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Analysis Of The Man I Killed 'By E. O' Brien

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The Vietnam War is not simply a story about the conflict of nations, but it is about the rise and fall of the dreams of individual soldiers. Thesis: The three themes that are represented in The Man I Killed is the burden of killing people, the morality of war and friendships made with fellow soldiers. M The first theme that is seen is the burdens that solider carry with them. E This story looks into the psychological effects of killing somebody from the point of view of the killer. It shows us how we can never dismiss the death of another person as an unfortunate necessity in war. During a time of war soldiers are trained to kill for no other reason than they are the nation’s enemy. When O’Brien kills the man, he is shocked to discover that …show more content…

E O'Brien's ability to suppress any emotion that he is feeling by focusing on the man's physical features and the flowers growing on the road to push away his guilt. He thinks about the beauty in life by making up a fictional future for the dead man trying to understand the cause in killing this man that did not need to die. By making up a background story for the dead man only made the fact that he had killed that much more unbearable. A This shows how O'Brien struggles with the morality of war and not being able to forgive himself for killing another human being. Despite the fact that it was war, he didn’t see it as killing the enemy, but saw it as killing a man that had a life and a family. O’Brien’s obsession with the body is not only guilt from killing him, but also disgust that war could cause men to kill each other over a cause neither one …show more content…

One great example of friendship during war occurs between O’Brien and his buddy Kiowa. O’Brien had just killed a Viet Cong soldier and is in shock from the overwhelming guilt of killing a man that he cannot take his eyes off the body. Kiowa is unnerved by O'Brien's fixation on the corpse and attempts to snap him out of it. Kiowa offers some comfort by trying to explain to O’Brien that this is war and it’s tough, but we got to keep moving. He tries to help O'Brien realize that it is not like he killed for no reason, war changes the moral definition of

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Although the soldier he killed was an enemy soldier, instead of vilifying him he was able to humanize the man. O’Brien was able to describe the physical appearance of the soldier and imagine her life before war. The author was able to portray an emotional connection and made the line between friend and enemy almost vanish. This was able to reveal the natural beauty of shared humanity even in the context of war’s horror. O’Brien is able to find the beauty in the midst of this tragic and horrible event.

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