Maria Ahmed 7th Period
In If I Die In a Combat Zone, Tim O’Brien recounts his time in the Vietnamese War and how it affected him and his views on war in general. O’Brien places strong emphasis on the ideas that the Vietnamese war was unjust and evil, and he does this by showing the psychological trauma the soldiers had endured, detailing the desensitization of the American soldiers, and the general harshness of the war.
One of the ways that Tim O’Brien supports the argument that the Vietnam War was unjust is by depicting the cruelties and trauma that the troops had to endure. An example of a psychologically traumatizing event can be found whenever O’Brien describes a deep fear of his to find himself lost and alone in the unfamiliar countryside (pg 87). Many of the …show more content…
Evidence of the desensitization can be seen in the way the soldiers talk about death. Another example of desensitization is shown when O’Brien’s friends Tom and Arnold were killed and O’Brien simply described the loss as being “lessened and depersonalized” (pg 81). The fact that the death of a friend had such a little impact on O’Brien shows just how desensitized he had become. His mind had become so numb to the cruelties and suffering that severe things such as death didn’t really weigh on him. Another instance in which the American soldiers exhibited signs of desensitization was when one of the soldiers had thrown a milk carton toward an old Vietnamese man who was clearly trying to help them (pg 100). This complete lack of respect is a result of the soldier’s being so far “gone” that societal expectations of kindness and respect meant nothing to them. The soldier’s gave no consideration to the way their actions were perceived and the repercussions of them. The lack of consideration and the fact that a lot of the soldiers didn’t even want to be there led to deadly
In If I Die In a Combat Zone, Tim O’Brien recounts his time in the Vietnamese War and how it affected him and his views on war in general. O’Brien places strong emphasis on the ideas that the Vietnamese war was unjust and evil, and he does this by showing the psychological trauma the soldiers had endured, detailing the desensitization of the American soldiers, and the general harshness of the war.
One of the ways that Tim O’Brien supports the argument that the Vietnam War was unjust is by depicting the cruelties and trauma that the troops had to endure. An example of a psychologically traumatizing event can be found whenever O’Brien describes a deep fear of his to find himself lost and alone in the unfamiliar countryside (pg 87). Many of the …show more content…
Evidence of the desensitization can be seen in the way the soldiers talk about death. Another example of desensitization is shown when O’Brien’s friends Tom and Arnold were killed and O’Brien simply described the loss as being “lessened and depersonalized” (pg 81). The fact that the death of a friend had such a little impact on O’Brien shows just how desensitized he had become. His mind had become so numb to the cruelties and suffering that severe things such as death didn’t really weigh on him. Another instance in which the American soldiers exhibited signs of desensitization was when one of the soldiers had thrown a milk carton toward an old Vietnamese man who was clearly trying to help them (pg 100). This complete lack of respect is a result of the soldier’s being so far “gone” that societal expectations of kindness and respect meant nothing to them. The soldier’s gave no consideration to the way their actions were perceived and the repercussions of them. The lack of consideration and the fact that a lot of the soldiers didn’t even want to be there led to deadly