SOME ESSAY POINTERS

POINTS TO TAKE ON BOARD WHEN WRITING ESSAYS FOR DEAR AMERICA

(1) In the text Dear America – Letters Home From Vietnam, the soldiers are the writers and authors of the letters. There is no one author/writer. Therefore, as you can’t use the name of an author/writer refer to the editor of the text, Bernard Edelman, particularly in the introduction of many essays. He is the man who collected, sorted and chose the letters to be used in the text.

For example –
The text Dear America edited by Bernard Edelman is a compilation of letters from serving American soldiers in Vietnam during their tour of duty.

In the text Dear America – Letters Home From Vietnam, edited by Bernard Edelman, he has compiled hundreds of letters written by soldiers serving in Vietnam to family and friends home in America.

In an essay, once you have used the full name of the author of a text, or in this case the editor, for a first time, (as in the introduction above); you can then just refer to their surname if you use their name again in the essay.

For example –
Through the compilation of letters written by soldiers in Vietnam home to their family and friends in America, Edelman aimed to bring an understanding of the war and its effects on those who served to life for the readers of the text.

In the introduction to essays on this text you need to weave in the title and editor of the text.

(2) Underline or place ‘……’ around the title of the text. Be consistent in your choice.

(3) Refer to individual letters in the text through both (A) direct quotes and (B) indirect examples.

For example –

(A) The letters home were important to the soldiers. ‘Mom, I appreciate all of your letters,’ Rod Chastant wrote. ‘…For a while as I read your letters I am a normal person. I’m not killing people, or worried about being killed.’

The conditions the soldiers experienced in the jungles of Vietnam were alien to them. As one soldier related home in his letter, ‘we are all scared’. Another soldier recorded of his first experience in combat, ‘This was my first experience of war and it was ugly’.

(B) In a letter home to his wife Linda, Fred Downs expressed his feelings about what he felt about the role he was playing in Vietnam. He….

(4) When appropriate and the topic allows:

Recognise the thematic nature of the chapters. (The letters in each chapter have been included because they all make some reference to or are concerned with different elements of the soldiers’ tour of duty…)

(5) Make reference to the photographs used at the start of the chapters and what they add to the impact of the text.

(6) There is a change of tone in the chapters throughout the text.

For example –

• At the start it was new, exciting to a point
• Shift to combat zone highlights the idea that war is hell
• Later there is disillusionment about the tasks that were asked to be done and some begin to question the reasons for being there

(7) Don’t forget the biographical details that are given at the end of most letters. This is part of the way the text has been structured. The inclusion of these details is aimed at adding to the emotional impact on the reader. This is particularly the case when it is discovered that the letter writer was killed in action.