The Effects of War on Men and Women
Ehrhart wrote the Foreword to Visions of War, Dreams of Peace: Writings of Women in the Vietnam War. He openly discusses the false idea many people have that war is male and apologizes for this earlier omission on his own part in the Foreword.
The closing two poems are "Dried Corsages" by Dana Shuster and "The Vietnamese Mother" by Huong Tram. Shuster's poem examines a woman going to war and Tram's depicts a mother's pain. Both poems are in free verse and tell a war story.
"Dried Corsages" struck me as a poem the students might like for several reasons. Prom is a memory most of my students will have and can identify with on some level. Also, students think about packing up and moving out. What will they take and where will they go? The poem certainly can move towards or away from war depending on where your students are in life and/or in the unit.
In The Great War and Modern Memory, Paul Fussell discusses how universal it was for soldiers of all rank to carry with them a talisman, a "lucky coin, button, dried flowers, hair cuttings, New Testaments, pebbles from home, medals of St. Christopher and St. George, childhood dolls and teddy bears, poems or Scripture verses written out or worn in a small bag around the neck like a phylactery "(124). One young man, Robert Graves, was certain his "preservation of his virginity got him safely through the war" (124). With this in mind before reading the poem, have the students write about a possession they hold dear to them. Students could write a poem about it, or a short essay.
Depending on you class size and your energy, half the class could study and present Shuster's poem and the other half work on Huong Tram's poem. This could be handled in several ways. "Dried Corsages" brings up the discussion of females and war. Shuster was a nurse in the Army and went to Vietnam for two tours. During the Vietnam era around 15,000 women served (see in Devanter xviii). The idea of women at war can now be researched by your students or discussed in class. Many women are in Iraq right now and several have been killed.
"The Vietnamese Mother" was written by Huong Tram and translated by Phan Thanh Hao with Lady Borton. Huong Tram is a well known Vietnamese poet. The poem could be beautifully read by three voices or reenacted by your students. The students working with this poem could read "The Power of Words in Wartime" by Robin Tolmach Lakoff. The article includes a list of derogatory names used during war time to dehumanize enemies. The article goes on to discuss the use of collective nouns because they make the enemy faceless. Why does the poem make such a strong connection with the "Oh, Mama" cry?
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