1. Descriptions of a Soldiers War:Tim O’Brien’s Use of Detail in Vietnam War NovelsDavid Asbill English 1102 Professor Owens 10/3/2010
2. Tim O’Brien’s Novels dealing with the Vietnam War Going After Cacciato The Things They Carried If I Die In A Combat Zone The Nuclear Age Northern Lights
3. The Use of Detail Tim O’Brien’s use of Details in his stories are what sets him apart from all other war time writers. His descriptions of characters, places and emotions make the reader “Feel” as if they are in the story themselves. Tim O’Brien fought in Vietnam. This gave him the insight needed To give vivid details to his stories.
4. “O'Brien's works variously rewrite his own traumatization during the war in Vietnam as a never-ending fiction that paradoxically "recovers" personal experience by both recapturing and (re)disguising it.”(Mark Heberle)
5. Vietnam was a place that no American Soldier wanted to fight
6. Every American dealt with the war in their own way…… Some men chose to “dodge” the draft altogether by fleeing to Canada Some committed crimes to become inelligable Others enrolled in college Most men did what their country asked and went to war…….. It is how they dealt with the war that separated them
7. Details Define O’Brien’s Works Tim O’Brien uses several characters throughout several novels to express his feelings on how he and his fellow soldiers coped with the pressures of the Vietnam War. How he detailed these coping measures is what sets his collection of works apart from every other war time author.
8. Works Cited Smith, Erica. Tim O'Brien's books on Vietnam's legacy haunt and heal. Erica Smith, 2009. Web. 29 Sep. 2010 <http://hamptonroads.com/2009/04/tim-obriens-books-vietnams-legacy-haunt-and-heal> Griffith, James. “A Walk through History: Tim O'Brien's Going after Cacciato in War”. Literature, and the Arts 3.1 (1991): 1-34. Print. Heberle, Mark A. A Trauma Artist: Tim O’Brien and the Fiction of Vietnam. Mark heberle. 2001.Web. 27 Sep. 2010. < http://www.uiowapress.org/books/pre-2002/hebtraart.htm> Timmerman, John H. “Tim O’Brien And The Art of The True War Story: 'Night March' and 'Speaking of Courage.'" John Timmerman. 2000. Web. 27 Sep. 2010. <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0403/is_1_46/ai_63591266/> Vernon, Alex. Preview.“Salvation, Storytelling, and Pilgrimage in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried” Mosaic 36. 2003. Print. O’Brien, Tim. Going After Cacciato. Dell Publishing, 1980. Print. O’Brien, Tim. “On The Rainy River.” Literature: Reading and Writing the Human Experience. 7th Ed. Richard Abcarian and Marvin Klotz. New York: St. Martins, 1998. 420-32. Print.