Going After Cacciato and Peace
Though peace is unattainable and is farther than we can reach, Tim O’Brien admonishes never giving up the search for peace. Tim O’Brien’s novel Going After Cacciato is about a man named Cacciato who deserts the war in Vietnam and his team in order to pursue his dream of Paris. His squadmates hunt for him to bring him back but, all of them have different reasons. Using indirect characterization O’Brien exposes the character’s different motives for hunting Cacciato--for hunting peace. One such character is Stink Harris. His character is aggressive, ruthless, almost even uncontrollable. He seeks peace to destroy it, to create war. One such example is “Stink fired without aiming. It was automatic. It was a Quick Kill. …show more content…
Every time, that fast. Someone was screaming for a cease-fire but Stink was on full automatic. He was smiling. Gobs of flesh jumped off the beast’s flanks.”(O’Brien 64). Undoubtedly, Stink Harris’ barbaric side is revealed. He can represent the people in history who have been on “full automatic”(O’Brien 64) such as Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and the little known Leopold II. All of these men had to power to create peace but also, just like an automatic weapon, create chaos as well. Even when Stink’s superiors and the rest of his squadmates order differently there was nothing that could save the peace. “ Fire a shot, sir?’ Stink held up his rifle and before the lieutenant could speak, he squeezed off two quick rounds, one a tracer that turned like a corkscrew through the morning haze. Cacciato waved”(O’Brien 32). The goal was to find Cacciato as well as bring him back to the squad and try to not harm him. Right off the bat, Stink attempts to fire two rounds at Cacciato. While chaos is murking in the mud all around us, peace blows against us in the wind while it gracefully waves at whoever tries to corrupt it. The Squad was walking around a friendly town in Vietnam and “They’d given the English-Vietnamese dictionary to Stink as a …show more content…
Such an example is Paul Berlin, he is a inexperienced soldier who does not know which direction is up, but he does not leave Cacciato behind, or anyone at all. One instance of this behavior is when the squad come across two older women and a girl, but the squad need to keep going. “Paul Berlin then raised a hand. “What about them, sir?” “who?” “The old women. The girl.” “Sorry,” Lieutenant Corson said. “I told you before, this here’s no joyride, no place for ladies” (O’Brien 88). Unfortunately, In Vietnam the soldiers were told even the children including the unarmed, were the Vietcong, which meant the communists who were against America. For him to go against the training and info he received and to think more like a human than a soldier says a great deal about his courage and honor quite more than Stink Harris who is the polar opposite. Paul Berlin dreams about being home and can understand that “Paris is not a place. It is a state of mind”(O’Brien 312). He understands that Cacciato is not in search for the physical place we know as Paris, but the soft, sweet smelling, overjoyed, and romantic part within ourselves that is away from this war. Paul Berlin experiences a dream with the elusive Cacciato in it, they start fishing, but Paul is about to give up until they start to converse. “ “Patience,” Cacciato said.
Though peace is unattainable and is farther than we can reach, Tim O’Brien admonishes never giving up the search for peace. Tim O’Brien’s novel Going After Cacciato is about a man named Cacciato who deserts the war in Vietnam and his team in order to pursue his dream of Paris. His squadmates hunt for him to bring him back but, all of them have different reasons. Using indirect characterization O’Brien exposes the character’s different motives for hunting Cacciato--for hunting peace. One such character is Stink Harris. His character is aggressive, ruthless, almost even uncontrollable. He seeks peace to destroy it, to create war. One such example is “Stink fired without aiming. It was automatic. It was a Quick Kill. …show more content…
Every time, that fast. Someone was screaming for a cease-fire but Stink was on full automatic. He was smiling. Gobs of flesh jumped off the beast’s flanks.”(O’Brien 64). Undoubtedly, Stink Harris’ barbaric side is revealed. He can represent the people in history who have been on “full automatic”(O’Brien 64) such as Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and the little known Leopold II. All of these men had to power to create peace but also, just like an automatic weapon, create chaos as well. Even when Stink’s superiors and the rest of his squadmates order differently there was nothing that could save the peace. “ Fire a shot, sir?’ Stink held up his rifle and before the lieutenant could speak, he squeezed off two quick rounds, one a tracer that turned like a corkscrew through the morning haze. Cacciato waved”(O’Brien 32). The goal was to find Cacciato as well as bring him back to the squad and try to not harm him. Right off the bat, Stink attempts to fire two rounds at Cacciato. While chaos is murking in the mud all around us, peace blows against us in the wind while it gracefully waves at whoever tries to corrupt it. The Squad was walking around a friendly town in Vietnam and “They’d given the English-Vietnamese dictionary to Stink as a …show more content…
Such an example is Paul Berlin, he is a inexperienced soldier who does not know which direction is up, but he does not leave Cacciato behind, or anyone at all. One instance of this behavior is when the squad come across two older women and a girl, but the squad need to keep going. “Paul Berlin then raised a hand. “What about them, sir?” “who?” “The old women. The girl.” “Sorry,” Lieutenant Corson said. “I told you before, this here’s no joyride, no place for ladies” (O’Brien 88). Unfortunately, In Vietnam the soldiers were told even the children including the unarmed, were the Vietcong, which meant the communists who were against America. For him to go against the training and info he received and to think more like a human than a soldier says a great deal about his courage and honor quite more than Stink Harris who is the polar opposite. Paul Berlin dreams about being home and can understand that “Paris is not a place. It is a state of mind”(O’Brien 312). He understands that Cacciato is not in search for the physical place we know as Paris, but the soft, sweet smelling, overjoyed, and romantic part within ourselves that is away from this war. Paul Berlin experiences a dream with the elusive Cacciato in it, they start fishing, but Paul is about to give up until they start to converse. “ “Patience,” Cacciato said.