Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis

From the time we are born, our parents try to protect us from everything that is harmful to us. But as we grow and mature, it becomes more and more difficult to shield us from the evil in society. War is one of those evils that is inevitable for each generation. From World War I to present day war with Iraq, men and even young men are called to serve their country with pride and courage. Each war in history has left an everlasting impression in many soldier's souls. These stains will never leave them; it will always haunt them. One of the most prevalent themes in both the film Platoon by Oliver Stone and the book The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, is the loss of innocence. Certain characters are transformed forever due to the gruesome aspects of war.

The setting of a war greatly influences a soldier's mind and behavior. The guns, ammunition, and uniforms almost completely transforms a young boy into a man and even into an animal. "He joined the zoo. One more animal-end of story" says Rat (O'Brien 107). Each day platoon soldiers experience devastating reality in ambushes such as watching their enemies and even companions dying. This greatly affects their attitudes and teaches them that this is not a game anymore; it is a means of survival. Soldiers now realize that in the blink of an eye they too can be taken out and there is no second chance. They are not home anymore; they have been set loose into the wild.

To a soldier, home is like heaven. They know that it will not be easy to get there but they have to fight and struggle to get to the "Promised land." Some soldiers cannot let go of home. They are so attached that they bring items with them that make them feel at home. Some bring pictures, some bring letters, and some even bring girlfriends' underwear. These sacred possessions remind them what it feels like to be home with the people they love. Soldiers would do anything go back to the ones they love, but some realize that they might never go home and death is not an option.

In the movie Platoon, Chris Taylor is a twenty-one year old man who comes from an upper class family. Unlike other soldiers, he was not drafted into the war. On the contrary, he volunteered for Vietnam because he was convinced that young men who had grown up with less than him could teach him something about life. He also wanted to follow in his father and grandfather's footsteps, who were war heroes themselves. He believed that the war was to be his metamorphosis, his passage into manhood. Throughout the movie he writes to his grandmother to keep in touch with life back at home. Taylor does not get along with his parents very well because they were not too fond of the idea of him enlisting in the army. Instead they wanted him to be just like them, have a well paying, respectable job, with a family and a small house. They believed that if he went to war, there was a possibility that those dreams would never become reality. Sure enough war transformed Taylor into a man. He lost his complete childhood innocence the minute he got off that helicopter and stepped into the jungles of Vietnam.

There are several instances when Taylor is shown as a changed man. In the jungle, Taylor starts vomiting when he encounters the Vietnamese corpse. Taylor was awestruck when he saw that gruesome image. For him this was now reality and he had to and face it like a man. The ambush of the village also depicts him as a completely different person than we first saw earlier in the movie. Taylor lost his cool when he started making the one-legged boy jump. At that point of the movie Taylor was starting to show signs of distress, anger, and hopelessness. He was quickly changing and did not know how to cope with it. He was losing all hope and innocence. In a later scene he saw his battalion members raping two young girls. Taylor was completely astonished. At first Taylor did not know how to deal with the situation, but he came to his senses and stopped the soldiers from proceeding. Those images are forever engraved in the back of Taylor's mind.

For all of the soldiers, not just Taylor or O'Brien, suppressing their feelings and mixed emotions from the war was a necessity. Escaping reality with the use of drugs and alcohol was their answer to temporary tranquility. Some soldiers leaned towards alcohol, which depressed them, while others smoked weed to make them happy and temporarily block the horrifying images of war. "I'm out of it, I'm goofed, I'm on a space cruise, I'm gone!" says O'Brien (O'Brien 22). That is the kind of feeling that soldiers would experience while they are on their high. In Platoon, Taylor opts to try pot for the first time. Taylor wanted to escape the daunting reality that was haunting him in Vietnam. His companions thought that marijuana might cheer him up and help him relax. However, reality was inevitable, but they were able to escape for a little while.

The Things They Carried and Platoon both show that there is more to war that we are aware of. Vietnam transformed boys to men and even beasts. Even though some thought Vietnam was a pointless war, there was still a purpose to fight for. That purpose was life. Taylor completely loses his innocence when he kills Barnes. All of his suppressed feelings explode when he fires the gun. It also represented an inner struggle for Taylor's soul. He also expresses that in Vietnam "the enemy was in us" (Platoon). Even though we see the Americans fighting the Vietnamese, the true conflict was within each one of the soldiers. In order for them to defeat their enemy they first have to conquer themselves. This was their true test.

In the book The Things They Carried two specific characters effectively depict the theme of loss of innocence. The narrator, Tim O'Brien, is the one that best portrays this theme. Unlike Taylor, O'Brien was from a middle class family and was drafted into the war; it was not his choice. He was forced into combat. O'Brien misses home very much and feels miserable about fighting in a war that he believes is pointless. O'Brien's loss of innocence is best seen when he is first shot and when he kills his first victim. In these scenes O'Brien