Endurance and Survival in the Journey for Cacciato
In Tim O’ Brien’s novel, Going after Cacciato, the Vietnam War has presented Spec four Paul Berlin and members of his brigade with many problems as they chase after the lost and (possibly mentally challenged) Cacciato. Berlin and his fellow soldiers regularly experience endurance and survival as they face trials on the trek to Paris from their Vietnam station. The theme of endurance and survival seems to be the biggest and most important of the critically acclaimed book.
When soldiers think of the word survival, their natural response is “don’t get killed by the enemy”, but survival can mean many other things. For the rather young Berlin and sole members of his 198th …show more content…
Many of the men that return from war suffer from mental illnesses that were caused by the perils that they experienced in World War I, II, or Vietnam. In the beginning of Going After Cacciato, we learn of the death of a former brigade member, Billy Boy Watkins who died of a heart attack after losing his foot to a land mine. Berlin witnessed the whole thing and it had mentally scarred him. That death is also one of the main reasons Cacciato leaves for his journey to Paris. In Chapter 31 Paul recalls that fateful day, when they were sitting around the campfire laughing and drinking soda. Billy Boy walks off and accidentally triggers a land mine. He didn’t die but his foot was blown clean off. As they rushed to him, one of the crew men, Doc Peret describes his injury as a “million-dollar wound” (216) and that the war was over for him. As Berlin remembers this whole story he can’t stop laughing, which shows how that incident really changed his mental state. Seeing one of his friends die from shock of the war really sparked a plug somewhere in his brain that there is a good chance that he doesn’t make it back …show more content…
In the second look in that time, Paul thinks about his time when he enlisted for the army. He was assigned to a place called Chu Lai in Vietnam where he first realized that this wasn’t an easy thing to do. There are many times when he could have backed out and left but he wanted to stay and do what he needed to. One day in the Chu Lai camp an E-8 approached him and asked if he wanted a “ Nice comfy painting job… No paddy humpin’, no dinks” (41). Of course the Senior Non-Commissioned Officer was joking and finished saying, “ I fear you came to the wrong… fuckin… place”
In Tim O’ Brien’s novel, Going after Cacciato, the Vietnam War has presented Spec four Paul Berlin and members of his brigade with many problems as they chase after the lost and (possibly mentally challenged) Cacciato. Berlin and his fellow soldiers regularly experience endurance and survival as they face trials on the trek to Paris from their Vietnam station. The theme of endurance and survival seems to be the biggest and most important of the critically acclaimed book.
When soldiers think of the word survival, their natural response is “don’t get killed by the enemy”, but survival can mean many other things. For the rather young Berlin and sole members of his 198th …show more content…
Many of the men that return from war suffer from mental illnesses that were caused by the perils that they experienced in World War I, II, or Vietnam. In the beginning of Going After Cacciato, we learn of the death of a former brigade member, Billy Boy Watkins who died of a heart attack after losing his foot to a land mine. Berlin witnessed the whole thing and it had mentally scarred him. That death is also one of the main reasons Cacciato leaves for his journey to Paris. In Chapter 31 Paul recalls that fateful day, when they were sitting around the campfire laughing and drinking soda. Billy Boy walks off and accidentally triggers a land mine. He didn’t die but his foot was blown clean off. As they rushed to him, one of the crew men, Doc Peret describes his injury as a “million-dollar wound” (216) and that the war was over for him. As Berlin remembers this whole story he can’t stop laughing, which shows how that incident really changed his mental state. Seeing one of his friends die from shock of the war really sparked a plug somewhere in his brain that there is a good chance that he doesn’t make it back …show more content…
In the second look in that time, Paul thinks about his time when he enlisted for the army. He was assigned to a place called Chu Lai in Vietnam where he first realized that this wasn’t an easy thing to do. There are many times when he could have backed out and left but he wanted to stay and do what he needed to. One day in the Chu Lai camp an E-8 approached him and asked if he wanted a “ Nice comfy painting job… No paddy humpin’, no dinks” (41). Of course the Senior Non-Commissioned Officer was joking and finished saying, “ I fear you came to the wrong… fuckin… place”