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" Teacher. The human body is an amazing thing. lt is a beautiful remarkable machine that will last you a lifetime if you care for it properly´."
"More and more he thought about what a priest had said to him in Da Nang: ´Your fight is just beginning. Sometimes no one will want to hear what you´re going through. You are going to have to learn to carry a great burden and most of your learning will be done alone. Don´t feel frightened when they leave you. I´m sure you will come through it all okay.´"
" It was now very clear that this thing was final like death."
"I was no longer an observer, sitting in my car at the edge of a demonstration. I was right in the middle of it and it was ugly."
" ´Ron Kovic,´ I say. ´Occupation, Vietnam veteran against the war.´
´What?´ he says sarcastically, looking down at me.
´I´m a Vietnam veteran against the war,´ I almost shout back.
´You should have died over there,´ he says. He turns to his assistant. ´I´d like to take this guy and throw him off the roof. ´"
Plot:
Ron Kovic was born on the Fourth of July 1946 in Massapequa.
In his childhood he had the typical interests of an American boy - he liked Baseball, war movies, a.s.o. He was very proud of his country America and wished that they would always be better than the communists.
In the September 1964 one of Ron\'s dreams came true, he became a marine which he was very proud of. He was sent to Pariss Island where he and about 80 other marines were instructed toughly. Ron Kovic got a member of the platoon one eigthy-one.
In a horrible fight in Vietnam not far away of a Vietnamese village the Sergeant Ron Kovic killed one of his corporals by mistake. As a consequence he could not sleep several nights and even thought of commiting suicide. He told the Major thg whole situation and also wrote a letter to his parents. Some days later Ron became the leader of the scout group and was very proud of fighting for democracy and America.
Once the scout group was watching a village where a fire was burning in an open hut. The soldiers supposed that there were men with rifles. Suddenly one of the marines started shooting and so the whole group opened ihe fire although the lieutenant had not ordered anything. When they had stopped, they went to the village and found lots of dead and heavily injured children and old men. The marines, who were crying like little babies, tried to help the wounded but for most of them every help was too late. Ron wanted to get out of this crazy war, even he would be injured.
In another fight Ron was hit by a bullet that he could not move his legs anymore. In panic he cried for help till a tall black man threw him over his shoulder and took him to a hole in the sand where his wounds were bandaged. There were lots of injured men who had only one wish: living. Some were screaming like little children \"Mother! \", others were only lying there without moving. In a plane Ron was taken to an ambulance where he had to wait in a room with a lot of others wounded soldiers. When he woke up after an operation, he was completely tired and weak that he even had difficulties to breathe and that he could not move his body. Afterwards he was given some shots of morphine that he could sleep and "leave this madness". In the ward where Ron was lying lots of soldiers died, some of the others seriously injured persons cried all the time because of their pain. Sometimes Ron wrote notes on scrapes of paper respectively dictated a letter to his parents. He told them that "he was hurt pretty bad but he had done it for America and that it was worth it" and that he would come home soon. After a week he left the hospital and Vietnam forever in order to fly back to America.
Back in his home country Ron was taken to St. Albans Naval Hospital. He was quite happy because "he felt himself begin to wake up out of the nightmare". First the nurses put him in the neuro ward but as Ron wanted to leave the "vegetables" he was put in a ward with about fifty other men who had all been wounded in the Vietnam-war. Every day Ron went to a therapy in order to reach his biggest wish: walking. Sometimes he closed his eyes and dreamed of being on his feet again. When he and all others " living deaths " got their enemas or were washed in the shower room, they tried to dream of another world or to fall asleep. Ron even compared this hospital to a concentration camp because it was so horrifying.
In the night lots of patients could not sleep because some men were always screaming. Sometimes few patients got really angry on account of the yells. Everyday Ron had to do a special therapy which strengthened his arms that he could even walk with the help of parallel bars. He also learned how to drive a wheel-chair.
Ron never told his family about his real impressions, but only about more pleasant things, because he wanted to prevent that "too many people know how much of him has really died in the war".
When Ron was already at home, two men of the American legion came for Ron and another war-disabled man called Eddie Dugan in order to celebrate a Memorial Day with them. During their drive to the platform the men of the legion talked about those men who had been killed in the war, whereas Ron and Eddie told each other about their own wounds and experiences. While the people were celebrating their heros, the Vietnam-veterans, and shouting that the U.S. would win the war, Ron and Eddie really hated that situation. When a commander claimed in his speech that they had to win for Ron and Eddie, it was very quiet all of a sudden. At the end of the event Ron met his friend Tommy, who was in Vietnam, too. As a result, he was very glad that he found someone who really knew how hellish that war was.
Whenever Ron saw young people, he admires them and got really depressive because he wanted to have sex once more. He would give everything in the world if he could get his dick back. As a result, he was often drunk in order to forget his problems.
To flee from his problems he went to Guadalajara in Mexico where "the whores were very understanding". There everything was different: everybody was happy, he was accepted by everyone. Furthermore, Ron really loved the Mexican girls. Some weeks later Ron and his friend Charlie were engaged in a fight in a whorehouse that he left Mexico and went back to N.Y.
There he registered at the university but some days later he broke his leg and had to spend six months in a hospital which was surely terrible for him because he felt like in prison. On one hand, the aides did not understand him, on another hand, his leg did not heal well that he was even taken to the intensive-care ward. In the hospital Ron had a lot of time for thinking about his life, Vietnam, a.s.o. As a result he wanted to know why he had to lose his legs and others even had to die. Therefore he decided to participate in the demonstrations against the war in 1970. Together with Skip, a relativ, he went to Washington to demonstrate against the invasion in Cambodia. Joining other rallys against the war he even hold speeches in which he talked about his experiences. During the winter he was in California where he met other veterans who fought against the war, too. Moreover, he often was on TV and told about his life or read poems. During a demonstration about twenty veterans were beaten and imprisoned on account of their subversive opinion.
In 1972 lots of veterans and opponents of the war went to the Convention Center in Miami where Nixon held his acceptance speech. There they wanted to show the American citizens that the war was horrible. Although the security agents tried to prevent that they were shown on TV, Ron and some of his friends managed it. As they were shouting \"Stop the bombs, stop the war\" during Nixon\'s speech they were kicked out.
Title:
Ron Kovic was born on fourth of July. He was very proud that he and his home country America had the same birthday. Every year there was a big party on this day which was delightfully for the whole neighbourhood, but especially for Ron.
Structure:
The book by Ron Kovic is divided into seven chapters which are number from 1 to 7. The story is not told chronologically because in the third chapter he talks about his childhood and in the seventh he described the war till his injury. In my opinion these scenes are quite the last because it was very difficult for Ron Kovic to write down, that he had killed his own corporal or that a group of marines had murdered lots of children.
Ron Kovic describes his childhood quite detailed which proves that he really liked it and had a lot of fun.
From to fourth chapter to the end the author uses both a first person narrator, like in the first three chapters, and a third person narrator which he chooses for some scenes which were really tough in his life.
Main themes:
There are some themes in the book which appear sometimes.
The real main theme in the book is the war.
Whereas he dreamed of the war in his childhood, he really hated it when he was in Vietnam. The war and the aftermaths of the war were so shocking for Ron Kovic that the veteran decided to fight with other vets against it in demonstrations, rallys and TV-shows.
First of all there are Ron\'s dreams and wishes which are changing quite a lot. In his childhood Ron wants that America is better than the Soviet-Union and the other communists, e.g. in space, in war, ...
Like every boy he wanted to have a beautiful girlfriend and to become a hero who is known really all over America and to join the marines. Beeause of his education Ron Kovic wants to be a good Catholic.
In Vietnam he dreamed of becoming a hero, but some weeks later he only wanted to get out of the crazy war when the corporal and many children were killed by mistake. He even speculated on getting injured in order to go home. However, when he was hit by a bullet, he changed his mind quickly. Now he only wanted to live. When it was sure that he would survive he dreamed in the different hospitals that he could walk, of a visit by his parents and a beautiful girl.
At home was real depressed because he had lost his penis in the war and so he went to Mexico where the whores understood his situation.
Back in the U.S. Ron found a new aim which was really hard and time-consuming, namely fighting against the war.
Another important theme in the book is the horror.
During his childhood Ron thought that communism is the absolute horror. He did not like a teacher who was communistic in his opinion.
In Vietnam the dead corporal and the Vietnamese children were following Ron in nightmares. He could not sleep till he had told it the major and had written a letter to his parents. He also felt better when lots of marines died in a fight against the communists. In to come to lerms with the past he wrote those odd things in the last chapter.
The most terrifying event in his life was when he was hit by a bullet and had to fight with death. The hospitals were also nerve-shattering that he even compared it with a concentration camp or with prison because the aides did not unterstand him and the other patients.
It was very hard for Ron, too, to act like heros at the Memorial day because in his opinon those people could not be heros who had killed lots of people.
But Ron\'s feeling appear in the many passages of the book, too.
When he went to Vietnam he felt as if he was a hero. However, some weeks later he felt like an animal which did not count anymore.
He was very happy when he met Eddy again because he was able to speak with him about things which Ron did not dare to mention them to his parents.
Since Ronny had paraplegia he always sensed that he was an outsider. The first time he did not feel so was when he flew to Mexico and sat in his seat in the aeroplane like everybody else.
After Ron had started demonstrating against the war he sometime felt that he could stop the war because of his speeches by himself which was very motivating for him.
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