If I Die In A Combat Zone by Tim O’Brien
If I Die In A Combat Zone is a memoir that depicts the horrors of Vietnam through the eyes of Tim O’Brien. Tim’s story is not told in chronological order, but his life before, during, and after the war are all depicted by the end of the book. Although the book is brief, it shows the development of Tim as he is forced to participate in a war that he disagrees with in its entirety. Although he originally plots to abandon the Army, he believes that doing so would bring embarrassment upon his family, thus Tim endures through the brutality that was Vietnam.
Chronologically, Tim’s story begins with his life before the war. During this description, we learn that Tim believes the war is “wrongly conceived …show more content…
In order to test calibration, mortarmen fire their artillery guns upon uninhabited areas. Shortly before Tim moved on from infantry, the mortarmen mistakenly fired upon a village, wounding thirty-three villagers. After this accident, Tim recounts his final involvement as an infantryman. Less than an hour after receiving a new commander, Alpha Company is led into a minefield. Appalled by the abysmal leadership, Tim acquires a pass to Chu Lai; he receives a job as a typist, signifying the end of his participation in combat. Tim describes his job at Chu Lai as dull, but he admits that he was fortunate that the boredom was painless. The book ends shortly after his description of Chu Lai with Tim going back to Minnesota as a changed …show more content…
Tim writes in his “Afterword” section of the book about his inspiration for writing the book and includes facts that add a level of emotion to the otherwise gritty war novel. In this section, we are informed that part of the book was actually written while Tim was in Vietnam. Most importantly, we learn that this book serves the purpose of re-humanizing Tim after being exposed to “the savagery and horror and stupidity and triumphant evil all around [him]. I believe that this book could have been a lot better if the book would have been told in chronological order. Although changing points of time helped divert the book from being a generic war story, I felt as though it took away from character progression. For example, the parts of the story that described other members of Alpha Company were overshadowed by the war scenes that happened immediately afterwards. I would have preferred for the story to have progressed in order for the reader to have time to attach to the rest of Tim’s rifle company, and even his college friends back in Minnesota. Apart from my personal preference of storytelling, this book was definitely a “must-read,” because it provides a combination of facts about the Vietnam War while touching upon the moral injustices that came along with the war. My personal favorite part of this book was Tim’s planning and contemplation of avoiding the war.
If I Die In A Combat Zone is a memoir that depicts the horrors of Vietnam through the eyes of Tim O’Brien. Tim’s story is not told in chronological order, but his life before, during, and after the war are all depicted by the end of the book. Although the book is brief, it shows the development of Tim as he is forced to participate in a war that he disagrees with in its entirety. Although he originally plots to abandon the Army, he believes that doing so would bring embarrassment upon his family, thus Tim endures through the brutality that was Vietnam.
Chronologically, Tim’s story begins with his life before the war. During this description, we learn that Tim believes the war is “wrongly conceived …show more content…
In order to test calibration, mortarmen fire their artillery guns upon uninhabited areas. Shortly before Tim moved on from infantry, the mortarmen mistakenly fired upon a village, wounding thirty-three villagers. After this accident, Tim recounts his final involvement as an infantryman. Less than an hour after receiving a new commander, Alpha Company is led into a minefield. Appalled by the abysmal leadership, Tim acquires a pass to Chu Lai; he receives a job as a typist, signifying the end of his participation in combat. Tim describes his job at Chu Lai as dull, but he admits that he was fortunate that the boredom was painless. The book ends shortly after his description of Chu Lai with Tim going back to Minnesota as a changed …show more content…
Tim writes in his “Afterword” section of the book about his inspiration for writing the book and includes facts that add a level of emotion to the otherwise gritty war novel. In this section, we are informed that part of the book was actually written while Tim was in Vietnam. Most importantly, we learn that this book serves the purpose of re-humanizing Tim after being exposed to “the savagery and horror and stupidity and triumphant evil all around [him]. I believe that this book could have been a lot better if the book would have been told in chronological order. Although changing points of time helped divert the book from being a generic war story, I felt as though it took away from character progression. For example, the parts of the story that described other members of Alpha Company were overshadowed by the war scenes that happened immediately afterwards. I would have preferred for the story to have progressed in order for the reader to have time to attach to the rest of Tim’s rifle company, and even his college friends back in Minnesota. Apart from my personal preference of storytelling, this book was definitely a “must-read,” because it provides a combination of facts about the Vietnam War while touching upon the moral injustices that came along with the war. My personal favorite part of this book was Tim’s planning and contemplation of avoiding the war.