Exploring Trauma and Memory through the Social Monad

Abstract

Ted, an interviewee I discuss in more detail in chapter five, attempts to separate his father from the image of the prototypical Vietnam Veteran throughout the interview, explaining, “There was that stigma that everybody over there [in Vietnam] got attached with. And even, you’d see those reports in the media, ‘former Vietnam Veteran opens fire at a McDonalds restaurant’ or whatever, then it brings back that stigma that’s so prevalent.” Similarly, Samantha, another interviewee, made the comment that when Vietnam Veterans were finally acknowledged by society in the media they were portrayed as men who had a lot of problems, leading people to assume “that half the street bums on the corner are probably old Vietnam Veterans.” In Ted and Samantha’s minds these types of assumptions generate the negative undertones constituting the image of the Vietnam Veteran. This is not a benign image; rather, it is one that actively interjects into their personal relationships. They and my other interviewees seek to generate a different view of their fathers—Vietnam Veterans.