Critiques of American Society in Science Fiction — Unit test

Question 19 • DBN LA 6-CR

Which excerpt from A Rumor of War best illustrates Vietnam’s uncomfortable climate?

Answer

By autumn, what had begun as an adventurous expedition had turned into an exhausting, indecisive war of attrition in which we fought for no cause other than our own survival.

But there were no Normandies and Gettysburgs for us, no epic clashes that decided the fates of armies or nations. The war was mostly a matter of enduring weeks of expectant waiting and, at random intervals, of conducting vicious manhunts through jungles and swamps where snipers harassed us constantly and booby traps cut us down one by one.

The tedium was occasionally relieved by a large-scale search-and-destroy operation, but the exhilaration of riding the lead helicopter into a landing zone was usually followed by more of the same hot walking, with the mud sucking at our boots and the sun thudding against our helmets while an invisible enemy shot at us from distant tree lines.

Weeks of bottled-up tensions would be released in a few minutes of orgiastic violence, men screaming and shouting obscenities above the explosions of grenades and the rapid, rippling bursts of automatic rifles.

Explanation

Choice C best illustrates the uncomfortable climate by describing “hot walking,” mud sucking at the soldiers’ boots, and the sun beating down on their helmets. Those details directly convey the heat and difficult, muddy conditions. The other excerpts focus mainly on the war’s attrition, combat, or tension rather than the climate.

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