Born on the 4th of July - Essay

Assignment 1:

Introduction:

“They came for him early that morning, walking up the wooden ramp and knocking on the front door of his house.”

It is Memorial Day. Ron Kovic is going to be taking part in the parade, where the whole town is gathered to celebrate the national event of the year. Eddie Dugan and Ron are the only two survivors from the Vietnam War from Massapequa, and there will be a big ceremony for them at the parade. On the surface everything seems fine, but how does Ron really feel, what is the setting of the story and what is the intention of the story?

All this will be answered in this essay about the extract from “Born of the Fourth of July” to be found in the “Remembering Vietnam Kompendium”.

The setting:

The whole extract takes place in the city of Massapequa located in the United States.

 “There were scouts the Cadillac now with red, white, and blue crepe paper and long paper banners that read WELCOME HOME RON KOVIC AND EDDIE DUGAN and SUPPORT OUR BOYS IN VIETNAM. There was a small sign, too, that read: OUR WOUNDED VIETNAM VETS. . . EDDIE DUGAN AND RON KOVIC.”

The story begins in Ron Kovic’s house but most of the first part of the story takes place in a Cadillac, driving down the road where the parade takes place. At the parade there is cub scouts and girl scouts, marching bands, fathers in their Legion caps and uniforms, the mothers from the Legion’s auxiliary and the whole street is full of red, white and blue flags and banners.

The second part of the story takes place at the podium where the celebration of the returned veterans takes place.

Characterization of Ron Kovic

Ron Kovic is a former soldier from the Vietnam War. In the war he got paralyzed from the chest down and in the extract he sits in a wheelchair, and he did not usually like to tell people how bad he had been injured but he does not have a problem with telling Eddie. He is a young, polite man, who had been a boy scout when he was a boy, and played baseball with Eddie.

Later in the story we see a different Ron interacting with society. He feels uncomfortable being around people, acting like a hero and being praised for his bravery in the war. At the parade he feels trapped like he was in the hospital at Vietnam, and he even begins to feel very lonely. To hide his feelings, he just smiles and waves at people, telling them jokes to ease the tension.

“He didn’t deserve this, he didn’t want this shit. All he could think of was getting out of there and going back home.”

Characterization of Eddie Dugan

Eddie had a normal childhood playing baseball with his dad as a coach. In the war he became disabled, and now he has plastic legs. He got hit by one of the American mortars, and ironically got disabled that way.

“’You’re not going to believe this,’ Eddie said to him, looking down at his legs, ‘I got hit by our own mortars.’ He was almost laughing now. ‘It was on a night patrol…and you?’ he asked.”

Message

The message of the story is Ron Kovic wanting to tell his personal story about the war in Vietnam, and how he came out of it. He wants to tell how it feels to be disabled and not having the capability of living life to the fullest. He wants people to see how bad the war affects you both physically and psychologically. The film is an anti-war movie, because of the way it shows the government treating soldiers and how bad war is to your soul.