Oh! Good Old Fashioned War! A Retelling of Bob Dylan’s “John Brown”

Summary

The web content is a narrative retelling of Bob Dylan's anti-war song "John Brown," which portrays the grim reality of war through the experiences of a young soldier and the stark contrast between his mother's glorified perception of war and the harsh truth he faces on the battlefield.

Abstract

The article presents a poignant story based on Bob Dylan's song "John Brown," set during the Vietnam War. It follows the journey of a young, reluctant soldier named John Brown who is sent off to fight with a heavy heart, while his mother naively glorifies his participation in the war. Through a series of letters, John shields his mother from the horrors he faces, but his eventual return tells a different tale. John comes back physically and psychologically scarred, a reality that starkly contrasts with his mother's proud expectations. The story serves as a powerful anti-war statement, emphasizing the futility and personal cost of conflict, and the disconnect between the public's perception of war and the soldiers' lived experiences.

Opinions

The author conveys that the glorification of war is often misguided and based on a romanticized view that ignores its true human cost.
There is a critical view of the way society, represented by John's mother, fails to grasp the brutality of war and instead clings to notions of honor and glory.
The story suggests that the personal impact of war on individuals and families is profound and lasting, with soldiers like John Brown returning as changed men, bearing the physical and emotional scars of their service.
The article implies that Bob Dylan's song "John Brown" effectively captures the essence of the anti-war sentiment, perhaps even more powerfully than a lengthy narrative, due to the emotional weight carried by the lyrics.
It is highlighted that the true nature of war becomes apparent only to those who experience it firsthand, as the enemy soldiers are revealed to be just as human as the protagonist, challenging the concept of 'the other' that is often used to justify conflict.

Oh! Good Old Fashioned War! A Retelling of Bob Dylan’s “John Brown”

Songs are stories in their own right, especially ones that were written by the great storyteller, Bob Dylan. “John Brown” is an anti-war song, written and composed by Dylan and set in the peak of the Vietnam war (or perhaps the American civil war if based on the anti-slavery icon). Either way, it’s a powerful protest against the inhumanity that is warfare, a story of how glorification of the war is quickly silenced by the reality of a wounded soldiers’ return home. I had an idea awhile ago to take some of my favourite songs and turn them into stories. This was an interesting writing prompt for me as well as a lesson learned, and a chance to further explore one of the most moving songs I’ve ever heard. Make sure to listen to the song — Bob Dylan tells the story much better in few words than I do in many.

It’s 1960’s America and the battle outside is raging. John Brown has been summoned, as have many of his peers, to fight for “peace” in Vietnam. A frail, timid and educated young man, John’s passion for modern warfare fails to exist. His mother, however, displays an unlikely passion for the unthinkable thing that is ripping men and women and children from existence. Oh! Good old fashioned war! How things can be so well-admired from such great distances. As he fastens the final button on the uniform that weighs down on his prospect of a future, he feels choked by the country for which he is about to risk his young, frightened life. He emerges from the safety of his bedroom where he spent a sleepless final night, to find his mother standing proudly in the door frame wearing a grin wider than any he has seen before. He finishes off the ensemble with his gun and her heart could burst with pride, for to serve the nation on the battlefield is the most dignified and noble of careers. Her excitement in the lead up to his departure day had been too much to bare, only serving to highlight his lack of enthusiasm. His crippling fear.

Her son, the soldier! So handsome, so brave, so successful! But still John Brown’s emotions only deflect his mothers. “I’ll make some space on the fireplace for the medals you’ll take home!” she says. He allows the thought to pass that his mother may be under an elderly-induced confusion, waving her only son off to a friendly football game rather than overseas to the killing field. But this, he knows, is not the case.

As the train departs he sees his mother fade from view, becoming smaller and smaller in the distance. A single tear falls down his cheek. Seeing her again is not a matter of when, but if. There is the faint hum of a song he knows coming from the carriage next to his. How many deaths will it take till they know, that too many people have died?

Oh! Good old fashioned war!

For two years their relationship is reduced to a handful of letters, some of which arrive and some of which are lost in transit. John Brown writes of the strange Vietnamese food and the breathtaking sunsets, but spares his mother stories of dodged cannonballs, crushed limbs, and fallen friends. These letters hang proudly above the mantelpiece, soon to be joined by shiny medals of war.

Soon though, the letters cease to come. From an innocently ignorant standpoint and a false glorification of war, his mother does not worry nor think the worst. She waits and waits, her pride growing stronger by the day. Oh, what work he must be doing out there, what victories he must be leading!

Years pass, then one day she receives a letter informing her that her son is coming home and instructing her to go to the station. Older now, she waits on the same platform on which she waved him goodbye years before. She stands there once again, with fond memories of her brave and handsome soldier. And then a stranger approaches…

“Hi Ma”…

Only he is not a stranger. He is her son, her only son, and he is bruised, beaten, battled and bandaged. One of his hands did not make it back from Vietnam, and a metal brace surrounds his otherwise unsupported waist. His physical appearance and voice almost unrecognisable, he begins to speak, pouring out the details that he omitted from his letters. John Brown, tragically tortured and irreparably traumatised from a life that centred around death. What scared him the most, he says, was that when his enemy came close his face looked just the same as his own.

Is there a more accurate depiction of the tragedy of war? Man killing man killing man. For up close there are no enemies, only people.

Shocked and confused by the state of her son after years on the battle ground, Johns mother can not help but turn away, but not before he calls her close,

And drops his medals down into her hand.