Prasad 1

Vinathi Prasad
Ms. Anhalt
ENG 311
4 November 2011
Metaphorical Monsters that Vietnam War Veterans Face
Vietnam was severed between the southern Democrats, and the northern Communists.
The U.S.A. wanted to get involved because they didn`t want communists proliIerating into the
rest oI Asia. Forty thousand troops were commissioned by President Johnson. It was a sixteen
year war. FiIty-eight thousand two hundred twenty-six people were either killed or missing in
action and the veterans who are still alive today Iace horriIic metaphorical monsters because oI
this. These include readjustment to home, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and survival
guilt. The soldiers returning home Irom the Trojan War also Iaced similar Iates in The Odyssey.
Hippies had Iilled the nation with their words oI disapproval towards the Vietnam War
veterans. Veterans were spat on, and some oI them had also Iound that their wives had cheated
on them. In an interview, Bill Hunt, a veteran, said his wiIe didn`t even seem to awknowledge
that he had been gone Ior sixteen years (). When Odysseus returned Irom the Trojan War 10
years aIter it ended, he Iound that suitors had Iilled his home and had been wasting his money.
Odysseus overcame this predicament by killing all the men. In the end, he had a happy reunion
with his wiIe and son. However, not all Vietnam War veterans have that happy oI an ending.
A prisoner oI war in Vietnam would get beaten badly even iI they accused the North
Vietnamese oI torture (). Beatings lasted Ior days and nights and sometimes, the pain would stop
vital Iunctions Ior a little while. Other people watched as their Iriends were tortured beIore their
eyes. In The Odyssey, Polyphemus took two men at a time Ior his meal, crushed their heads on
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the Iloor to kill them, and devoured them, This horrible process occurred beIore Odysseus` eyes
three times beIore Odysseus Iinally blinded Polyphemus, but seeing such things can cause
PTSD.

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http://www.deanza.edu/Iaculty/swensson/interviewhuntcominghome.html~.
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