A few days ago, I started reading The Women by Kristin Hannah because I had heard good things about it. While reading it, I kept it in mind as a possible blog post topic since it deals with the Vietnam War. However, it was not until one of the last pages in the book that I found a quote that reminded me of this class.
The Women is about a woman, Frankie, who had just graduated nursing school. Her brother and her are extremely close and when he joins the navy to fight in the Vietnam War, she cannot bear the thought of him leaving her. As a result, she becomes a combat nurse for the army. The story takes place over a decade and follows Frankie’s experiences in Vietnam and what she had to deal with after returning, both socially and psychologically. At the end of the book, Frankie is finally happy and feels closure with her experiences and has a time of self-reflection. The line that stood out to me was, “We trusted what our parents taught us about…the American myth of equality and justice and honor” (146).
While this quote could be related to many topics we have discussed, I find it relates most to the discrimination Frankie faced as being a woman. When Frankie came home from Vietnam, she experienced the hatred many people had towards the Vietnam veterans. However, what was different with her was that they refused to even recognize her as a veteran, even though she was a nurse enlisted in the army. Frankie was refused help multiple times in recovery groups because they did not believe she actually went to Vietnam or had PTSD because she was never on the battlefield, simply because she was a woman. In addition, her father refused to put up her picture next to her brother or other male family members who had served. So while the American Dream involves equality for all, as a woman, Frankie was never able to be recognized for her service or helped mentally, until over ten years later. This differed from the men who started to be recognized years before her and who were welcomed to receive mental help immediately.
Hannah, Kristin. The Women. St Martin’s Press, 2024.