Summary Of Going After Cacciato By Tim O Brien

Fiction is a category of writing that is often used to appeal to the reader's senses. It is a way for the writer to connect with the audience on levels that are hard to find in a simple piece of nonfiction. With a combination of historical facts and fictional attributes, O’Brien writes a compelling tale about the Vietnam War. In the book Going After Cacciato, O’Brien wrote about a real war including some historical attributes; however, the fictional story contains usage of symbolism to make the truths seem all the more real.

For the most part, everyone knows that war is a very real and terrifying, especially for someone who is involved. Author Tim O’Brien, being a veteran of the Vietnam War himself, knows from a personal perspective the

The purpose of it is to take something that a person would not normally consider to be vital to a story, and give it a deeper and more compelling meaning. While Paul Berlin was at the observation post, the topic of the sea would come up often. The sea is a symbol of freedom and psychological escape from the struggles he was facing. At the end of the book, the audience learns that the observation post was just a rumor. Paris is also a symbol of departure from the war. Paul Berlin imagines both of these places so that he does not have to focus on everything that was taking occurrence around him. Magical realism is another literary term that is incorporated into the story. O’Brien combines this and the motif of tunnels in his novel. Tunnels appear in several cases for the duration of the book on the way to Paris. One way that tunnels can be interpreted as a symbol is the soldiers are trying to “fall out,” per say, of reality. While the soldiers were falling down the hole in chapter 10, “Then they were falling. Paul Berlin felt it in his stomach. A tumbling sensation. There was time to snatch for Sarkin Aung Wan's hand, squeeze tight, and then they were falling. The road was gone and they were simply falling, all of them [...] everything, tumbling down a hole in the road to Paris” (76 O’Brien), it brought the group to a tunnel. The conflicts war brought among the soldiers did not seem to come up while in the

However, the fantasy aspects of the novel awaken the actuality of the war; it is complete and utter hell. Throughout the story, Paul Berlin talks about how the goal of his group is to make it to Paris and catch Cacciato. Paris, being one of the most important symbols in the book, represents serenity as well as security from the intimidation of the Vietnam War. Soon after the soldiers reach Paris, reality still comes their way; a person simply cannot escape realism. Paris was a way for the characters, especially Paul Berlin, to not focus on all they had lost due to the war: time with their families, lives of their companions, and the lives they had back at home. Instead, they were distracted with the goal, Paris. Even when they get there, afflictions come their way. Paul discovers that his significant other abandoned him with the Lieutenant of the group; “Paul Berlin shook his head. ‘Impossible. He wouldn’t do that.’ ‘No? Go look for yourself. The man’s gone, flown the coop. Appears he’s taken the girl with him’” (324 O’Brien). O’Brien used Paris as a symbol to make the truth, that a soldier has no liberations from the woes of war, seem all the more absolute as the reader discovers the groups problems never really vanished in Paris. Having these fictional attributes in the novel amplify the impact of the distress war