The Vietnam War is arguably one of the most controversial and debated wars in American history. Protests against the plan sparked a new era of anti-government sentiment in the United States and helped give rise to the hippie peace movement for which it is time. The Vietnam War also showed some of the worst cases of PTSD and other changes in returning soldiers than had been seen up to that point. In Vietnam, A History, Stanley Karnow attempts to discern what made the Vietnam War so different from others and what caused its effects on its soldiers. He quotes John Kerry as saying: “The country didn't care if these guys came back – or what they went through. » (27). But whether they cared or not, the government and the country began to feel the same effects of the war as these veterans — a change in American culture brought about by the Vietnam War. In his short story "Greasy Lake", TC Boyle illustrates the dehumanizing effect of the Vietnam War on American soldiers through the use of a war motif, a nature motif, and a car motif. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay Boyle uses the motif of war to show that his characters have had a negative transformative experience and to create a parallel between their transformation and transformation. American soldiers in Vietnam. In the first paragraph of the story, Boyle states that the characters are nineteen years old (687), which is what Karnow says was the average age of American soldiers during the Vietnam War. This is a remarkably low average age compared to past wars. The story's unnamed protagonist describes one of his actions as "a tactical error, as damaging and irreversible in its way as Westmoreland's decision to retreat to Khe Sanh." (689). This is a very plausible comparison. The protagonist's action of dropping his keys led to a chain of events that would change him forever, leaving him battered and bruised in both body and mind, just as the actions that brought about the Vietnam War leads to the same consequences for American soldiers. Towards the end of the story, the protagonist describes him and his friends as "like zombies, like war veterans". (694). A study conducted in 1990 found that approximately 30.9% (about 1 in 3) of Vietnam veterans returned home with some form of PTSD, which in many cases took the form of severe depression and depression. an inability to connect to live in their country. The term "zombies", while slightly crude, would accurately describe both many veterans as well as the protagonist and his friends. Boyle reinforces his position that the Vietnam War had dehumanizing effects on soldiers with a motive in nature. Boyle uses the motif of nature to show that the characters' experience reflects the idea of ​​dark romanticism that one goes into nature and discovers the animal nature of humanity. At the beginning of the story, the protagonist describes the party scene at Greasy Lake and a typical night for him and his friends. He says: “It was nature. » (688). Towards the end of the story, the protagonist describes the sun rising in the morning over the wreck of his mother's car and the calm of the world around him. He repeats: “It was nature. » (693). This repetition shows that the characters' meaning of nature changed after their experiences at Greasy Lake in this story. During the attempted rape of the woman by the characters, the. 2014.