What Is Right And Wrong In Tim O Brien's Going After Cacciato

Often times it seems difficult to make an important decision. Being able to imagine possible outcomes and weighing the pros and cons can often help to make that decision. In Tim O’Brien’s novel Going after Cacciato, O’Brien alludes to common childhood stories to create a sort of fantastical feel to Paul’s story. Paul Berlin, a troubled young man who has just been sent to fight in Vietnam, struggles to find an answer to his mind boggling debate. Paul spends a mere six hours in an observation tower, while his fellow men sleep, creating this fantasy of what may have been in order to aid him in his decision. Within this “fantasy” O’Brien has Paul use many allusions to such stories that are infamous for teaching lessons on what is right and wrong.

First, O’Brien has the men begin to chase Cacciato into the jungle forest, “They found a broken penknife and trip flares and grenades, but they did not find Cacciato” (49), where he references and implies Cacciato as the White Rabbit. O’Brien uses this story to start off the fantastical feel of Paul’s story. He also used it to express his belief of how the human mind is much like a wonderland where anything is possible, even somethings you can’t control. As O’Brien says, “One can’t fully control one’s imagination” (Smith 7). Next, O’Brien continues this idea continues when he has Paul imagine he and his squad falling through a hole in the “road to Paris”. In doing this he allows Paul to truly enter that “wonderland” that is the mind. Now that Paul has entered his Wonderland anything could happen. Finally, O’Brien takes the allusion even further after they fall through the hole where they meet their second strange figure, Li Van Hgoc. In O’Brien’s novel Li Van Hgoc is the Mad Hatter in Paul’s Wonderland because when they meet in the tunnels they have a discussion, a “tea party”, where Van Hgoc tells Paul how the people do not understand the land and that he despises the war. This alludes to how the Mad Hatter tells Alice about how she doesn’t understand the world that she is in, not yet anyways. This is much like what Li Van Hgoc

For example, both women lead a band of lost men west. In the story of Sacagawea, she leads Lewis and Clark westward toward the Pacific, just as Sarkin lead Paul and the squad West to Paris, “So yes, Sarkin Aung Wan led them through the westward tunnels.” (111). In addition, Sarkin and Sacagawea both help troubled men make a decision. Sacagawea helps Lewis and Clark decide where the railroads through the Louisiana Purchase should be in order to keep peace with the natives. O’Brien mirrors this as Sarkin helps Paul decide whether to desert and return home to face disgrace or stay and suffer through six more months of the military. During his fantasy in Paris Sarkin represents the part of Paul that wants to leave. During this discussion she says, “Having dreamed a marvelous dream, I urge you to step boldly into it, to join your dream and live it.” (318) Finally, both women help to show the men how they affect the area around them. Sacagawea shows the men that their railroad and migration westward does not only affect them, but also the natives who already live there and call it their home. Sarkin also does this as she leads Paul to where he learns that the soldiers from the United States are not the only ones affected by the war, but also those soldiers fighting for the other side. As Van states in the westward tunnels, “A whole