(nehta.org)
Within Their Dogs Came With Them there is a constant recurring motif of isolation throughout the novel amongst all characters and situations. Segregation of communities created by the freeways and helicopters, the loss of parents, siblings, and friends is consistent with this theme of isolation. For this searcher post, I am examining the parallels and ramifications the lottery had on Turtle with the departure of her brother, Luis Lil Lizard, and how the draft may be the reason for Turtle’s homelessness and defiance.
First, it is important to cite the draft was discriminately aimed at lower class citizens, usually minorities, and more so specifically in impoverished areas that had less political representation. This was one of the main reasons why the draft was rescinded.
As Ku Bia writes in an analysis of the lottery,
“A lot of draft-age men received deferments were from wealthy and educated families. Highly prominent political figures who were accused of improperly avoiding the draft includes Bill Clinton and Dick Cheney.”
We may see Luiz Lil Lizard as fitting the bill for a draftee because of his ethnicity, his location in East Los Angeles, and his living situation, being that he was not in college or married. We see other examples of this inequality such as within Gods Go Begging, as Jesse describes his fellow soldiers as Mexicans, Blacks, coming from low income families, with little to no education whatsoever (one reason Jesse sticks out is because of his education).
“American forces in Vietnam included twenty-five percent poor, fifty-five percent working-class, twenty percent middle-class men, but very few came from upper-classes families. Many soldiers came from rural towns and farming communities”
There are many parallels between Turtle and her brother during the time of the draft. Lizard was taken away, into a foreign, unknown land. Being in Vietnam, as we saw in Gods Go Beginning, one must persistently pursue survival lest be killed during treacherous firefights and guerilla warfare. Whereas Lizard’s life changed substantially — leaving his home, his family, his friends, his protection, Turtle acts in a similar manner. Turtle voluntarily leaves the McBride gang, takes it upon herself to live without a home, without familiar faces, and without protection. Turtle finds herself in an increasingly dark, hostile community with rival gangs always on the lookout. Like her brother, Turtle fights to survive, albeit not in a foreign country, Turtle still finds herself in an entirely new situation — finding food, shelter, water, and a place to sleep at night are all obstacles Turtle must overcome daily. Likewise, Lizard, being away in Vietnam, must have been enduring similar situations of survival.
Having grown up together, Turtle, in a symbolic way, follows her brother’s steps — both characters abandoning their known life into a new, uncertain, dangerous living situation. This may be accredited to a sense of solidarity Turtle feels, being that since she may be enduring similar events as her brother, may bring them closer in some way.
Cited:
Bia, Ku. “Vietnam War Draft – The Vietnam War.” The Vietnam War. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.
I enjoyed your post about Vietnam, the draft, and its inequalities. The quote, “’American forces in Vietnam included twenty-five percent poor, fifty-five percent working-class, twenty percent middle-class men, but very few came from upper-classes families. Many soldiers came from rural towns and farming communities’” resonated with me. This is such an unfortunate reality for the armed forces. While this was the case for Vietnam, this is indicative of today as well. More people of color die during combat; areas with large populations of people of color and the working-class are targeted for recruitment, and even undocumented servicemen/women serve and die for the country in which they are not considered citizens. The first soldier to die during the Iraq War was an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala.
Driving down a busy street in LA recently, I saw a large billboard ad for the Marines that had a picture of a “typical,” darker skinned Latino in uniform and the caption read, “Celebrating Hispanic Values and the Marines Who Act on Them.” So many things could be said about this billboard so I will not narrow it down to how it was obviously targeting Latinos and what is perceived as their cultural beliefs.
It is a shame to see that to this day, under privileged young men and women are being targeted to risk their lives while the more privileged remain unaffected.