English 015 - Americans Abroad
Junk Food
Junk Food
Category: 08B: Going After Cacciato | Diana Heald
Both in battle and on the road to Paris, the soldiers in Going After Cacciato yearn for home. While they occasionally admit to missing their families and hometowns, the soldiers most often express their homesickness in both situations by relating their cravings for junk food. When they emerge from hidden underground tunnels into the heart of metropolitan Mandalay, the first thing Stink Harris says is: “French fries… Jeez, what I’d give for some,” implying that good old American comfort food is just what he needs to make southeast Asia feel like home (p. 118). In battle, Doc gives Frenchie Tucker M&Ms instead of medicine, hoping that this all-American food staple will make his death in the strange, foreign jungle a little easier (p. 65). While Paul Berlin marches toward battle, all he can think of is to stop for a rest and “dig out the Coke stored in his pack, drink it, and then sleep” (p. 167). American junk food is a calming influence for Paul Berlin and his comrades, both in battle and in their travels abroad, because the appeal of foods like Coke, French fries and M&Ms transcend borders in America and thereby personify the essential American qualities that the soldiers miss while at war.
Posted by on December 01, 2003 at 10:56 PM