How would you adjust to a new unfamiliar, stressful environment that you don't want to be in? In the short story ''Where Have You Gone, Charming Billy,'' Tim O'Brien explores that situation to a whole new level. He tells the story of a man who got drafted to war, and unfortunately has to face its realities and miseries. He leaves with a powerful ending by revealing that Paul's once beacon of hope, the sea, didn't crush his fear, instead it just grew bigger. This leads us to question why ends the story that way and what he's trying to say about the effects of war, as well as how the story would change if the ending changed. All of these questions can be answered through exploring how Tim shows the realities of war through showing what kind
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From the start of the story, Paul is constantly thinking of Billy's death and the fear that comes along with it, as well as ways to make the fear go away. Tim says in the beginning of the story, ''He was pretending he was not in the war, pretending he had not watched Billy Boy Watkins die of a heart attack that afternoon'' (12-13). This shows that Paul is trying to avoid thinking about the tragedy he had seen just earlier. As a result, Billy tries to use different method to make him forget about his current fear. This can be seen when Tim says, ''There were tricks he'd learned to keep himself from thinking. Counting. He counted his steps, concentrating on the numbers, pretending that the steps were dollar bills and that each step through the night made him richer and richer'' (74-76). We can infer from this that it's too painful for Paul to think about his fear so instead he occupies his time distracting himself with various methods. Paul also tries to cling on to hope by using the sea as a beacon of hope. This can be observed when Tim says, ''Once they reached the sea it would be better'' (46). This reveals that Paul is desperately trying to hold on just a little longer until they reach the sea in hopes of it making the fear go away. Tim makes the point he's trying to make stronger by using soldiers' repetition of thoughts and how they deal with it, as well as the effect it has on their
From the start of the story, Paul is constantly thinking of Billy's death and the fear that comes along with it, as well as ways to make the fear go away. Tim says in the beginning of the story, ''He was pretending he was not in the war, pretending he had not watched Billy Boy Watkins die of a heart attack that afternoon'' (12-13). This shows that Paul is trying to avoid thinking about the tragedy he had seen just earlier. As a result, Billy tries to use different method to make him forget about his current fear. This can be seen when Tim says, ''There were tricks he'd learned to keep himself from thinking. Counting. He counted his steps, concentrating on the numbers, pretending that the steps were dollar bills and that each step through the night made him richer and richer'' (74-76). We can infer from this that it's too painful for Paul to think about his fear so instead he occupies his time distracting himself with various methods. Paul also tries to cling on to hope by using the sea as a beacon of hope. This can be observed when Tim says, ''Once they reached the sea it would be better'' (46). This reveals that Paul is desperately trying to hold on just a little longer until they reach the sea in hopes of it making the fear go away. Tim makes the point he's trying to make stronger by using soldiers' repetition of thoughts and how they deal with it, as well as the effect it has on their