The Vietnam War Memorial

The Vietnam War account, the likes of the struggle it registerizes, was initially steeped in controversy. It was called unemotional and a black lash of shame. Criticism was leveled at the artist for her being of Asian extraction. homogeneous the Vietnam War, Americans gradually began to see the other side of the coin and it is now wholeness of Americas most r incessantlyed art magical spells. It is comprised of black granite panels garb into ground so that the viewer literally walks into the piece. On the panel is carved the names of the 58,000 plus American warfare murdered (Sands).It is a piece of music of the landscape by design. Lin said, I didnt want to destroy a living park. You use the landscape. You dont fight with it, (greatbuildings.com). A associate piece, a statue of American warriors, war weary and in battle curb was erected at the site. I think the memorial is a moving piece of art, fraught with symbolism that is more apparent when visiting it than it can e ver be from photos or descriptions. It is the duty of any area that sends its young custody into combat to remember and honor those who gave the ultimate for their country.I think that enchantment hostilities are on-going and the deaths are mounting, however, the tri plainlye should take a shape different from a cold memorial. I think the man who direct them to the war zone should read us the names of all(prenominal) locomote warrior at the close of day and explain how that warrior died. If he refuses, hence each day in the House of Representatives the names should be read, and those names then be carried to the White House.The purpose of a war memorial is non al tracks the same for every war and for every cause. It can be a tribute to the travel dead in a war that was waged for survival. It can be a piece of propaganda for a war that had no business being waged. It can be designed and erected as a balm to bring around the scars of a bitter and divisive conflict. Vietnam divided our nation and airlessly brought us into open rebellion with the government that refused to listen to the pull up stakes of the spate.The veterans of the Vietnam War seem to be flooded with memories when they confront the names of locomote comrades whose names are engraved in the polished black granite. Yusef Komunyakaas poem, Facing It, described the feeling he had of being back in the war, symbolically being inside the memorial itself. He could see the outburst that killed his friend by reading the mans name on the wall. I touch the name Andrew Johnson I see the booby kettle of fishs white flash, (lines 16-17), he says in the poem. At Santa Monica Beach near Los Angeles every Sunday a local chapter of the Veterans for peace of mind erects a short memorial to the fallen dead of the Iraq War (Veterans For Peace).It is called Arlington West for the Arlington National graveyard in the east. It is similar to and different from the Vietnam War Memorial. It has a list o f fallen Americans as a tribute to them but also it memorializes the dead Iraqis, which the Vietnam hem in does not do for the fallen Vietnamese. Volunteers erect rows of crosses and symbolic flag absorbed coffins. It is more performance art than a permanent fixture but still emotionally moving, particularly to the families of the dead. Visiting in that location is a way to express the grief and frustration the same as at the Vietnam Wall. It shows that there is not a single way to make up a memorial any more than there a single way to create art. There are different ways to move people.The Vietnam Wall is a vital robust and moving tribute to a nasty war. It has helped to heal a divided nation and bring closure. The Arlington West project is for an ongoing war and can be seen as a protest of that war as much as a memorial to the dead. The idea of requiring the people who send men off to war to read the names of the dead seems to be fitting. They would be forced to see the toll t hey are pickings at least in terms of numbers and perhaps repose a face on the dead. For now they are simply statistics.BibliographyGreatbuildings.com 2007 Viet Nam Veterans Memorial Retrieved 4-3-07Fromhttp//www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Vietnam_Veterans_Memorial.htmlKomunyakaa, Y. Facing It HERE INSERT THE FOLLOWING NAME OF TEXT BOOK, urban center OF issue FOLLOWED BY COLON, THEN NAME OF PUBLISHER AND THE YEAR OF PUBLICATIONSands, K. Jack Magazine Maya Lins Wall A Tribute to Americans Retrieved 4-3-07 from http//www.jackmagazine.com/issue9/essayksands.htmlVeterans For Peace 4-07 Arlington West Memorial Santa Monica Retrieved4-3-07 from http//www.arlingtonwestsantamonica.org/