Wearing Faces

 
 
Wearing Faces

Stand down, guard duty on the bunker line,
Weed-rapping about the last operation.

    And someone said; Ya memba
    That little dude got blown away
    In that shitstorm of RPGs?

    Then someone cried
    And none of us could hold it.

     For a while afterwards
     It seemed easier for us
     To act like we were men.

 

Questions for Reflection: “Wearing Faces”

In talking about “Wearing Faces,” Connolly reminds us that the average age of a soldier in Vietnam was just a little over nineteen years of age, and for World War II, twenty six. That is a significant span of time. For Connolly, “Wearing Faces” is about breaking down the myth that soldiers need to carry on and not yield to their emotions.

  1. How does “Wearing Faces” begin to break down the myth that soldiers can’t “be human?”
  2. What is meant by “weed-rapping about the last operation?”
  3. Why might it be easier to assume the myth of being tough, as opposed to showing feelings?
  4. How might keeping to the myth be detrimental in the long-run?
  5. What is Connolly teaching us through this poem? What is the lesson he has learned through writing it?