O'Brien's daughter Kathleen's ignorance is precious. She's young and seeks answers to complicated answers asked in simple forms. She acts as a foil character to Tim O'Brien because she asks questions to get O'Brien to go further in detail on certain accounts or to explain something in a different way. For instance on page 175 during their trip in Vietnam Kathleen inquires of her father, "'This whole war', she said, 'why was everybody so mad at everybody else?' I shook my head. 'They weren't mad exactly. Some people wanted one thing, other people wanted another thing.'" This exchange between the father and daughter reminds me when I was little and I asked my dad what he did for his job. He had a hard time explaining it in kid terms; I mean, he's an account. He's into numbers and all. But he managed to tell me that he worked with money and helped people put it to good use. I always looked up to my dad for the hard work he does and the people he helps. I imagine Kathleen looked up to her dad and appreciated once she was older all the hard work and fight her dad put into being a soldier and then a writer.
Sure wish my dad could take me somewhere foreign for my tenth birthday!
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