Billy By Tim Obrien Analysis

In Tim Obrien’s story, "Where have you gone, Charming Billy?", the fear and the frightened caused by the war are physically appeared on the face of Private First Class Berlin. Through the war, his first day in Vietnam Paul had fearful moments, but the most thing that affected him was the death of the soldier Billy Boy Watkins who lost his leg and ultimately dying from a heart attack. This event affects Paul throughout all the story. Throughout the text the story shows the realities of war through what kind of people joined the war, how they deal with fear, and the effects it has on their actions. There was many people who joined the war, some of them were forced to go, and some of them were being choose to go. The author says: “…some of them …show more content…
They were using daydreams for forgetting the fear, and as the author says: “Once they reached the sea, things would be better. They would have their rear guarded by three thousand miles of ocean, and they would swim and dive into the breakers and hunt fishes and smell the salt, and they would be safe” (45-47). This shows that Paul is trying to avoid thinking about the tragedy he had seen just earlier. He dreams about how he would feel when he reaches the sea, and he uses the sea as his hope to be safe and in a nice environment. He also used future thinking, he is trying to imagine how peaceful and happy his life would be after the war. The author says: ''In the morning, when they reached the sea, he would begin to make friends with some of the other soldiers. He would learn their names and laugh at their jokes. Then when the war was over he would have war buddies, and he would write to them once in a while and exchange memories''(85-88). This shows that Paul is trying to hold on just a little longer until they reach the sea to forget the fear, and we can see that the soldiers were befriending and, they were having fun with each