In all three of Tim O'Brien's short stories: 'Spin', 'The Man I Killed', and 'Good Form', he discusses moments which he lived through while at war as a young man.
While reading 'Spin', we automatically learn that his experience while at war "wasn't all terror and violence" (line 1). O'Brien recurringly describes moments which he lived with his fellow soldiers as "sweet" and/or peaceful, and often states that the war wasn't all about fatality and hatred, as one would expect from a war story.
In 'The Man I Killed', the author relives a moment during the war in which he witnesses the death of an opposing soldier. He captures this moment through vivid details of the man before his death, and also as if the man would have never died. Although O'Brien was vague in regards to whether he actually killed the man or not, the whole purpose of this short story seems to be for closure and his own peace of mind. 'The Man...' transitions into 'Good Form', where we later learn that O'Brien only witnessed the death of this man. In this story, his feelings during that moment are depicted and he states that what he wrote did have a purpose, which was to allow the reader to feel what he went through in that moment. He finalizes this short story discussing his intentions with his anecdotes, which were "to make things present" (line 28) and capture them forever.
Just as Daniel Chandler discusses in 'An Introduction to Genre Theory', "one way of defining genres is as 'a set of expectations'" (page 4), O'Brien's works contradict typical "war story" expectations, that is, one would expect to read about blood, violence, gore, hatred, etc., and all three of O'Brien's stories (including the more war-oriented 'The Man I Killed'), discussed moments in which soldiers were at peace and such. In conclusion, O'Brien's stories depict war stories, but whether or not they fit into the "war genre" is questionable. As Foucalt debates in his preface to 'The Order of Things': "On what 'table', according to what grid of identities, similitudes, analogies, have we become accustomed to sort out so many different and similar things?" (page xix), in other words, O'Brien's stories would traditionally be classified as war stories, but that is up to the reader to determine.
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3 comments:
I think how Jessica mentions the split of the war story genre by the peaceful, almost fondly remembered moments is a very good analysis of these unique war stories. Also how O'Brian is vague on whether or not he actually killed the man, but leaves no doubt as to the guilt he feels at his death.
I like how Jessica touches on the idea that O'brien speaks of the war as being peaceful and sweet, and at times boring. Most war stories you hear about are mostly about fighting, but in reality thats only half of it. Most of the time your living in villages being bored waiting, seeing the world. This gives a reading a complete look at what being in a war is really about. Not just the whole idea of fighting but the fact that your still living.
I agree with what Jessica wrote, first by comparing the stories how 'spin', is more of a peaceful setting, that made the war seem 'sweet'. Also the feeling of guilt that O'brian felt by the young man's dead, whether or not he was responsible for it or not, his conscience will always haunt him. This is also the case in the story 'Good Form' how he is confused whether or not he was responsible for the 'kill', but dosn't realize that this is the unnavitable consequence of what war leaves behind in the memory.
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