The Depiction of American Soldiers in the Iraq War in Life Writing and The News Media

Abstract

This thesis compares the depiction of the American Soldier in the Iraq War in life writing and the mainstream U.S. News Media. It focuses on the life writing texts Thank You For Your Service, by David Finkel, and The Last True Story I’ll Ever Tell, by John Crawford, to examine the depiction of American soldiers in the Iraq War and after their homecoming. It creates a contextualized view on the News Media coverage as well as a scholarly framework regarding life writing and the News Media. Furthermore, it analyzes the potential of narrative focus and literary devices to convey personal experiences in life writing. This thesis illustrates the ability of life writing to portray the personal self as well as to place that personal self within a historic context (Smith and Watson 6). Next to this, it illustrates how the News Media is prone to manipulation due to its ability to influence public opinion, as it used to “acquire factual information” (McCombs 1). Subsequently, this thesis states the crucial difference in life writing and the News Media is that life writing focuses on personal accounts and specific, subjective experiences, whereas the News Media attempts to depict an objective and contextualized portrayal of events. Furthermore, it claims that the heroic image of the American soldier as presented by the News Media forms a considerable contrast to the mentally scarred and traumatized veterans that are presented in life writing.