Kindly Gents,
I don't think that I assessed Rob's attitude correctly by describing it as "not enthralled with war." I'm a little at a loss for how exactly to describe him. The souvenirs scene (how ironic, when, in a short while later, once thoroughly plastered, Al will request "their song," Among My Souvenirs, for Butch to play and for Millie and he to dance to), is a curious one for me. Rob clearly is repulsed by his father's wartime exploits. The few items Al brought home and presented to Rob were pretty extraordinary - - the flag he "took off a dead Jap" with the messages from family members evinced Rob's remark that the Japanese place a great deal of importance on the family relationship, to which, Al wryly replies "yeah, unlike us." Rob does not seem to be at all interested in his father's contribution to helping win the war and instead wants to fast-forward to Al occupying Hiroshima and wanting to know Al's first-hand observations of the effects of The Bomb and how this would relate to his lessons from Mr. McLaghlin. Since Rob had not seen his father in years, maybe Mr. McLaghlin was more influential over Rob than his own father and he probably had a hard time remembering just what Al was like as a person. Rather than wanting to cheer his father and possibly saying something along the lines of "we're so proud of you, Dad," he seems to be taking the line of feeling rather sorry for the Japanese and perhaps a feeling a little displeased with his father for having been a part of the devastation and suffering levied upon the Japanese people as a consequence of their having been at war with the U.S. I didn't know what to make of this reception Rob gives his father, I always labored under the belief that our returning servicemen from WWII were met with universal praise and expressions of gratitude. Rob almost sounds like a more contemporary anti-war "peacenik" type (forgive that term. I'm not wishing to start a debate on the merits of war) who is critical of his country's - - and his own father's - - involvement in the war. For me, this really stuck out.
So, Rob seems to weigh in as somewhat more than merely to illustrate to us how much Al had left behind. He's making a statement - - a rather loaded, politically charged statement. It sure seems that way to me. It's a statement I didn't realize anyone was making that long ago.
Wanting to know about Fred's career - - which planes he flew, which bomber group he flew with - - that seems like a pretty innocent boyish interest. I'm sure Rob needed to know all of this for when he eagerly shared with his school-friends the fact that Cpt. Derry had stayed at his home. He would sure sound like a clueless dweeb not to know which bomber group Fred was with or even which planes he was flying.
The scene that seemed to most painfully show how much of a stranger Al was in his own home immediately followed the souvenirs scene, when Al and Millie were left alone for the first time in however many years Al had been away. Al and Millie sat across the room from each other, Al couldn't sit still, he was anxious and restive, he offered his wife a smoke, forgetting that she didn't smoke and the air was thick with tension. She was trying too hard to make pleasant conversation and Al looked like he'd rather be out on patrol or hitting a beach. I thought that scene was particularly well-played.
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Forlorn_Rage
8 years ago
Rather than wanting to cheer his father and possibly saying something along the lines of "we're so proud of you, Dad," he seems to be taking the line of feeling rather sorry for the Japanese and perhaps a feeling a little displeased with his father for having been a part of the devastation and suffering levied upon the Japanese people as a consequence of their having been at war with the U.S.
What's wrong with sympathizing with the Japanese? A lot of people may look on the bomb as a "necessary" thing. Even if one was to think that way, that doesn't mean that Japanese deserved what happened to them. I found it too bad really that Al didn't seem to notice any of the bomb's effects on the people at all, considering how much it devastated them.
I didn't know what to make of this reception Rob gives his father, I always labored under the belief that our returning servicemen from WWII were met with universal praise and expressions of gratitude.
Thank goodness (in a way) that they weren't. We can be appreciative of our relatives and veterans, that doesn't mean we have blindly praise them or agree with them on everything they do, like bringing home an anonymous dead man's souvenirs and just calling him a "dead Jap." I just can't wrap my head around how callous and blaise Al was about presenting his son with something he basically stole off soldiers he may or may not have killed himself.
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