SSRJ #3 I Am the Grass by D. Walker

For the third journal I chose the last short story titled I Am the Grass by D. Walker. I chose this short story because in my opinion I think there are a lot of people who could relate to the very different person that you would be in war. The man in army gear armed with a gun is not the same man who kisses his daughter good night and tucks her into bed everynight. The mind set wouldn't be the same. And i'm sure with the current war going on there are people who struggle with the difference between home and fighting the war over seas. And also the struggle with the fact that some people don't agree with the war and that is a whole new battle front right at home. In the story the main character changes out of his uniform almost immediately as not to be seen by the "flower children" as he calls them. I believe it is sad when a man who fights for our freedom cannot come home and be thanked, honored, and proud of risking his life for our country.

I liked this story because I think even though he was incredibly merciless while in war, that is not who he really was in a "normal" setting, and by going back to the places where he had committed gut wrenching murders, he was trying to, in some way, give back what he had taken so many years ago. Even though the war was over, the memories were not.

I think the author chose to let us into his mind, his thoughts, and feelings, by utilizing the first person stand point to tell his story. It's obvious that the war had a great effect on this man. I think he really did regret some of the things that happened in Vietnam, and he let us in on what it was really like from a soldiers stand point and he also showed us how things were different when he got back. I think the war had a great influence on what he chose as a career for himself, he felt like he had to take care of people, to make up for what he had done.

In the first paragraph of the story on page 325 the Walker tells us at least 5 malicious events that he took part in during the war. Throughout the story these are brought up again, for example while he is at the restaurant with Dinh, the waitress brings them they same kind of beer that he had to drink the night he got drunk and took a 13 year old girl to a thatched-roof hootch and had sex with her, and he also estimates that the same girl would be about the same age as the waitress is now. Also during this dinner Dinh asks Walker if he has been to Nui Ba Den, the top of that mountain is where he placed a decapitated mans head on a pole. In the first paragraph there are incidences that we are told about, honestly I didn't think much of them at first, but as I read the story and he referred back to them I realized he had talked about those first thing to create some foreshadowing.

After reading this story it makes me wonder, if this experience of war is what is felt by most? How would his life had been different if he hadn't gone to Vietnam?