Cong and wanted a chance to kill one of them; second, he is no longer afraid of death because it is meaningless. He described death in the Vietnam War as, “I didn’t care how death came so long as it came quickly and painlessly. I would die a casualty as a beetle is crushed under a boot heel, and perhaps it was the recognition of my insect like pettiness that had made me stop caring” (Caputo 261). He does not care if he dies because he feels as little and meaningless as a beetle; so many people lost their lives in Vietnam and have been forgotten