Imagine being born on Independence Day, a symbol of American freedom, only to find yourself entangled in the brutal realities of the Vietnam War, a conflict that would shatter your body and soul. Ron Kovic's searing autobiography plunges into the depths of a young man's disillusionment as he grapples with the devastating consequences of war, both on the battlefield and on the home front. From an idealistic high school athlete, fueled by patriotic fervor and dreams of heroism, Kovic enlists in the Marines, eager to serve his country. However, the horrors he witnesses in Vietnam, including accidental killings and the senseless slaughter of innocent civilians, begin to erode his faith in the war's purpose. A devastating injury leaves him paralyzed from the chest down, forcing him to confront a new battle: the struggle for survival and dignity in a world that seems to have forgotten him. Returning home to a nation divided, Kovic faces indifference, alienation, and the crushing weight of his physical limitations. His journey towards healing and redemption leads him down a path of anti-war activism, where he finds his voice and becomes a powerful advocate for peace and social change. This unflinching account explores themes of patriotism, disillusionment, the physical and psychological wounds of war, and the search for meaning in the face of unimaginable loss. Follow Ron Kovic's transformation from a naive recruit to a passionate activist as he confronts his inner demons and challenges a nation to confront the true cost of war. Witness the raw and honest portrayal of a generation's struggle with trauma, identity, and the enduring power of the human spirit. The book unflinchingly portrays the realities of veteran life, the struggles with PTSD, and the challenges of reintegrating into a society that often fails to understand their sacrifices. Discover a story of courage, resilience, and the unwavering pursuit of justice in a world scarred by conflict. This profound and moving memoir is a testament to the enduring power of hope and the importance of speaking out against injustice, a vital read for anyone seeking to understand the human cost of war and the complexities of the American experience during the Vietnam era, offering insights into themes of disability, political activism, and personal transformation. This gripping narrative will leave you questioning the true meaning of patriotism and the responsibility we have to care for those who serve our country.
Information on the author:
Ron Kovic: main character, author, Vietnam victim, born on the 4th of July 1946, he was the eldest children out of six,
As a young man, Kovic thought that fighting in a war was a heroic, glamorous job. After high school, he began working at the local grocery store as a clerk just like his father. Fearing that he was doomed to lead the life his father had, he joined marines in 1964. Kovic said in his autobiography, "I wanted to be a hero." Kovic joined with every intention of being the best marine that he could be, wanting win as many medals as he could. One of the most pivotal experiences in Vietnam was when he accidentally shot a 19-year-old corporal who had been running toward him. Ashamed of what he did, he attempted to confess to his superiors, but they would not allow it. Another awakening moment for him was when they were given orders to kill a village which was thought to be armed. When he and his partner were assigned to take the body count, he was horrified to realize that they had killed women, children and the elderly. The worst part was that no one in the village was armed.
After these experiences, Ron wanted to go home. He began stepping on booby traps so that he might get injured enough to be sent back home. When a trap blew off his heel and then hit shattered his spinal chord, Kovic realized that he would never walk again.
The main characters:
In this book there are many characters but nobody is described nearly.
Willey: most wounded in hospital, he has lost everything from the neck down Jimmy and Dick: therapists who make the training with the invalid patients Tommy Law: friend since they were children, after the war they meet again Bobby Muller: friend from the V.A.hospital
Kenny: very good friend
Summary:
At the beginning of the book Ron Kovic told how he became paralysed. He reported the fights and told us that a black man picked him up and rescued his life without saying any word. Ron Kovic never saw his face. His body just was dragged into a hole in the sand and then other comrades helped him.
He also described the situation around him. Marines were crying like little children and everybody wanted to survive. They cried after their mothers.
Later a helicopter transported him away and he started hoping to get out of this hell. In this situation he could feel nothing from his chest down.
Ron Kovic was a sergeant and his date of birth is July 4th 1946.
In the hospital a priest was sent to Kovic and wanted to give him his “Last Rites”.
Kovic just asked “when will they operate?” again and again. He wanted to live so much. But his will to survive was strong enough. When he woke up many violated crying people were around him. They were crying for their morphine.
The morphine felt good. It was their last chance to fight against this horrible pain. With morphine they were able to leave madness. There was a very bad situation in the hospital and many wounded people died and even innocent children. After a certain period of time Ron Kovic could leave Vietnam and was brought to Queens.
In the hospital he tried to build up his body again. He began to dream of walking and prayed every night to god after the visitors left.
The situation without feet was very bad for him. Kovic compared the hospital with a concentration camp. He compared taking a shower with washing a car because he thought he doesn’t count as a human for the rest of the world anymore. His bed was the only place where he felt ‘good’ because there he could make himself believe this never happened. A catheter and a tube in his penis were things he needed to survive. Also the fact that he couldn’t ever make ‘it’ hard again was from this moment on part of his life. He didn’t want too many people to know how much of him has really died in the war. It was very difficult for him to talk with his family about the war. He called himself ‘the living dead man’, the sexless man, the man who can’t make children, the man who can’t walk, the man who can’t stand and the man who cries in the shower.
For Ron Kovic the 4th of July was a proud day to be born on. In this chapter Kovic tells very much about his family and childhood. He liked Baseball very much und it was very important for him to have many activities. Films with war-heroes impressed him. He also wanted to become very strong and so he began to train early. The result was that he checked his biceps each day.
Later he joined the high-school wrestling team. The trainer taught them a very important principle: ‘Play fair but play to win’
Kovic always wanted to become a hero and he wanted to play for the New York Yankees more than anything else in the world. His father wanted him to work in a supermarket but he didn’t want to be like his dad. So Ron Kovic went to the marines after the recruiters came and spoke to his senior class.
Patriotism was of great importance for him. The education was very hard.
Unhappily he was hurt badly in Vietnam. It wasn’t easy for him to master the whole situation when he came home. On Memorial Day he took part at the parade. Two marines picked him up and another comrade called Eddie was also picked up. But the hole thing was a big frustration for them. People and “friends” who were there stared at them like on animals in the zoo. Nobody of them was cheering or clapping just staring. Many speeches were held but Ron Kovic and his friend, “the real heroes” didn’t even have the chance to say a word. These people never have been in a war but they talked about it proudly.
Suddenly he heard a voice of an old friend and it was Tommy Law and both couldn’t hold back their feelings. Then they wanted to leave the parade and be alone. The situation for Ron Kovic was very bad. He also wanted to feel again. He said:” I will give anything, anything just to be inside a woman again. He didn’t even have time to learn how to enjoy it. His whole life seemed to be destroyed and so it also happened that he drank too much. Later he made a journey the first time after coming home from the hospital. He had heard of a place where even paralyzed men would get fucked. This village called Guadalajara was in Mexico. It was a place for young and old veterans. He hoped to find a woman or let’s say he wanted to have sex there. The first woman didn’t want to sleep with him but later he found another woman called Maria. She asked him if he wanted to marry her because she had a baby and didn’t want to do this job longer. He didn’t believe her and thought it was just a joke of her.
So he met many women , drank alcohol and got stoned. After these activities he went home.
At home he tried to find an apartment, registered at the university and began to have certain aims and goals. But suddenly he got a problem with his leg and had to go to the Bronx V.A. hospital. It was horrible and he compared hospital with a prison. The doctor even didn’t know the name of his patients and this frightened Ron Kovic. A good friend of Ron Kovic was his cousin Skip. He talked very much with him about Vietnam and gave him books with topics like racism and other topics. At the beginning Ron didn’t want to read them but then he started and he began to think about it and then he took part in a protest against the invasion of Cambodia. The first time he talked to people about Vietnam was in high school. Ron Kovic and Bobby Muller told other students what war was like.
After these speeches he gave up attending university because school seemed no longer important to him. What he really wanted to do was to go on speaking out. He held some other speeches but then Kenny one of his best friends asked him if he wanted to come with him and so they went to Los Angeles. In California he heard of veterans antiwar-demonstrations and his fascination grew. Ron Kovic became part of this community and his loneliness seemed to vanish. He got a new life-task. It was the chance to show people what wars are really like. Also in television he had the possibility to represent his position. Soon he became very famous and many people, organisations and schools wanted him to speak. It was a kind of therapy for him and whole America. After one speech he became arrested. The apprehension was very brutal but Ron Kovic didn’t stop speaking out against war.
After coming out of jail he meets a woman called Helen and she begins to love Ron. She had two children and was divorced. It was the first time after Mexico he was together with a woman. In this book Ron never really came to calmness. He also became depressed because the conflict in his heart never stopped working. Ron Kovic went to the Nixon acceptance speech to protest against the man who has spent the money on war which should be for healing and helping the wounded. When president Nixon started to speak Ron Kovic and two friends shouted “stop the bombing, stop the war”. But this protest was unheard. All people clapped for Nixon although they didn’t know whom they were supporting. Ron and his friends were happy to have interrupted the president. It was their kind of protest.
In the last chapter the whole story of the Vietnam war is told.
Ron always felt guilty for killing his corporal but it wasn’t his fault. Everything happened too quickly and it was an accident. He told the major the whole thing and he said that it wasn’t Kovic’s fault because the situation was very confusing. After talking with the major Ron felt much better. The big mistake what happened when many Vietnamese children died is also reported to us. These soldiers who accidentally killed the children even cried. Ron Kovic had to experience very hard and cruel things but he came to the decision that life must go on. In the war he wanted to die and ‘tried’ to be killed but then when he became hurt he wanted to live.
Critical Evaluation:
This book shows how easy the life of a young teenager can be destroyed. The Vietnam War cost many young soldiers and was a big illusion. Teenagers wanted to serve for their country and wanted to be heroes. What they haven’t been told was that the situation after war assumed they survive the war could be very hard. It is unimaginable how difficult life is when you loose a leg or become paralysed. And the sad thing was that a big part of the nation stood behind this cruel war. Ron Kovic showed the situation after a war very well and he tries with his book to give us an impression how precious the human life is. In wars humans act like animals and the fault can’t be given to the soldiers. At the beginning they thought the nation would stay behind their soldiers but when they came back as handicapped veterans their opinions weren’t respected. Ron Kovic tried to tell the nation how senseless wars are but nobody listened. What seems weird in this book is that other persons aren’t characterised well but I think he is the main character and shows his situation. I think he had to finish his fight with himself and to handle his own conflict. And I also mean that he accepted himself again at the end of the book. He always wanted to be a hero but the society showed him the opposite. He wasn’t integrated and it wasn’t easy to find people he could trust. We can’t imagine how cruel a war can be and which holes it can leave back in the hearts of people. The real fight for him was the fight after the war when nobody understood him and nobody showed any kind of respect.
I think this book surely helped many people to cope with their situation and they maybe got the feeling that also other humans had to experience much. The wrong way is trying to forget it and never to talk about it. When you don’t work up with it you can fall into big depression.
Frequently Asked Questions About "Born on the Fourth of July"
Who is Ron Kovic?
Ron Kovic is the main character and author of the book. He was born on July 4, 1946, and is depicted as a Vietnam War victim. The text details his initial heroic and glamorous view of war, his experiences as a Marine, including accidentally shooting a corporal and witnessing the killing of unarmed civilians, and his eventual paralysis after stepping on a booby trap.
Who are some of the other characters mentioned in the book?
While the book primarily focuses on Ron Kovic, other characters are mentioned, though not described in great detail. These include Willey (severely wounded), Jimmy and Dick (therapists), Tommy Law (childhood friend), Bobby Muller (friend from the V.A. hospital), and Kenny (a close friend).
What is the book's summary about?
The summary covers Ron Kovic's experiences, starting from his paralysis in Vietnam. It details his rescue, his initial physical state, and his stay in a hospital where he witnessed the suffering of other wounded soldiers. It describes his return to the United States, his struggles with his physical condition, and his attempts to rebuild his life. The summary also explores his childhood, his reasons for joining the Marines, his experiences at the Memorial Day parade, his journey to Mexico seeking intimacy, and his eventual involvement in anti-war protests.
What are some of Ron Kovic's key experiences in Vietnam?
Pivotal experiences include accidentally shooting a corporal, witnessing the killing of unarmed civilians, and ultimately becoming paralyzed after stepping on a booby trap. These experiences led to his disillusionment with the war.
What are some of the challenges Ron Kovic faced after returning from Vietnam?
He faced numerous challenges, including physical rehabilitation, emotional trauma, feelings of sexual inadequacy, difficulty connecting with his family, societal indifference, and finding a sense of purpose. He struggled with his identity as a "living dead man" and felt isolated from the world.
What led to Ron Kovic's involvement in anti-war protests?
His experiences in Vietnam, coupled with his disillusionment with the government and the war's impact, led him to participate in anti-war demonstrations. He also spoke publicly about his experiences, aiming to educate people about the realities of war.
What is the critical evaluation of the book?
The critical evaluation suggests the book effectively portrays the devastating impact of the Vietnam War on young soldiers and exposes the illusion of heroism. It highlights the challenges veterans faced after the war and questions the senselessness of war. It also acknowledges the book's focus on Ron Kovic's personal journey and his struggle for self-acceptance.
- Quote paper
- Johannes Habersatter (Author), 2001, Kovic, Ron - Born on the 4th of July, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/104756
