Outside Reading #3

Another important characteristic of stories is that they allow us to see through the eyes of other people. In the book Matterhorn, a novel of the Vietnam War, the reader can see how the soldiers viewed the war. Mellas, the main character observes, "It was all absurd, without reason or meaning. People who didn't know each other were going to kill each other over a hill none of them cared about." While most people at the homefront during a war view the war as simply an event, the soldiers actually view it as a meaningless tug of war for positioning that is controlled by their superiors. Ultimately, they view themselves as pawns manipulated in the game of war. Another view of the value of war can be seen in another part of the book. Mellas says, "Victory in combat is like sex with a prostitute. For a moment you forget everything in the sudden physical rush, but then you have to pay your money to the woman showing you the door. You see the dirt on the walls and your sorry image in the mirror." Again the reader is shown the perspective of the soldier in that war seems important in the moment but afterwards it is viewed for what it really is: a dirty, pointless event. Stories give life to the perspective of the characters, like those of soldiers in Matterhorn.