In the excerpt, O’Brien says that the man’s “eye was a star-shaped hole.” The comparison of the man’s anatomy to a celestial body evokes a sense of wonder and longing inside the reader and places a personal value on a part of the man who was killed. Later in the excerpt again, O’Brien says that there “was a butterfly on his chin.” The placement of beauty atop tragedy makes the reader uncomfortable and creates an uneasy mood that forces the reader to reconsider how they feel about the people on the other side of the Vietnam War. The use of stars and insects to describe the injuries inflicted on this man draws personal emotion from the reader and thus adds value to the character’s life, and, therefore, the lives of countless other Vietnamese soldiers who had had been
In the excerpt, O’Brien says that the man’s “eye was a star-shaped hole.” The comparison of the man’s anatomy to a celestial body evokes a sense of wonder and longing inside the reader and places a personal value on a part of the man who was killed. Later in the excerpt again, O’Brien says that there “was a butterfly on his chin.” The placement of beauty atop tragedy makes the reader uncomfortable and creates an uneasy mood that forces the reader to reconsider how they feel about the people on the other side of the Vietnam War. The use of stars and insects to describe the injuries inflicted on this man draws personal emotion from the reader and thus adds value to the character’s life, and, therefore, the lives of countless other Vietnamese soldiers who had had been