The poetic text the 'Green Beret' by Ho Thein. The 'Green Beret' is a poetic text about the American people in the Vietnamese war, in more detail the power they have over the Vietnamese people and the way the American people manipulate the public eye to think they were doing good. As Ed Sanders once said, “The Vietnam war was like a wound that would never heal.” This has a lot of relevance to the poetic text as the Vietnamese were taken advantage of by the Americans and still suffer from the war today. The techniques used are metaphors, allusions and heightened vocab. There are also aspects of symbolism and irony in this text. These are all points I will be talking about.
There are a lot of metaphors used across the text. The author has chosen to use metaphors because it is comparing something to another object. One that has a lot of relevance is “with the eyes of a hurt animal”. The author has used this to start us off with a sense of intimidation. The purpose of using this metaphor so early in the text is to set the mood of violence and aggression in this text. It helps to show us how the little boy who is getting interrogated by the American Mercenaries, the Americans are using their power to intimidate the young boy into telling his secrets. Another metaphor that shows a lot of importance to the text is “shots hammered out”. The purpose of using this metaphor is to show us that the shots that killed the young boys' father broke the silence in the quiet forest. They are suggesting that the war was very quiet because the Vietnamese people are very sneaky during the war and everything was silent at the time. Everyone in the forest would have heard the echo of the shots.
The author has used many allusions throughout the poetic text. One in particular that stands out to me is the allusion “protected by his frail tears”. The purpose of putting this allusion into the text. The boy is crying about his father getting murdered by the mercenaries but in reality, he is crying to protect his country. The boys ‘ Frail tears’ really break down the techniques that the American mercenaries are using against the Vietnamese by showing that this boy was terrified of these mercenaries. This is also portrayed in the phrase “ Behind the forest’s green wall” this has the same meaning as “frail tears”, showing that he is protected by the forest around him, as he can hide away his feelings, just like you can’t see beyond a wall. He has put on a facade to convince the mercenaries that he doesn’t know anything. He has covered it up with his tears that he is crying grieving for his innocent father who has been murdered. Another allusion in the text is “far stronger than any wall of steel”. The author has used these words to allude us to the fact that the Americans are a wall of steel and the Vietnamese, when working together are far stronger. It helps us to get the message that power does not always win the war, sometimes strategies are better but loyalty and love for your country are always going to win.
There is a big use of heightened vocab throughout the text. The first piece of vocab used in the text is “Mercenaries” this word is another meaning for someone paid to kill. The author has used this word to help us to know that the Green Beret is no kind man to the Vietnamese boy, he is not there to make friends but to get his information one way or another. He has killed an innocent man to get this kid to speak but it hasn't worked so the American Mercenaries have moved on to try again with someone else. The effect of this on the reader is heavy as you see that this character has been developed so your only thought on them can be horrible, as they have been portrayed to have no care for anyone in the world besides themselves. We, therefore, see the ‘Green Beret’ as ‘hired kills’. Paid to do a job. Paid to kill.
There are aspects of symbolism and irony throughout the Green Beret text. The aspect of symbolism in this text lies in the title. “The Green Beret”. A Green Beret is a person who is involved in the US Army special forces. This is linking the text to the American Mercenaries and showing that the text is going to show the influence the Americans had in the Vietnam war and links it to the power and authority they had over the Vietnamese people. This symbolism changes the mind of the readers as when you see the title of ‘Green Beret’ you think of the US army who do good around the world, But in reality, we see that they are soldiers that are paid to kill. This is also the irony in the text as you can see that the ‘Green Beret’ is known for doing good around the world. Using the term ‘Green Beret’ in this context makes you think that all they do is kill people. Innocent people.
Through reading this text we can see that the poetic piece can be linked back to aspects of modern day society. In the current day, we see a lot of wars. Our countries like to inform us that our soldiers are sent to do good but sometimes they are not. The Americans were told that their soldiers were helping the Vietnamese people but in reality, they were interrogating people and killing them. This poetic text helps us to see that the Vietnamese war was a war that the Americans asserted their power and not their help, they covered it up so their own people thought they were doing good.
The poetic text helps us to have a deeper understanding overall of how cruel the American mercenaries were to the young Vietnamese boy. The Americans show their power over the Vietnamese. The author has proved to us that the Americans used their strength over the small boy just to get information. Just from reading this poetic text I have widened my knowledge on the Vietnamese war, from previous information I thought that the Americans had done well while being over there but just from this text, I can see that rather than help the Vietnamese they asserted their power and tried to take over. I would like to end with a quote “ No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam war. It was misreported then and it is misremembered now”- Richard M. Nixon.