Change

People change. They grow up, move away, switch jobs, meet new people, and much more. It is simply part of life, and we cannot stop it. However, part of us never changes. While we may grow older and gain more knowledge along the way, there is a part inside us that will always remain the same. It was inside us when we were children, and it will remain there for the rest of our lives. This is the part that O' Brien mentions in this passage. "I was Timmy then; now I'm Tim. But the essence remains the same...inside the body, or beyond the body, there is something absolute and unchanging. The human life is all one thing, like a blade tracing loops on ice: a little kid, a twenty-three-year-old infantry sergeant, a middle-aged writer knowing guilt and sorrow" (page 236).

Respect

"It was more than mockery. There was a formality to it, like a funeral without the sadness" (page 227). O' Brien says this when talking about how the other soldiers shook hands and proposed toasts to the dead. When I first read this, my thought were similar to those of O' Brien. I thought what they were doing was mocking the dead. I viewed their greetings and toasts as disrespectful like Kiowa said. However, O' Brien explains that disrespect was not the reason he refused to join them. O' Brien refused because seeing the body reminded him of someone from the past. In addition, O' Brien also says what they were doing was more than mockery. In a way, their actions were more like a funeral. They were toasting to the dead man's family, ancestors, and new found life after death. What they were doing could be considered disrespectful. On the other hand, it could also be considered respectful.

Metaphor

"I was down there with him, inside him. I was part of the night. I was the land itself - everything, everywhere - the fireflies and paddies, the moon, the midnight rustlings, the cool phosphorescent shimmer of evil - I was atrocity - I was jungle fire, jungle drums - I was the blind stare in the eyes of all those poor, dead ex-pals of mine - all the pale young corpses, Lee Strunk and Kiowa and Curt Lemon - I was the beast on their lips - I was Nam - the horror, the war" (page 209).

Throughout this passage, O' Brien makes numerous metaphors. He compares himself to various people, places, and things. He is not actually stating that he was these things; he is simply making a comparison. He does this to show how the war has become a part of him and how he has become a part of the war. He has spent so long there that he feels connected to it all. He feels connected to the land, the fighting, and the dead. After everything O' Brien has been through, he believes everything is now a part of him. Therefore, he states "I was..." to show this connection because it emphasizes how the war became a significant part of who he was.

Imagery

"After a while, as the night deepens, you feel a funny buzzing in your ears. Tiny sounds get heightened and distorted. The crickets talk in code; the night takes on a weird electronic tingle. You hold your breath. You coil up and tighten your muscles and listen, knuckles hard, the pulse ticking in your head. You hear the spooks laughing. You jerk up, you freeze, you squint at the dark. Nothing, though. You put your weapon on full automatic. You crouch lower and count your grenades and make sure the pins are bent for quick throwing and take a deep breath and listen and try not to freak. And then later, after enough time passes, things start to get bad" (page 205).

In this passage, O' Brien uses language to evoke a picture of an experience. O' Brien wants to describe the feeling one experiences when on night guard. He wants to demonstrate the fear of the darkness and the sounds of the night. He does this through descriptive language that creates an image of the soldier on guard. He describes the many sounds and the way they affect one's mind when they are alone. O' Brien describes the sensation and reactions to the sounds. The purpose of this passage is to get the reader to better understand the fears soldiers face during night guard.

Anthropomorphism

"The need for revenge kept eating at me" (page 200). O' Brien mentions this when talking about trying to get even with Bobby Jorgenson. After Bobby Jorgenson improperly treated O' Brien's gunshot wound, all O' Brien could think about was revenge. This is what he means when he says this. He does not actually mean he is being eaten by revenge. He means that the thought is consuming his mind, and that is all he can think about. "I even remembered the rage. But I couldn't feel it anymore. In the end, all I felt was that coldness down inside my chest. Number one: the guy had almost killed me. Number two: there had to be consequences" (page 201). O' Brien still remembered what Bobby Jorgenson had done, and now he wanted there to be consequences. O' Brien tried to come up with a way to make Bobby Jorgenson pay.

Aphorism

"I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth" (page 179). O' Brien makes this statement about life. It shows a wise observation about "truth." Sometimes what actually happens is not as true as the story told about what happened. By telling the occurrence in story form, the reader is able to feel the emotion that goes with it. Rather than simply stating the facts, O' Brien puts emotion into the story in order to get the reader's sympathy. The story-truth allows the reader to relate to the characters in a way that would not be possible if only the happening-truth had been told. Although the story-truth does not always tell the events that actually occurred, it is more true in the sense that it shows the true feelings of the soldiers in the story. The story-truth shows the part of the war that O' Brien wanted shown. He wanted the war experience to be shown rather than the actual facts and events that occurred.

"Nobody's fault...everybody's." (page 176)

"When a man died, there had to be blame. Jimmy Cross understood this. You could blame the war. You could blame the idiots who made the war. You could blame Kiowa for going to it. You could blame the rain. You could blame the river. You could blame the field, the mud, the climate. You could blame the enemy. You could blame the mortar rounds. You could blame people who were too lazy to read a newspaper, who were bored by the daily body counts, who switched channels at the mention of politics. You could blame whole nations. You could blame God. You could blame the munitions makers or Karl Marx or a trick of fate or an old man in Omaha who forgot to vote.

In the field, though, the causes were immediate. A moment of carelessness or bad judgement or plain stupidity carried consequences that lasted forever" (page 177).

Although this quote is rather long, I thought it was important to include all of it. By writing the entire quote, it shows the number of people who could be blamed for the war. However, no one actually deserves the blame. It is not one single person's fault for such things; everyone is to blame. It is because of everyone and everything that this happens; not just because of one simple action that was taken. Therefore, the blame cannot be placed on a single person or thing.

After Kiowa's death, the other soldiers began to blame themselves for it. Some of them kept quiet about it, and they just thought to themselves. Others admitted what they had done and how they were to blame for what happened. Norman Bowker felt responsible because he was unable to save Kiowa. First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross felt responsible for setting up camp in the field instead of moving to higher ground for the night. The young soldier felt responsible for turning on his flashlight to show Kiowa a picture. Azar felt guilty for making jokes about his death. Everyone felt as though they were somehow responsible for Kiowa's death, and they should be blamed for it. His death was "nobody's fault...everybody's" (page 176).