"APO 96225"

"APO 96225"
by Larry Rottmann

Situational irony is displayed in this free verse poem when the son initially writes only simple and easily handled information about the war, like "sure rains a lot here," and "you ought to see the funny monkeys" (Rottmann, 846).  The mother pleads with her son to be honest, but when he does, the father admonishes him for upsetting his mother.  Its ironic that once the son was actually honest, the mother didn't want to hear it.  The speaker seems to have critical and slightly disapproving or disappointed attitude toward the parents, the mother particularly.  This can be paralleled with the speakers critical view towards the attitude of the American public toward the war in Vietnam.  Americans were hypocritical; they asked for the truth, but when they got it, they didn't want to hear it.  They only wanted to hear the positive or simple or nonviolent feedback from the war, not the truth of the horrible tragedies that were occurring every day.  Because the truth was so upsetting, American citizens, just like the mother, only decided to listen to what they could handle, and thus had a distorted view of the war.  The author uses mother as a symbol of how all Americans during war time say they want the truth, but simply can't handle it.