Reflection #4

I thought that the Herr article was very graphic and differed greatly from Pyle. There are so many factors that contributed to the differences in the styles of these two articles. During WWII we lost more men than in Vietnam, but the Vietnam War hit home harder because it received more coverage. Americans were able to see the horrors of the Vietnam War and were constantly surrounded by it, while WWII was not covered as much. Herr also used vivid details and specific experiences in his writing, while Pyle did not. He actually went into detail about soldiers being killed and what the corpses looked like.
We have talked in discussion about the idea of the two wars being different in terms of the patriotism expressed during these wars. After Pearl Harbor was attacked, the United Sates gained involvement in WWII. But with the Vietnam War there was no real danger that was threatening American citizens. This may be a reason why there was so much resentment and protest of the Vietnam War. Many Americans believed that we had no business even being their.
I believe that the causes of war relate to Herr and Pyle's accounts and experiences of the wars described in their articles. While Pyle expresses WWII in a lighter way and avoids gruesome details, Herr is much more graphic and pays close attention to details. America's outlook on WWII and the Vietnam War definitely influenced the way in which each war was interpreted. Herr's gruesome accounts were pushed by the antiwar sentiment of the time, while Pyle’s interpretation of WWII shows how blind and clueless Americans were.