Lord of the Flies
... the idea of negative transitions brought about by the war with a statement about marijuana's public, widespread, carefree use in Vietnam. He includes several anecdotes that illustrate to which degree the substance is abused. A friend of O'Brien's, Ted Lavender, "carried six or seven ounces of premium dope"(4), which indicates not only the soldiers' familiarity with the drug, but their acquired knowledge of the quality of the drug. The discouragement of marijuana, as well as other drugs, was previously the accepted view of Americans; however, according to O'Brien, is has become the norm for Americans in Vietnam. The war has completely reversed their morals. Once they carried a corpse out to "a dry paddy. . .and sat smoking the dead man's dope until the chopper came. Lieutenant Cross kept to himself"(8). Even the squad's supervisor, the platoon leader Lieutenant Cross, is unaffected by the soldiers' blatant use of an illegal substance; he has become so used to the occurrence that he no longer condemns its use. For even a leader of men to be morally warped by the war is an effective idea in O'Brien's discouragement of war. 2) Increase in violence: Predominantly represented by the hunt; the hunt of the pig and the hunt of the boys. The violent nature that the soldiers acquired during their tour in Vietnam is one of O'Brien's predominant themes in his novel. The VC from which Bowker took the thumb was just "a boy"(13), giving the image of a young, innocent person who should not have been subjected to the horrors of war. The connotation associated with boy enhances the fact that killing has no emotional effect on the Americans, that they kill for sport and do not care who or what their game may be. Just as perverse as killing boys, though, is the killing of "a baby"(85), the connotation being associated with human infants even though it is used to describe a young water buffalo they torture. The idea of a baby is abstract, and the killing of one is frowned upon in modern society, regardless of species. O'Brien creates an attitude of disgust in the reader with the word, further fulfilling his purpose in condemning violence. Even more drastic in connotation to be killed is the "orphaned puppy"(39). Adding to the present idea of killing babies is the idea of killing orphaned babies, which brings out rage within the reader. The whole concept is metaphoric, based on the connotations of key words; nevertheless, it is extremely effective in...