"So the next time he wrote, the young man said,
'Today I killed a man. Yesterday, I helped drop napalm
on women and children.'"
This one particular statement in the poem is the central idea that is communicated. The entire poem consists of a mother trying to relate to her boy at war, but he knows she can't handle it. In order to prove it to her, he writes her one letter that tells her the truth of what is actually going on, and consequently she becomes very upset. The poem communicates both a negative and positive aspect of the world. While it states that war is horrible, unjust, and cruel, it also effects the idea that we as Americans are lucky to live in a country where war doesn't occur on the home front, and we are not subject to the awful sights that accompany it. We all like to believe that we are more emotional sturdy than we actually are. Before the mother is presented with the actual occurrences of war, her mind and perception of the concept tell her that she can handle whatever her son needs to relate to her. She wants to be there for him, and she believes she is strong enough. But in reality, the truth is that no one is ready for the reality of war. Some people are just forced into it because it is necessary, but no one is actually ever ready for it.
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