It can be difficult to fully understand the effects that the Vietnam War had not only on veterans, but also on the nation as a whole. Violent fighting and acts of war have become all too common during the long years of conflict. War has distorted the character of soldiers and civilians and desensitized their mentalities to the cruelty witnessed on the battlefield. Bao Ninh and Tim O'Brien, both war veterans, recount their experiences of war and use the loss of love as a metaphor for the detrimental effects of years of combat. Bao Ninh's novel, The Sorrow of War, tells a very realistic story. and explicit story of Kien, a North Vietnamese soldier and writer, during the Vietnam War. Kien manages to survive, usually by luck, through battles and situations in which surviving seems futile. When Kien's entire platoon is killed in combat, he is one of the few to survive. This seems to be both a blessing and a curse, for Kien has “perhaps witnessed more murders and seen more corpses than any other contemporary writer” (Ninh, 89). As one might imagine, Kien is haunted daily by horrific hallucinations and memories of the battlefield. . Kien begins writing about his war experiences, which turn into an obsession. He claims that it is his duty to write about the war, and yet “he seems to write only to get rid of his demons” (Ninh, 49). His motivation is “to expose the realities of war and to break conventional images” (Ninh, 50 years old). Kien's life is not the only one destroyed by the war. Kien talks about a driver Vuong who, before the war, drank very little and was rather shy. Vuong disappears for several months and when he returns, his life falls apart. “I stopped driving, guys. Now alcohol motivates me,” says Voung (Ninh, 152). Kien tou...... middle of paper......difficult times together and we got together several times. Cross and Martha, however, were estranged from each other for the duration of the war. Cross's deep love for Martha came from his obsessive desire to be with her and to be loved by her in return. Cross finally admits that Martha belongs to another world and would never love him (Obrien, 17). Both novels use love as a strong metaphor for the losses of war. Ninh often explicitly states that Kien and all other soldiers would be forever distorted due to the senseless cruelties witnessed during the long conflict. Kien's deep love for Phuong is destroyed by the war, as is Lieutenant Cross's love for Martha. This parallel metaphor speaks to both sides of the war and the suffering endured by everyone involved. The tragic loss of love and innocence illustrates the destruction the Vietnam War wrought on veterans and society..