Carried to the Wall Haas
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The nature of Kristin Ann Hass’ Carried to the Wall: American Memory and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a unique perspective when it comes to the changing authority of public monuments and their audiences. According to the author, the post-Vietnam War era has seen a change in the way audiences read memorials. Hass argues that they do so now with a more active and critical view. Making comparisons with the Civil War, Hass argues that the Vietnam was challenged the very nature of American patriotism and the relationship between the individual and the state. As Rachel Decker of The Michigan Daily noted upon the publication of Carried to the Wall, the memorial did not just symbolize the war and its losses but also redefined American patriotism, “'The Vietnam war shattered what it meant to be a patriotic American,’ Hass said. So the wall, completed in 1982, was supposed to be a memorial for the veterans ‘to create a community of grief that they hadn’t had” (1).In a sense, the Hass’ book is a dissertation-like study of why individuals leave the many and diverse objects at the base of the memorial in Washington, D.C. Using Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of heteroglossia, Hass argues that these varied items left at the base of the monument represent an interactive exchange between the state and individuals, symbolizing an ongoing negotiation between the state and the public with respect to patriotism, nationalism, and memorials. Hass’
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than were killed in the war. In an otherwise profusely documented book, she offers only an ambiguous citation for this assertion…that has no basis in fact” (1).
CONTENT
The content of the book traces the history of American funerary traditions, the history of war memorials, and the history of the changing meaning of war – particularly in symbolic terms. Because of war, funerary traditions and memorials help create public memory. The Vietnam memorial was complicated because of the different opinions regarding the war. Historical analysis is tied together with the role of the viewer or public memorials. This memorial is meant to symbolize those who gave their lives fighting for their country, but it also stands as a symbol of the division over the conflict. Maya Ying Lan was chosen as the winning architect for the memorial, a senior at Yale. Her design is explored by Haas as critical to allowing for such a negotiation of meaning and memory between individuals and the state. Her stark “V” designed with a mirrored black surface allows for reflection and invites individuals to leave their own impression on the memorial. As Decker (1) notes, Hass argues that the gifts “Suggest that ordinary Americans deeply crave a memory. A
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1728
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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