Comparative essay

            
             The Vietnam war had a significant effect on people. This is true in literature as well as in life. Two works which support this idea are "The Next Step" a poem by W.P Ehrhart and "When Heaven and Earth Changed Places" an excerpt from a short story by Le Ly Hayslips. Both of these works illustrate how the Vietnam war had a significant effect on people.
             "The Next Step" a poem by W.P Ehrhart, discusses how the Vietnam war had a significant effect on people. The poet tells us the reality of being a soldier and fear they experience. He uses imagery in line seven and eight with the sentence " The next step you take may tear your leg off at the hip." Imagery is also used in line nine and ten with the sentence " The next step you take may split your belly open." These sentence makes people realize all the harsh actions of war, to create a mental picture. The tone of this work is somber and dramatic as the speaker lets the reader know. The repetition in the last five lines as the poet writes "The next step you take" shows how one always has to take the next step and how dreadful that next step could be. For that step could be the last. .
             "When Heaven and Earth Changed Places" a excerpt form a short story by Le Ly Hayslip, also discusses how the Vietnam war had a significant effect on people. In this first person point of view excerpt the writer expresses her feelings about the war and how it effected culture. The author uses imagery when she writes about her house "Inside, the neat, clean home of my childhood was a hovel. What few furnishings and tools were left after the battles had been looted or burned for fuel." Imagery is also used while explaining the camps of the Americans. "Their camp, which was a complex of bunkers and trenches with tin roofs sandbags, radio antennas, and tents, lorded over the village from a hilltop outside of town." Metaphors are also used to show as if the Americans were giants and the Vietnamese were ants.