Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews February 2, 2023 January 26, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
The camaraderie among the members of the squad begins to overcome their social prejudices. Lobel declares that he will side with the black soldiers against the racist Dongan should the need arise. Monaco displays similar loyalty to the black soldiers. Johnson is indifferent toward Lobel’s sexual orientation, declaring that any soldier who fights beside him is an ally, regardless of his personal preferences. This statement of tolerance illustrates the squad members’ need to support one another, despite their differences. By living and fighting so closely, the soldiers become able to look past superficial differences and appreciate one another for their fundamental human qualities. Richie says that they are “trying to keep each other alive,” suggesting that they fully appreciate each other’s humanity above anything else.
Myers also suggests that wartime standards of morality are dramatically different from civilian standards of morality. The incident with the exploding child reminds us that there are aspects of war that are unthinkable during peacetime. In the madness of the war, a mother will sacrifice even her own child for the sake of killing just one enemy soldier. The incident redraws the blurred lines between the side of good and the side of bad, as the American soldiers believe that their side would never encourage a mother to use her child as a weapon. In this sense, the incident helps the soldiers regain the feeling that they are on the side of good. Yet the incident does not satisfy Richie’s questions about the moral ambiguity of war. After all, the mother would never have been compelled to perform such a horrible action if the Americans were not fighting in Vietnam. Like all the other portrayals of battle in the novel, the mother’s sacrifice of her child neither condemns nor justifies the war in Vietnam, but it raises a new set of difficult and important questions.
The loss of the dead soldiers’ dog tags has similarly profound repercussions for Richie’s emotional state. The loss of these tags is highly symbolic: with the bodies burned and the dog tags lost, there is literally nothing left of the soldiers who have died. Their identities have been erased as if they never existed at all. Richie instantly recognizes that the event represents the tragedy of any lost soldier. Although the idealized version of war may claim that each soldier dies with dignity and meaning, in reality most soldiers die in obscurity, with no meaning behind their deaths other than bad luck. Every soldier’s situation is almost as drastic as that of the soldiers whose bodies and dog tags are lost forever—their sacrifices are anonymous and quickly forgotten.
Please wait while we process your payment