Emmett Smith returned from the war, but it never really ended for him. He didn't come home with gun shot wounds or list limbs, but according to Sam; he shows the effects of Agent Orange. The chemical, Agent Orange, was sprayed on the dense jungles in Vietnam to make the leaves fall off of the trees. American troops often got sprayed and later suffered from various conditions, such as, skin rashes, painful headaches, breathing problems and even cancer. Sam is very concerned with Emmett's symptoms. She constantly asks him to go to a doctor and she even tells him to write into the newspaper medical columnist, Dr. Dobbs. "Why don't you write and ask him about those firecrackers in your head? And ask him w

Essentially, Sam feels lonely and realizes she has been so involved in everyone around her that she hasn't been able to help herself. Before she finds herself, she must fulfill her desire to know her father, Dwayne Hughes, who died in Vietnam. If she becomes familiar with her father, the emptiness within her will be filled and she can finally begin to discover herself. Her search begins with letters that her father wrote her mother, which she finds in her mother's closet. Sam arranges them chronologically and proceeds to read them, hoping to find out who Dwayne Hughes was. While reading the letters, Sam finds proof that her father did choose her name. However, she feels "cheated" by this because, "He was counting on a boy. Samantha was an afterthought" (182). After reading all of the letters, she doesn't feel any closer to her father, in fact she feels very unfulfilled. Sam realized, "The dead took their secrets with them. She wondered how far to go in honoring the dead if the dead offer you nothing except a little mindless protection, by keeping their secrets from you" (182). These letters do not give Sam the information she wants to know; what Vietnam was like for her father and all of the other soldiers. In hopes of finding this, Sam goes to visit her grandparent's farm.

At the farm, Sam discovers many things, such as old pictures of her father and most importantly, his journal from the war. After reading the journal, Sam is "humiliated and disgusted" by the war and those who fought in it, including Emmett and her father (205). Sam comes home and finds the house flea bombed and vacant, and with her new found information she gathers a few things, leaves the journal for Emmett and runs off to Cawood Pond. At Cawood Pond, a nature reserve, Sam attempts to experience the feeling of being in the war. Following Sam's night at Cawood Pond, Emmett finds her. He says, "You think you can go through what we went through our in the jungle, but you can't. This place is scary...but it's not the..." (220). She understands that it is impossible to recreate the terror and atmosphere of the Vietnam War, but her adventure helped her to ease her disgust of those who fought (209).

In light of their denial to get out of past, Emmett suggests that he and Sam visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial i

Some common words found in the essay are:
Dwayne Hughes, Agent Orange, Wall Emmett, Vietnam War, Moon Pie, Lorenzo Jones, Kentucky Emmett, Emmett Smith, Lonnie Dawn's, Dr Dobbs, agent orange, vietnam war, cawood pond, sam concerned emmett's, sam hughes, emmett smith, sam attempts, war sam, able war, returned war, vietnam veterans, vietnam veterans memorial,
Approximate Word count = 1568
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)