1.Tim O'Brien returns to war after being shot for the first time and is shot again. It takes the new medic, Bobby Jorgenson, a long time to get to him and by the time he does, Tim has gone into shock and the medic treats him for the wrong thing. He lives but is unable to return to the field and begins a new job in the military, preparing supplies and weapons. Tim O'Brien suffers from PTSD and struggles adapting back to his normal life. He is now looked at differently by his Platoon. Tim seeks revenge towards Jorgenson for not fully caring for his wound, which led to infection. He attempts to get his old Platoon members to help him mess with Jorgenson, but they refuse because he is now apart of their crew. One man, Azar, agrees to help. They go to where Jorgenson is working late at night and attempt to scare him by making noises in the brush and making items float. Tim finds a lot of joy in scaring Jorgenson, but wants to stop after awhile. Azar convinces him to keep going. Jorgenson shouts out that he knows it's O'Brien messing with him. They meet and forgive each other. The rest of the Platoon accepts O'Brien back in as family.
The narrative fulfills the author's purpose in showing the impact of war on a person's life. The author also shows how the men really relied on each other's friendships to survive.
2. The main theme of the book is guilt and burdens- the title is a clear example of that. All of the characters in the story carry physical burdens as well as emotional ones. These emotional burdens include fear, reputation, and vulnerability. Many of the men can't forgive themselves for deaths of their brothers, and suffer from post traumatic stress disorder. The different stories in the book exemplify the struggles the men of the platoon went through during and after the war. The characters must attempt to accept their experiences, but for some, the burden is just too heavy.
3. The author's tone is pretty straightforward and comfortable. The author is retelling stories and the reason behind why he is telling them. He is familiar with his subjects, and you can infer that he is feeling remorse. "I wanted to do something, stop him somehow... I was trembling. I kept hugging myself, rocking, but I couldn't make it go away," expresses Tim's guilt about torturing Jorgenson. "None of it mattered. The words seemed far too complicated. All I could do was gape at the fact of the young man's body." Plain and simple- he felt bad. It's easy to gather from this that Tim felt remorse-it's pretty clear. "You can't fix your mistakes. Once people are dead, you can't make them undead." Straightforward.
4. Point of View: Most of the time the story is told from first person, but at times third person is used to distance Tim and allow other characters to tell their story.
Foreshadowing: Tim mentions the deaths of men, and later recounts these stories.
Symbolism: The dead young Vietnamese soldier represents guilt.
Juxtaposition: The placement of the stories told.
Blend of fiction and non-fiction: He questions stories.
Repetitions: He frequently repeats stories, adding in details. (he retells Kiowa's death 5 times)
Imagery: He describes the battlefield to allow the reader to try and experience what he dealt with.
Similies/Metaphors: Allow the reader to get a sense of the severity of a situation.
Flashback: To help the reader understand the character's experiences and their constant remembrance of the unfortunate events.
Structure: The book was written with interconnected short stories.
Characterization
1. Indirect:
"He would look them in the eyes, keeping his chin level, and he would issue the new SOP's in a calm, impersonal tone of voice, an officer's voice, leaving no room for argument or discussion."
"...I sometimes felt the fear spreading inside me like weeds. I imagined myself dead. I imagined me doing things I could not do- charging an enemy position, taking aim at another human being."
Direct:
"Lavender's left cheek bone was gone."
"There was a large Band-Aid at the back of her head, a row of black stitches, a piece of gauze taped above her left ear."
Tim uses indirect characterization to show psychological development, adding to the effect that Vietnam was this crazy place where you slowly lose your mind if you haven't already lost yourself as a whole. Tim uses direct characterization to be more blunt about the horrors of war. By telling the reader exactly how it looked, they can envision it for themselves.
2. When focusing on a character, the author's diction stays the same as he develops the characters specifically; some characters are emphasized more. The syntax slightly changes with an increase in dialogue when stories are being told.
3. The protagonist, Tim O'Brien, is a dynamic character. Before the war he doesn't want to be a part of it and tries to run away from it. By the end of the story, however, Tim can't leave the military life and his platoon-mates, and he continues to reminisce on his experiences. He is also a round character because by reading about the stories he was in and his experiences, the reader sees that he is a developed character.
4. After reading the book, I felt like I actually met a person. In the following passage, "They didn't know history. They didn't know the first thing about Diem's tyranny or the nature of the Vietnamese nationalism, or the long colonialism of the French- this was all too damned complicated, it required some reading- but no matter, it was a war to stop the Communists, plain and simple, which was how they liked things, and you were a treasonous pussy if you had second thoughts about killing or dying for plain and simple reasons. I was bitter, sure. But it was so much more than that. The emotions went from outrage to terror to bewilderment to guilt to sorrow and then back to outrage. I felt a sickness inside me. Real disease," all of Tim's emotions are shown. Throughout the book you get an understanding of who Tim is. I felt like i was personally told all of these stories.
Foreshadowing: Tim mentions the deaths of men, and later recounts these stories.
Symbolism: The dead young Vietnamese soldier represents guilt.
Juxtaposition: The placement of the stories told.
Blend of fiction and non-fiction: He questions stories.
Repetitions: He frequently repeats stories, adding in details. (he retells Kiowa's death 5 times)
Imagery: He describes the battlefield to allow the reader to try and experience what he dealt with.
Similies/Metaphors: Allow the reader to get a sense of the severity of a situation.
Flashback: To help the reader understand the character's experiences and their constant remembrance of the unfortunate events.
Structure: The book was written with interconnected short stories.
Characterization
1. Indirect:
"He would look them in the eyes, keeping his chin level, and he would issue the new SOP's in a calm, impersonal tone of voice, an officer's voice, leaving no room for argument or discussion."
"...I sometimes felt the fear spreading inside me like weeds. I imagined myself dead. I imagined me doing things I could not do- charging an enemy position, taking aim at another human being."
Direct:
"Lavender's left cheek bone was gone."
"There was a large Band-Aid at the back of her head, a row of black stitches, a piece of gauze taped above her left ear."
Tim uses indirect characterization to show psychological development, adding to the effect that Vietnam was this crazy place where you slowly lose your mind if you haven't already lost yourself as a whole. Tim uses direct characterization to be more blunt about the horrors of war. By telling the reader exactly how it looked, they can envision it for themselves.
2. When focusing on a character, the author's diction stays the same as he develops the characters specifically; some characters are emphasized more. The syntax slightly changes with an increase in dialogue when stories are being told.
3. The protagonist, Tim O'Brien, is a dynamic character. Before the war he doesn't want to be a part of it and tries to run away from it. By the end of the story, however, Tim can't leave the military life and his platoon-mates, and he continues to reminisce on his experiences. He is also a round character because by reading about the stories he was in and his experiences, the reader sees that he is a developed character.
4. After reading the book, I felt like I actually met a person. In the following passage, "They didn't know history. They didn't know the first thing about Diem's tyranny or the nature of the Vietnamese nationalism, or the long colonialism of the French- this was all too damned complicated, it required some reading- but no matter, it was a war to stop the Communists, plain and simple, which was how they liked things, and you were a treasonous pussy if you had second thoughts about killing or dying for plain and simple reasons. I was bitter, sure. But it was so much more than that. The emotions went from outrage to terror to bewilderment to guilt to sorrow and then back to outrage. I felt a sickness inside me. Real disease," all of Tim's emotions are shown. Throughout the book you get an understanding of who Tim is. I felt like i was personally told all of these stories.
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