The Male Gender Roles of American Society During the 1960s Essay Example
How did the male gender roles of American society during the 1960s shape the approach for recruiting soldiers into the Vietnam War?
“The Things They Carried”, by Tim O’Brien includes an assortment of fictional war stories, providing a moral insight into the Vietnam War for those that were privileged enough to escape its grasp or miss it altogether. What is particularly fascinating about O’Brien’s novel is his incorporation of context regarding the different gender roles existent within American society during this turbulent period of history. These stereotypes are displayed in explicit detail within the chapter entitled, ‘On The Rainy River’ of the novel, in which O’Brien deliberates the exact effect that these gender conceptions had on the young men that were told that they had to go to war.
America was in Vietnam for fear of the Domino Theory and communist expansion throughout South-East Asia, however the individual men that were made to serve, fought for very different reasons indeed. Whether or not the young men were enthusiastic or opposed to the concept of serving in the Vietnam campaign, within, ‘On the Rainy River’ of “The Things They Carried”, O’Brien suggests, through his own experiences, that the deciding factor in the decision to fight was in fact measured by the gender perception of males within the confines of society. This can be observed in reference to his moral conflictions when first presented with the draft notification in the summer of 68, stating,
“Certain blood was being shed for uncertain reasons. The only certainty that summer was moral confusion.”
O’Brien applies the word, ‘certain’ repeatedly within this example, illustrating to us, the reader, the degree of confusion he faced with the arrival of the draft card. This confusion evolved for the reason that, in O’Brien’s case, there laid uncertainty in his opinion of whether the war in Vietnam was being fought for legitimate reasons. Although he was neither a conscientious
“The Things They Carried”, by Tim O’Brien includes an assortment of fictional war stories, providing a moral insight into the Vietnam War for those that were privileged enough to escape its grasp or miss it altogether. What is particularly fascinating about O’Brien’s novel is his incorporation of context regarding the different gender roles existent within American society during this turbulent period of history. These stereotypes are displayed in explicit detail within the chapter entitled, ‘On The Rainy River’ of the novel, in which O’Brien deliberates the exact effect that these gender conceptions had on the young men that were told that they had to go to war.
America was in Vietnam for fear of the Domino Theory and communist expansion throughout South-East Asia, however the individual men that were made to serve, fought for very different reasons indeed. Whether or not the young men were enthusiastic or opposed to the concept of serving in the Vietnam campaign, within, ‘On the Rainy River’ of “The Things They Carried”, O’Brien suggests, through his own experiences, that the deciding factor in the decision to fight was in fact measured by the gender perception of males within the confines of society. This can be observed in reference to his moral conflictions when first presented with the draft notification in the summer of 68, stating,
“Certain blood was being shed for uncertain reasons. The only certainty that summer was moral confusion.”
O’Brien applies the word, ‘certain’ repeatedly within this example, illustrating to us, the reader, the degree of confusion he faced with the arrival of the draft card. This confusion evolved for the reason that, in O’Brien’s case, there laid uncertainty in his opinion of whether the war in Vietnam was being fought for legitimate reasons. Although he was neither a conscientious