alex's uber blog

"The Secret Letter From Iraq" tells the highlights of one marines life during the Iraq war. It is filled with grotesque memories and recollections. I feel that this letter that this marine wrote is something that occurs in all marines thoughts. The harsh moments in combat, where friends are being shot. He also points out the flaws with the United States and how they run the military. How a soldier goes into holes seeking to diffuse bombs is paid less than a garbage man in New York City. I believe that this is not right.
This letter also relates to the novel Slaughterhouse Five, in many ways they are similar in how they are told. In both stories the narrators depict the grewsome memories of warlike actions, their feelings of how it has affected them and changed their thinking. In chapter 1 of Slaughterhouse Five author Vonnegut has many troubles with writing a true war story it takes him nearly two years to write this novel only after he writes this novel after many years the war is over. The difficulties of writing a true war story for both of these men is that many readers do not believe many of the horrific events that the authors encountered. So the authors try not to put grewsome events in their novels or letters. However I have read that in "The Things They Carried" much of the normal actions that happen during war are usually false while the harsh descriptive events are mostly true. It takes the normal events in order to believe the brutal war situations.

To read "The Secret Letter From Iraq" go to time.com

posted by Alex J @ 9:01 AM