response for Mr. Craven

Rating: 7/10 (14 December 2006)

Response to question #4: Why does Mike go back to find Nicky?
The easy response to this question is that before being sent overseas, Nicky tells Mike that if he 'doesn't come home, don't leave him over there'. However, I believe that it is deeper than this request.
Mike and Nicky are best friends. They share many things in common. Before being sent to Vietnam, they both worked in the steel mill, they shared the same trailer, they both loved to hunt, and they both loved the same girl. Always looking out for each other, they escaped from the POW camp and survived combat. In many ways, they are like brothers. This connection helps solidify Mike's need to go back for his 'brother'.
As strange as it seems, I think being with Linda affected Mike and made him go back to find Nicky. He knew that Nicky and Linda were to be married. While, he loved her and wanted to be with her, he could see her unhappiness and realized that he could not live with himself if he did not go searching for Nicky.
When he returned to his friends, Mike felt different. He was no longer the steel mill worker-- he was now the Vietnam Veteran who had scene many gruesome battles, many people die. He could no longer enjoy bowling or other normal activities. Even hunting, his favorite past time, was no longer enjoyable. He knew that life would never be the same, but if he found Nicky there was hope that it could return to normal.
When he finally finds Nicky, Mike is dismayed to learn that his best friend, the man he came searching for, no longer remembers him. Nicky has been playing Russian Roulette for money and it is in a game that the two find themselves. Mike desperately tries to bring out the person he remembers in Nicky. Nicky takes one shot, as does Mike; however, it is the third shot that kills Nicky. In an instant he is gone and Mike is left to return to his friends alone.