I’m very unfamiliar to the war genre, but if I were to form my own expectations about what a war text consist of it would be the following; Bloodshed, grief, and Victory. I truly enjoyed reading O’Brien’s Stories about war. You get the gist of war but it’s not confined to the formula that war movies are constantly in action, with no moment to spare, invariable bloodshed with a triumphant end.
In Tim O’Brien’s Spin, he establishes the idea that “War wasn’t all terror and violence. Sometimes things could almost get sweet” (O’Brien, p35). He would recall the nights that Norman Bowker and Henry Dobbins would sit and play checkers, as others looked on. He subtly makes a distinction between war and a game of checkers. He explains that in a game of checkers there are no surprises, you were aware of the score, there were rules that could not be broken, and last but not least there was a winner and loser. I believe Tim could not view war in any way as a victory, since there were always lives to be shed.
The Man I killed was truly touching although we should generally feel for the loss of the boy; we can’t help feel sorry for Tim. He beats himself up with masochistic thoughts about what this boy’s life could have been if he hadn’t ended it. He concocts a story of what this boy’s aspirations and fears were in life. This story focuses on the part of war which deals with death, and the resentment that one feels when ending another’s life. " It's a war. The guy wasnt Heidi- he had a weapon, right? Its a tough thing for sure, but you got to cut out the staring Tim" Kiolas character exerts that ending someone’s life is a terrible thing, but because it’s a war were bound to casualties and we must not dwell on it.
With the final story I was completely blown away when he confesses that this was his imagination, he then begins to speak about story truth and happening truth. At first I was a bit puzzled with what he meant, but now I think I figured it out, Tim believes that story- truth can be truer than happening truth because story truth invokes the feeling whether it is fact or fiction. Tim O’Brien gives us the feeling of what goes on through the mind of a person who has just killed someone, the story may not be fact but the feelings evoked are true.
-Rita Morales
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i was also a bit puzzled at the end, when Tim admits that the story was all part of his imagination. The details were so real, along with the experiences that i read about, which were clear. I was able to recognize the stories that met the war expectation, over ones that did not. I really enjoy reading the O'Brien stories, and having the skill of reading through the mind of one that killed...
-allison jones
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