APO 96225

The poem title is a vietnam mailing dress. Which makes sense with the rest of the poem which is in the context of a young man writing letters to his mother. In the poem the diction used is one of nonchalance from the young soldier. He does not want to tell his mother what is really happening. I found that when the mother insisted and he still responded with avoiding the question I thought it meant that he knew she was not prepared to realize what her son was really doing. I also know that propaganda during the war was very bad so I thought the mother may want to have her son an outlet for someone to talk to. But when the son finally tells her what he did in a very emotionless way we see that the mother did not want to hear it. I think it alludes to the hard truth that civilians cannot understand the hardships of war or truly grasp what must be done. I think the mother was a symbol for all mothers, families, and friends who have loved ones in war that their friend or family member has to commit violence that we cannot comprehend. So we do not deal with it well if they do tell us because we have only one view and perspective of our loved one.