Sunday, July 10, 2011

"The Man I Killed" by Tim O'Brien

“His jaw was in his throat, his upper lip and teeth were gone, his one eye was shut, his other was a star shaped hole, his eyebrows were thin and arched like a woman’s, his nose was undamaged, there was a slight tear at the lobe of one ear…his forehead was lightly freckled, his fingernails were clean…the right cheek was smooth and hairless…He was not a fighter” (Tim O’Brien 118-19).
I chose “The Man I Killed” by Tim O’Brien because of the emotion that the repetitive lines added to the story. I chose this quote because bits and pieces of it were replayed throughout the story as the soldier replayed the image of the man in his head. This story follows two soldiers who had crossed paths with a supposed enemy resulting in the enemy’s death.  
The soldier who had killed the young man stood starring at his lifeless body, examining him carefully. He had come to the conclusion that the man he had just killed was not someone who wanted to cause any harm to anyone and that it wasn’t in his nature. “He was not a fighter…he wanted to someday be a teacher of mathematics” (Tim O’Brien 119). The repetition of what this young man looked like, lying dead on the ground, only drew me in deeper into what the soldier was feeling.
I can’t imagine the feeling of killing someone. To have a person’s life in my grasp and having complete and total control of them living or dying. This obviously affects this soldier because he doesn’t say one word during the story. The other soldier who is with him tries to get him to talk about how he is feeling but is not successful in doing so. I think many soldiers today go through these same feelings of withdrawal both physically and mentally. It is important for them to share their stories and feelings with others so that they don’t increase their chances of posttraumatic distress or worsen what they already have and I think making them into stories is one of the best ways to relieve some of that stress.

O'Brien, Tim. "The Man I Killed." The Things They Carried. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. 118-24. Print



1 comment:

  1. Hello Sam,

    I really like the look of your blog. Excellent image choice! The link you provided on PTSD was well placed, and well suited to the subject matter. Sadly, it's not all that shocking that many who need help for PTSD don't get it.

    You wrote, “It is important for them to share their stories and feelings with others so that they don’t increase their chances of posttraumatic distress ...”. I agree that writing can be a great form of therapy, and is a great way for soldiers to get it all out, especially if they cannot bring themselves to talk about it. Even if the soldier never allows another soul to read it, writing it out can definitely help.

    You had said that the story followed two soldiers that had stumbled across and killed an enemy VC. In reality the text states that another fellow soldier, Azar, was giving O'Brien static about the way the dead VC was killed, Kiowa then told Azar to leave, and then later Kiowa said, “The guy was dead the second he stepped on the trail. Understand me? We all had him zeroed.” (O'Brien 123). This indicated that if O'Brien hadn't shot the VC, someone else in his platoon would have – they all had him in their sights, and Kiowa was trying to help alleviate some of the guilt O'Brien felt. One other thing... although the image/graphic was an excellent choice, the link indicated that it may be copyrighted. I'd be very careful with this.

    I agree that the repetitive lines in the story added emotion, and as you said, “bits and pieces of it were replayed throughout the story as the soldier replayed the image of the man in his head.” showing how O'Brien's mind was working at the time. He just kept playing it all in his head over and over, and not able to talk or function in any other way. Good analysis, and good post.

    Shellie H.

    ReplyDelete