In World War II, approximately 80 million people, consisting of soldiers and civilians were killed. Currently, World War II is the biggest and deadliest armed conflict in world history. In December 1944, Vonnegut was captured in the Battle of the Bulge. As an inexperienced infantryman, he was assigned the 106th Infantry Division, which was assigned to a quiet sector because of its inexperience. However, the division was overrun by advancing German armored forces. Vonnegut and 50 other American’s were taken as prisoners of war, as most of the men were slaughtered. He was sent to Dresden and survived the firebombing in a slaughterhouse. Vonnegut writes about his traumatic experiences during the war through a fictional character known as Billy…show more content… In “Black Eyed Woman,” the narrator, a woman and refugee from the Korean War, attempts to hide from her past when she argues with her mother that “I closed my eyes and said I did not know anyone by that name, but she persisted” (Nguyen 2). Nguyen uses eyes to figuratively mean sight, and when one lacks sight they also lack understanding. In the passage, the narrator chooses to forget the past rather than to attempt to see or understand it. The narrator’s mother helps push her to confront the reality of her brother’s death rather than attempting to escape reality. The narrator describes her attempt to forget her brother when she fearfully explains that “I had locked the bedroom door just in case, and now I pulled the covers over my head, my heart beating fast. I willed him to go away, but when he started rattling the doorknob, I knew I had no choice but to rise” (Nguyen 7). Nguyen uses the phrase locked the bedroom door figuratively to parallel how the narrator attempts to lock her past away. However, she realizes she cannot hide forever, and decides to embrace the memory of her dead brother, even though his ghost haunts her. The narrators attempt to escape reality by avoiding her past fails, and she becomes stronger by coping with her brother’s death and facing her past. The narrator explains her…show more content… In Viet Nguyen’s “War Years” the mother lives in constant fear which demonstrates her inability to move past the harsh living conditions of the Vietnam War, and the narrator describes her paranoia when he explains “To distract thieves, she devised decoys, placing a large glass vase heavy with coins high on a bookshelf by the front door, and a pair of gold bracelets on the top of her dresser” (Nguyen 57). Nguyen uses the word thieves to figuratively imply danger, because the mother who grew up in Vietnam and saw great atrocities during the Vietnam War, continues to prepare to deal with danger in her everyday life. This demonstrates the paranoia she feels long after the Vietnam War ends, and she feels unable to move on with her life. The narrator grows up with and adopts his mother’s paranoid views, which forces him to escape the reality of peace and prevents him from creating meaning in his life. Vonnegut explains his inability to create meaning in his life when he describes how his PTSD continually affects him “I get drunk, and I drive my wife away with breath like mustard gas and roses” (Vonnegut 5). Vonnegut uses mustard gas to figuratively to mean war, and his use of words that associate with war in his everyday life long after World War II demonstrates how he feels unable to create meaning in his
