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Ambush Tim O Brien Analysis

608 Words3 Pages

The importance of word and phrases in “Ambush” by Tim O’Brien. In the short story, titled Ambush, by Tim O’Brien, Tim writes about his time in a war. His daughter, Kathleen, asked her father if he has ever killed anyone; he just ignored her question,lied, and said no. In reality he has killed.“O’Brien pretends Kathleen is an adult and imagines that he might tell her the entire story of My Khe”(813). O’Brien still remembers a number of events from twenty years ago when he was in a war. When he is alone, he still sees a young man walking through the fog with a weapon. O’Brien recounts stories through first person still imaging them like they are happening over and over again and he cannot get the images out of his head. He writes about events in the war which it makes his daughter, Kathleen, worry about him and is concerned about what he is going through. When O’Brien lied to his daughter about him ever killing anyone she knew something was going on …show more content…

The soldier dropped his weapon and tried to run, but his legs got blown off by the explosion of the grenade. Then O’Brien realized if he would not of pulled that pin that soldier would of probably just walked right by the site. War is a difficult subject no sane human being wants to kill other human beings but to serve the United States you will need to kill human beings that are a threat to society, if you do not they could destroy everything citizens has worked so hard to build. “O'Brien acted from fear, and couldn't stop himself. Didn't even realize he was acting. In the aftermath he can understand the morality.” ( litcharts.com). O’Brien wrote a story called, “The Man I Killed” and O’Brien talks about that event in My Khe and he goes into great detail about how the situation went and what he was thinking at the moment he pulled the pin of that grenade and threw

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1230 Words | 5 Pages

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1292 Words | 6 Pages

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1504 Words | 7 Pages

This quote epitomizes the trauma caused by war. O’Brien is trying to cope, mostly through writing these war stories but has yet to put it behind him. He feels guilt, grief, and responsibility, even making up possible scenarios about the life of the man he killed and the type of person he was. This

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