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O Brien Rhetorical Analysis

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The conflict that starts this story off is the draft letter that O’Brien receives in the summer of 1968. The arrival of the draft notice was taken by O’Brien with emotions varying from disbelief and anger, O’Brien thinks that “-[He] was too good for this war... [He] was above it.” (Obrien, 41) and justifies it by listing off all his accomplishments. As “Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude and president of the student body...” with “...a full-ride scholarship for grad studies at Harvard.” (O’Brien, 41) Tim thought himself to be exempt from the war, especially since there were feelings of opposition to the war in Vietnam that he held. In fact, Tim has thought that “If you support a war, if you think it’s worth the price, that’s fine, but you have to put your own precious fluids on the line.” …show more content…

when a nation was justified in using military force to achieve its ends... and that in such circumstances [he] would’ve willingly marched off to the battle.” (O’Brien, 44) but clarifies that this is not the war Tim would willingly sacrifice everything for, “At the very center, was the raw fact of terror. I did not want to die. Not ever. But certainly not in the wrong war.” (O’Brien 44) At the root of all his worries is the very fact that the fear of partaking in a war was very evident in Tim and was a driving force in the decision to flee to Canada. His fear came in forms of uncertainty towards taking another humans life, and later stated as “...walking away from my own life, my friends, and my family, my whole history, everything that mattered to me.” (O’Brien 44-45) More than anything, O’Brien was afraid of rejection from everything that was familiar to him. O’Brien also claims that he “...was born into a mainstream life....” (O’Brien, 31) so one can understand that Tim O’Brien was very acquainted with this lifestyle and thought of war as a very foreign subject. This leads to his breaking point and fuels O’Brien’s motive to

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During the Vietnam War, the United States drafted 648,500 young men to fight. Of those who were drafted 17,725 were killed out of the total 58,220 deaths. Tim O’Brien could have been one of them. In the short story “On the Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien, O’Brien is sent a draft notice. He is a young male that fits the criteria of the draft.

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This chapter “The Ghost Soldiers”, showed us how Tim O’Brien and the other soldiers were dealing with the war both physically and psychologically. It also shows us how the Tim O'Brien behaved and felt when he was shot, wounded and had a bacteria infection on his butt and how the war changed the way he thought, and viewed the other soldiers around him. This chapter also contain a lot of psychological lens. From the way Tim O’Brien felt when he was shot and separated from his unit to a new unit to when he wanted revenge on Bobby Jorgenson for almost “killing” him.

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Thinking that the war couldn’t also kill children, Tim decided to go against war, being

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In the chapter when he describes the man he kills, he talks about the state of the dead body by saying, “His jaw was in his throat, his upper lip and teeth were gone, his one eye was shut, his other eye was a star-shaped hole…the skin at his left cheek was peeled back in three ragged strips, his right cheek was smooth and hairless, there was a butterfly on his chin, his neck was open to the spinal cord and the blood there was thick and shiny and it was this wound that had killed him” (O’Brien Chapter 11). This brutal and horrifying imagery displays an irrefutable element of truth to O’Brien’s writing. Not only does this imagery highlight the truth to his writing, but it also sheds light on the brutal truth about the war in Vietnam. By using imagery as such a strong rhetorical device in his writing, he gives the average person a taste of just how barbaric and cruel Vietnam felt for the people who experience the war first hand on either side of the fighting. Tim O’Brien gives a very detailed and intense description of his time fighting in Vietnam during their war with America.

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1541 Words | 7 Pages

O’Brien was “Drafted into the Army in 1968 when he was fresh out of college, Tim O'Brien was assigned to the infantry

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The soldiers in the Vietnam War are portrayed as losing themselves in the chaos and trauma of combat. Through the stories of the soldiers and their experiences, O’Brien explores the ways in which war strips away one's sense of identity and humanity. The author himself is depicted as losing himself in the war. O'Brien served in the Vietnam War, and his experiences inspired much of the book. Through the character of Tim O'Brien, the author explores the ways in which war can strip away one's sense of self and purpose.

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In Tim O’Brien’s book The Things They Carried he brings you into his life leading up to and through fighting in the Vietnam War. In the book he walks you through his journey of physical and personal struggles along with his fellow soldiers’. Throughout the book O’Brien gives you a sense of his own courage and how it evolves over time. Starting out when O’Brien is back in high school and the draft is rapidly approaching, he seems to be feeling very anxious and somewhat scared to be forced to fight. After his senior year in high school, getting ready to go off to Harvard to continue

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1504 Words | 7 Pages

Even after all these years, O’Brien is still unable to get the images of Vietnam out of him head, specifically of the man he killed. In the novel, he repeats the description of the man numerous times, almost to the point of excess, saying,“he was a slim, dead, almost dainty young man of about twenty. He lay with one leg bent beneath him, his jaw in his throat, his face neither expressive nor inexpressive. One eye was shut. The other was a star-shaped hole” (124).

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Often if we give up, or fail to reach them we feel ashamed that we are not strong enough to overcome obstacles and we place blame on other aspects of our life to try and re-direct our own personal guilt. O’Brien was held back from leaving to Canada because of “all [the] eyes on [him], the town, the whole universe- and [he] couldn’t risk embarrassment.” He blames himself even many years later because he “was a coward” who “went to the war.” This demonstrates the guilt he places on himself because he gave in to his surroundings and the shame he feels that he couldn’t stand up for what he didn’t agree with, which was the war itself. Although he went to war because he of what the people in his town would think of him, he also didn’t want to live with himself knowing that the shadow of the war would follow him wherever he

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1205 Words | 5 Pages

It was not Tim’s sense of nationalist loyalties that caved him; rather, it was helplessness and his reputation that was at risk. Tim O’Brien longed to be that “secret hero” or “Lone Ranger” in order to impress those around him. However, he ends up learning that courage does not come in finite quantities. He finds himself resenting authority, “If you support a war, if you think it’s worth the price, that’s fine, but you have to put your own precious fluids on the line”. No matter how much he may find the law cruel and inhuman, he has is too prideful and decides to comply with the rules.

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Tim’s expectations were not the case; instead Sam dies by being accused incorrectly of stealing his own cattle to teach other troops a lesson about how serious war is. The unecessary death of Sam inspires Tim to go neutral because Sam was not rewarded for valor and had no glory to his name. Tim doesn’t like that or want that so he chooses neither side of the

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672 Words | 3 Pages

There was no sense of morality or politics or duty. Tim completed what he was trained to do, and that was to defend the camp against the enemy. The lone soldier was the enemy. Later Tim views his actions as impulsive and regrets throwing the grenade, despite his peers’ support. Tim declares, “Sometimes I forgive myself, sometimes I don’t.

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925 Words | 4 Pages

Literary analysis America’s war heroes all have the same stories to tell but different tales. Prescribed with the same coloring page to fill in, and use their methods and colors to bring the image to life. This is the writing style and tactic used by Tim O’Brien in his novel, “The Things They Carried”. Steven Kaplan’s short story criticism, The Undying Certainty of the Narrator in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, provides the audience with an understanding of O’Brien’s techniques used to share “true war” stories of the Vietnam War. Kaplan explains the multitude of stories shared in each of the individual characters, narration and concepts derived from their personal experiences while serving active combat duty during the Vietnam War,

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845 Words | 4 Pages

This is evident when Mr. O’Brien says, “I would go to the war – I would kill and maybe die – because I was embarrassed not to,” (pg. 57.) In the end the author realized what he must do and went back home, so he could fight in the Vietnam

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1756 Words | 8 Pages

I went to the war.” (last paragraph 58) This helps us understand that going to war was not an accomplishment for Tim. He regretted not running away and hated that he went.

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