Tim O ' Brian 's Life

Traumatized Literary devices are what make the story come alive and give the reader a feeling of actually being there. The literary devices increase a reader’s interest in the story and also helps keep the audience engaged. They help create a more fascinating plot. In the short story “Ambush” by TIm O’brien uses them to develop a character so much more. Mr. O’brien used internal conflict, external conflict, and flashback to put the reader in the character’s “shoes” throughout the story.

Tim O’Brien’s moral dilemma arose when the draft notice arrived. Upon the arrival of his draft notice, he believed that the government picked the wrong person, as he was not fit for the war. Through his details of his job

After being drafted, several thoughts came to his mind. O’ Brien thought about how his life will be if he goes to war. He states, “I imagined myself dead. I imagined myself doing things I could not do- charging and enemy position, taking aim at another human being” (44). It seems that O’Brien thought about his principles and morals as a human being. He believes killing innocent people was not a heroic act; it was an act of shame. On the other hand, he clarifies that not all wars are negative, “There were occasions, when a nation was justified in using military force to achieve it ends” (44). He considered to fight only in the cases were war is necessary to achieve a significant purpose. O’Brien uses examples of Hitler, referring him as an evil and one of the reasons he would have validated a war, and even joined the military if it were necessary. Yet, he does not want to play hero in a war that had not sense. For that reason, he decided to run away from his draft.

Prior to learning he was drafted into a war he hated, we are told that he had recently graduated from college (38). O’Brien says, “I was twenty-one years old. Young, yes, and politically naive, but even so the American war in Vietnam seemed to me wrong” (38). The previous quote shows his confusion towards the war, he then goes on questioning the war by saying, “Was it a civil war? A war of national liberation or simple aggression?” (38) which furthermore provides an example of his uncertainty towards the war. While facing confusion, O’Brien also believed he was “too smart, too passionate” (39) for the war, he claims his drafting was “a mistake, maybe— a foul-up in the paperwork” (39). Both of the quotes show man vs. society conflict. Since O'Brien had recently graduated and received a full scholarship at Harvard, he felt like he was on top of the world, like any other person would if a war was not going on then, society was focused on something he didn't believe so he did not want to accept the harsh reality that he had just been drafted. The narrator also faces man vs self conflict, O’Brien wants to get out of the draft but, he says, “There was no happy way out...my health was solid; I didn't qualify for CO status — no religious grounds, no history as a pacifist” (41). O’Brien knows that it would be illegal to not follow the law of the draft but he also knows that he does NOT want to

The Vietnam War had a life changing effect on the soldiers, including O 'Brien. They came into the war as boys as young as seventeen and left either in body bags made of their own poncho or they came out alive. But were they ever really alive? No, they had their innocence ripped out. They weren 't young boys anymore. Their young selves were killed out in that jungle and all that was left was a carcass of gruesome memories of the tragedy of war, the deaths of their fellow soldiers. They changed as people. O 'Brien came into the war as a young man against war. A young soul believing that the Vietnam War was wrong and there was no need for fighting or killing. However, toward the end of the book he tells us the story of how he got revenge on a fellow soldier. This soldier, while in the middle of war, took too long in treating O 'Brien for a bullet wound and also should have treated him for shock. O 'Brien almost dies on the field but fortunately

Tim O’Brien wrote a memoir, in which he wrote about his life as a Vietnam soldier, called If I Die in a Combat Zone. Raised in Worthington, Minnesota, Tim O’Brien was influenced by wars while growing up (particularly the Korean War). Soon landing in the training facility at Fort Lewis in Washington, O’Brien’s life was about to change. In If I Die in a Combat Zone, author Tim O'Brien argued that the Vietnam War was full of courage through how the soldiers chose to stay and battle for their nation, his depictions of Plato, and through O’Brien’s experiences of his fellow soldier’s deaths.

Tim O’Brien was born in Austin, Minnesota on October 1, 1946 (Glerean). He spent his childhood growing up in Worthington, Minnesota. Worthington is a small town in the southern part of Minnesota. Tim’s father was an insurance salesman and participated in World War II as a sailor (Glerean). Tim’s mother was an elementary school teacher. Tim had an all-American childhood. He loved learning magic tricks, playing baseball, and reading books. He attended Macalester College and graduated in 1968 with a degree in political science (Tim O’Brien). Around the same time he received his diploma, Tim also received an unexpected and unwanted piece of paper: a draft notice (Glerean). O’Brien was against war, but despite this fact he went overseas to fight for America. He felt pressure from both his family and his country to fight in the war. O’Brien went to Vietnam despite his negative attitude toward the conflict. O’Brien fought in the Vietnam War from, 1969 to 1970. “He served in the 3rd Platoon; Company A, 5th Battalion, 46th Infantry

The whole time during this book O'Brien is talking about him thinking about how the war isn't right, how he shouldn't be in Vietnam, how the US shouldn't be in Vietnam, but, he cannot

According to SparkNotes, O’Brien’s message is that “the technical facts surrounding any individual event are less important than the overarching, subjective truth of what the war meant to soldiers and how it changed them” (1). Lastly, O’Brien uses his message to help explain why he wishes to tell his war stories even though they may not be completely factual or perceived the way he wants them to be perceived. SparkNotes states that “O'Brien is attempting not to write a history of the Vietnam War through his stories but rather to explore the ways that speaking about war experience establishes or fails to establish bonds between a soldier and his audience” (1). O’Brien’s message urges his readers to be more aware of what a soldier is actually trying to tell, and that a bond between soldiers and audiences can be created if audiences truly listen and face-up to what they are really hearing.

In The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien uses Juxtaposition, Symbolism, and Point of View to show the burdens carried by the soldiers, and the effects war can have on individuals. He wrote the vignette in order to bring a greater awareness to Americans who were unaware of the dark reality of war. Juxtapositions, such as Desire versus Shame, Morality versus Crime, and Talking versus Distraction, are primary modes by which O’Brien shares the burdens of soldiers. Also, individual juxtapositions such as “Gentle Killer (O’Brien 66)” are used along with dichotomies as a window into the heart of the soldiers, and to show the ambivalence they held when making choices. “On the Rainy River” describes the Desire versus Shame conflict within O’Brien immediately after he was drafted for the Vietnam.

This certainly comes out in the fragging incident, when the squad kills Lieutenant Sidney Martin. But there's something more. Another time, O'Brien was quoted as saying, "My concerns have to do with the abstractions: ... How does one do right in an evil situation?" (Bates 263). That is the big question, of course, that this novel deals with. See, the point that O'Brien is making is not that war is an evil situation. He's trying to take that for granted and move beyond. Now that you've got this evil situation, what do you do?

O'Brien emphasize his theme through the use of setting. The Vietnam war started in the 1960s. It was a terrible war that could have been avoided. It "Laid the groundwork for issues he later explored in fiction, including the mind-numbing rituals of battle" (Smith 1). War is the worst way to settle disputes. The quote also means that war plays with your mind so what is seen can never be unseen."YOUR SON BILLY BOY WAS YESTERDAY SCARED TO DEATH IN ACTION IN THE REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM" (O'Brien 1). That shows in

Ultimately, this novel is not about Vietnam--in fact, it is not about war at all. It is about the narrator 's attempt to find a place where the erosion of time will have no effect. By working through the "threads" of this novel, O 'Brien 's intentions become obvious: He is fighting to preserve the physical against deterioration, and by extension, to preserve life by immortalizing it in fiction. He is not writing as a result of neurosis or as a form of therapy; he does this since

O’Brien writes, “I would go to the war-I would kill and maybe die-because I was embarrassed not to… I was coward. I went to war.” I wasn’t surprised to hear him say this because I can understand the fear that was going through his mind. I feel like he is choosing personal shame over public shame, which makes him a coward. However, there is an irony within the situation because of how much courage it takes to even partake in the war. Yet, O’Brien still feels that he was a coward for not standing up and saying no. O’Brien views his act in Vietnam as being an act of cowardice. I don’t necessarily agree with him because it does take courage to go risk your life for others. On the contrary, O’Brien’s acts can be viewed as being cowardice because

In this passage O’brien demonstrates his own character traits. As a writer, he has a strong ability to understand what others are feeling and sympathize. When he kills the young soldier, he creates a story around him, imaging the soldier as having similar struggles to his own. He deeply regrets the soldier's death because he feels that neither of them really wanted to be fighting in this war and relates his own life story to the fictional one he creates for the soldier.