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outlet to allow him to release the horror he witnessed during the war. Because she constantly avoids his discussions, he tries to reach her by drawing out his story, to which she says "Why are you going through so much trouble?" (660). Jeanette misunderstands the meaning of Donald's drawing. He is telling her what the reader understands--that he can not get her to listen to him so he chooses a nonverbal form of communication to help him get the message to her. Jeanette keeps subverting Donald's attempts to deal with the war, which drives him away from his family, and finally to the VA hospital. The main characterization of Donald, which is not filtered through Jeanette or her mother, is that he is obsessed with making his wife, and by extension his family, understand what he witnessed in Viet Nam. Donald feels that he had a part in "ruin[ing]" Viet Nam, which is why his job as a land "reclaimer" is very important to him (657). Donald tries six times over the course of the story to get Jeanette to understand his experience in Viet Nam, but it isn't until the final time, as he is explaining about Phan, and how her village was destroyed that Jeanette connects with him. By the third time he has decided that she "will never understand" and his discussions turn more animated and violent as a result. What allows her to connect to him is the way he tells her that the last story "don't mean nothing"(667). This last story centers around the beauty of
Viet Nam and his relationship to Phan, a girl he describes as beautiful," and "gentle," like she had "grown up out of the jungle" (667). The story also reflects his shame and guilt at having blown the jungle and Phan's village "sky high"(668). The jungle, the people, and especially Phan disappear, leaving Donald no closure to the experience. When Jeanette asks "is that the end of the story?" and Donald tells her "I don't know," we get a very real sense that Donald will always search for a closure to his violent experience in the war. Not coincidentally, this story is the triggering event for Donald's decision to enter the VA hospital. Jeanette's mother, the therapist, and the social worker are all characterized through what they say to Jeanette as opposed to what the do in the story. Jeanette's mother is a gossip who plants the first seeds of fear in her daughters head. It is she who takes Rodney to church, where he hears that his father is a messenger from the devil"(669). The therapist and social worker both play much the same role. Both characters encourage Jeanette to start doing something for herself, rather than waiting for something to change. The therapist tries to get Jeanette to realize that the families problems are not all a result of Donald's behavior, and the social worker encourages her to escape reality by reading. Both of these suggestions are
Page 1 and 2: Wayne Chung English 1302 Tom Grimes
Page 3 and 4: In "Big Bertha Stories" the uncerta
Page 5 and 6: that the narrator denies any unders
Page 7 and 8: her child, someone like the fathers
Page 9 and 10: also resent being treated as if she
Page 11: "trivial" while she sees Rodney's "
Page 15 and 16: him find a common ground between hi
Page 17 and 18: are hidden because they would give
Page 19 and 20: shown by the narrative voice. We ne
Page 21: Works Cited Cheever, John. “The D

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