Times of Change readings Section 2

Reading #1 Jack Smith.

1. Challenges Jack faces:
   Jack is young and inexperienced
   Jack is with a group of very inexperienced men
   Jack was wounded and dazed, but still survived
   The "Skyraiders" drop bombs and napalm on their own men
   
2. Over time Jack’s attitude about the war changes. He starts out not thinking he would serve, that the war in Vietnam was far away and that he would not be sent. When he is sent, all of that changes. He sees all of the deaths and the wounded men, and becomes bitter. It takes him many years to rid himself of those feelings of misanthropy and gloom.
   

Reading #2 I Feel Like I’m Fixing to Die Rag

1. The song asks: the big strong men to join the army and fight, the generals to move fast and attack the commies, Wall Street to make money on the war, and the mothers to send their boys to Vietnam
2. “What are we fighting for”, “Whoopee! We’re all gonna die”, “To have your boy come home in a box”, “We’re gonna have a whole lotta fun”
   Reading #3 Farmer Nguyen, Massacre at My Lai, and A Nun at Ninh Hoa
   These poems show that the war really hurt the people of Vietnam. The massacre at My Lai killed almost 350 innocent children, women, and babies. Also, anyone who had any connection with the Viet Cong, real or rumor, was treated harshly or killed.

Reading #3 Farmer Nguyen, Massacre at My Lai, and A Nun at Ninh Hoa

1. These poems show that the war really hurt the people of Vietnam. The massacre at My Lai killed almost 350 innocent children, women, and babies. Also, anyone who had any connection with the Viet Cong, real or rumor, was treated harshly or killed.