The Vietnam War is undoubtedly one of the most controversial and debated wars in American history. The protests against it sparked a new era of anti-government sentiment in the United States and contributed to the birth of the hippie and anti-war movement for which the time is known. The Vietnam War also showed some of the worst cases of post-traumatic stress disorder and other changes in soldiers returning home than had been seen up to that point. In Vietnam, A History, Stanley Karnow attempts to discern what made the Vietnam War so different from others and what caused the effects it had on its soldiers. He quotes John Kerry as saying, "the country couldn't care less about the boys coming back - or what they had been through." (27). But whether they cared or not, the government and the country began to feel the same effects of the war that these veterans felt: a change in American culture caused by the Vietnam War. In his short story “Greasy Lake,” TC Boyle illustrates the dehumanizing effect of the Vietnam War on American soldiers through the use of a war motif, a nature motif, and an automotive motif. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayBoyle uses the motif of war to show that his characters have gone through a negative transformative experience and to create a parallel between their transformation and the transformation of the American soldiers in Vietnam. In the story's opening paragraph, Boyle states that the characters are nineteen (687), which is what Karnow says was the average age of American soldiers in the Vietnam War. This was a remarkably low average age compared to past wars. The story's unnamed protagonist describes one of his actions as "a tactical error, as damaging and irreversible in its way as Westmoreland's decision to entrench himself at Khe Sanh." (689). This is a very plausible comparison. The protagonist's action of dropping the keys led to a chain of events that would change him forever, leaving him bruised and battered in both body and spirit, just as the actions that caused the Vietnam War led to these same consequences for the American soldiers. Towards the end of the story, the protagonist describes him and his friends as “like zombies, like war veterans”. (694). A study conducted in 1990 found that approximately 30.9% (about 1 in 3) of Vietnam veterans returned home with some form of post-traumatic stress disorder, which in many cases was in the form of severe depression and inability to connect to live at home. The term “zombie,” while slightly crude, would accurately describe both many war veterans and the protagonist and his friends. Boyle supports his position that the Vietnam War had dehumanizing effects on soldiers with a nature motive. Boyle uses the motif of nature to show that the characters' experience reflects the Dark Romantic idea that one enters nature and discovers the animalistic nature of humanity. At the beginning of the story, the protagonist describes the party scene at Greasy Lake and a typical evening for him and his friends. He states, “This was nature.” (688). Towards the end of the story, the protagonist describes the sun rising in the morning over the wreckage of his mother's car and the stillness of the world around them. He says again: “This was nature”. (693). This repetition shows that the characters' meaning of nature has changed after their experiences at Greasy Lake in this story. During the characters' attempted rape of the woman, the protagonist describes them. 2014.