Clearing The Throat

O'Brien utilizes the chapter "Notes" to carry out a point that serves as one of the book's themes. After receiving Norman Bowker's seventeen-page note, O'Brien knew that it was his responsibility to tell the stories of so many nameless soldiers. The book serves as a catharsis- "telling stories seemed a natural, inevitable process, like clearing the throat... It was a way of grabbing people by the shirt and explaining what had happed to [O'Brien], ...all the terrible things [he] had seen and done" (page 151). But O'Brien didn't just want to share his story; he wanted to share the stories of all the men in Alpha Company and beyond in "Nam." The theme comes to life as O'Brien says on page 152 that "by telling stories, you objectify your own experience. You separate it from yourself. You pin down certain truths." Here O'Brien changes to a second-person writing style, directly speaking to the reader to get the point and purpose of all his story telling across.

I had a great-uncle who died of a heart attack about ten years ago. He faught in Vietnam, and come to find out was shot at one point during the war. I never understood his quiet nature and odd starring, but as I read this book things started to click into place. O'Brien is telling Uncle Scott's story too...

O'Brien also uses this chapter as an introduction into a chapter full of admit and guilt: "Norman Bowker was in no way responisble for what happened to Kiowa. Norman did not experience a failure of nerve that night. He did not freeze up or lose the Silver Star for valor. That part of the story is my own."