Week 9 Post - "Missing" Explication

One theme I have been following throughout each of our readings is the irreversible change the Vietnam War has evoked in its participants. Each individual has experienced a different alteration in their physical appearance or personality, but a commonality among many has been the escape from a previous version of themselves. They allowed the country and the war to redefine who they are. In “Missing,” Butler goes to such as extremes of escapism that he actually builds a whole new family and fully integrates into the Vietnamese culture. He marries into a family and brings a new life into the world that is a mixture of his past-self and redefined-self. His daughter, just like his blonde hair, is a constant visual reminder that he will always be an outsider even though he has made a home in Vietnam. He feels remorse for bestowing his American features on her “as if she had gotten from me imperfect cells that had made…a weak heart.” He believes that he has forced his foreign physical features on her as well as his emotional weaknesses. All these years since he deserted the US army in Vietnam, he has been hiding from his past, but is now faced with memories of his original home upon appearing in the newspaper. Memories are a vulnerability. Butler speaks of his encounters and assimilation into the Vietnamese culture fondly, a hope for his future. The family is the central concern. However, when he speaks of his American past, he only mentions characteristics of the landscape and environment, no human or family interactions. He fears mentally entering the “great bland jaws of that house” because he has such a heavy sense of alienation. He was unable to relate to his original family, yet he is physically incapable of fully assimilating into his new family because of the color of his skin and hair. Essentially, he is a man running from one home to another without any successful sense of belonging. So many men and women suffered from this lost sense of self as veterans returning home. Even if they came home to family that was previously unified, their self-image had been altered so significantly by the war, they were essentially a complete stranger in their own homes. The man in the wheel chair comes to mind. He left for war a man in love with a wonderful woman, but came back a man whom she could no longer love. This war had such a significant impact on the lives of so many.