As soon as you pick up a war book or a movie you always have certain expectations from the author and they usually come screaming at you. You always have lots of blood shed, a lot of rage from most of the characters, a lot of tears, the enemy being blown away, and you are always forced to choose sides and you're always happy when they win. Tim O'Brien challenges all these cliches about a war book or text and still manages to fall into the war genre.

In "Spin" O'Brien protryas war as some sort of a game; he gives it a familiar and a "Mellow" feeling by comparing it to a "Ping-Pong ball" and also by comparing it to a game of checkers. "There was something restfull about it, something orderly and reassuring." However in the same time he gives the reader the feeling of fear and loss, because in a checkers game, everything is out in the open you always see your enemy; he is visible, you can expect his reaction but in war it is never the case. Also in a checkers game there are always winners and loosers; and eventhough you get that feeling in many war texts you never get that feeling while reading "Spin", "The Man I killed", or "Good Form." "There was a winner and a loser. There were rules." He also tells us on how boring the war was, but it was not your typical kind of boredom it was "...kind of boredom that caused stomach disorders." He goes on to say that sometimes in the middle of all the gun fire you can stare at the sky and you can imagine and go far away with your thoughts but right away you're reminded of where you are and where you're standing with the first gun shot you hear.

In "The Man I killed" O'Brien is shocked at what has happened; he is faced with a dead man in front of him and he is the cause. He never once mentions how proud he was to have defeated the enemy and became glorious, but instead he tries to escape the reality of it all by creating this imagianry life for his victim. He didn't focus on how his enemy was coming at him or how he went about to defend himself but he gives him a life outside of the field; a life that he just ended. He kept on explaining how his victim never wanted to be a soldier and he always wanted a life outside of war and how he was alwyas taught by his family to defend his country and that it's an honor to defend the land. "He would have been taught that to defend the land was a man's highest duty and highest privlege.....Seceretly, though, it also frightened him...He like books. He wanted someday to be a teacher of mathematics." You never once end hating the character of the "victim" and you never get that feeling of satisfaction (Where is the "Hero"?) O'Brien makes you escape outside of the war field and takes you to a much more familiar place that you can relate to and see everyday. "He was a slim, dead, almost dainty young man...his jaw in his throat...One eye was shut. The other was a star-shaped hole." We are constantly reminded through out the story of how the man looked and how O'Brien just stood ther stairing. After reading I felt a feeling of emptiness, I felt sorry for all the characters, it gave a picture of how war really is like there are no winners; nothing but confusion.

In "Good Form" O'Brien takes the reader to the feeling after war; the feeling of guilt and never forgetting. Eventhough if you try to escape reality that never happens because inside of you the truth is staring at you. Eventhough the O'Brien stories are not what you usually hear in a war story even from your grandparents becasue they always try to glorify themselves and what they have done and how much they have sacrifced for their country. You can't help but to be drawn to them and to the reality they protray and right away you classify them as a "war genre." and in my opinion great readings that make you touch the human side of a soldier. They are not these imaginary characters who have no feelings and they are always tough and out to get the enemy, but they're people who try to live their everyday lives even in the middle of all the gun shooting.