Alienation: APO 96225

"APO 96225"
Larry Rottmann

This poem about a man who is in the war I think relates to how must parents would feel about their son going to war. The boy writes to his mom about how it rains a lot. Even if he means it literally, the rain probably also symbolizes the hurt and sadness that happens in a war. The mother who supposedly can read between the lines knows that the boy is holding back and tells him to tell her how it really is there. After two more positive responses from the boy, he finally tells the mother what it is actually like in the war. "'Today I killed a man. Yesterday, I helped drop napalm on women and children'" (Rottmann, 846). Then the dad tells the son to not say these things to his mother, because they upset her. However, the parents were looking for the son to tell them how awful it was being in the war. One lesson of the poem is to not ask questions you do not want the answer to. This poem shows how most people would feel as well. They know that it cannot be enjoyable at war, and they want to comfort the soldier. However, most soldiers do not want to talk about the awful surroundings, but talk of more positive things to get their mind off of their job, at least for a short time.