From Tim O Brien's Contribution To The American Voice

Throughout Tim O'Brien's experience as an author, his contribution to the American voice consisted of his grandiose style of writing, using experiences from Vietnam and the Cold war to shape his stories. His contribution to the American voice is unique as he not only includes deep physical and psychological elements into his works, but also uses unorthodox methods to blur the lines between what really happened to the characters (and what happened to Tim O’Brien during his life). Tim O’Brien’s experiences in Vietnam shaped his unique writing style, while this particular style created deep description of the physical and psychological effects of war, while incorporating this from his own personal experience into his own works. Through Tim O’Brien’s

Some of these experiences during his life include his participation in the Cold War, the Vietnam War, and the physical & psychological effects of war. In this, it is displayed that the soldiers have almost gone numb to the effects/horrors of war, as they have seen it repeatedly, as a soldier states to another soldier that "You'll see some terrible stuff, I guess. That's how it goes. But try to look for the good things, too. They'll be there if you look. So watch for them."(O’Brien 63) almost nonchalantly the soldier acknowledges war as a necessary evil that is inescapable, but at the same time saying to look for whatever good can be found. But, as a soldier who comments on the strife and stupidity of war, he states “These were hard lessons, true, but they were lessons of ignorance; ignorant men, trite truths.”(O’Brien 28) through amazing characterization and development of the characters in the story, Tim O’Brien excellently shows the stupidity that took place during the war, and what particular characters committed the acts of abhorrent stupidity. One use of the transformation of beautiful nature became an ominously defiled forest as it is said “...once there had been plenty of them, a green forest, but now the trees were stumps

As we see in Going After Cacciato it is shown that “... he said when Harold Murphy’s face puffed up in a rash of boils and open ulcers. Rudy’s back began hurting. Stink Harris complained of numbness in his fingers and feet. Even Doc felt it.”(O’Brien 105) Showing how Tim O’Brien describes the disarray of the maimed soldiers at war, while also showing the cost of warfare at the young soldiers expense, additionally illustrating the author's unique voice through the young soldier's perspective of the war and its effects. O’Brien also used his reluctance to fight as a big influence on his writing (and how others might have tried avoiding the war as shown in Going After Cacciato). With these examples, it is portrayed how exceptional Tim O’Brien is at creating themes and settings that fit his works perfectly. In addition, O’Brien uses the soldiers innocence to show the characters hope of returning to home with this quote,“He thought of his father for a time, and of his mother, and then he slept, dreaming of miracles.”(O’Brien 242) and this O’Brien shows the character’s hope to return home to his family is still strong as he labors to survive the war, but still showing that he is just a boy forced to go off to war. This character vividly