theme

The annoying thing about reading books for school besides the fact that we are TOLD to do so is that we have to find all these literary words and analyze to the point of brains becoming fried. I start to tell myself we're reading way too far into the books, and there's no way the author intended for us to dissect his story like this!

Despite this, I'll always love reading. It takes me away from my world and puts me in someone else's. When I'm reading, nothing is demanded of me (until I finish a chapter and I have to take notes or be tested over it). And above all, I actually do enjoy being challenged to skim through pages with an objective in mind. I love reading and searching for the author's purpose: the theme.

First off, O'Brien, like many Americans, seems to think that the US involvement in Vietnam was on the verge of pointlessness. On page 14 he discusses all they carry, then goes on to say "...but it was not battle, it was just the endless march, village to village, without purpose, nothing won or lost." The tone of this sentence is weary, almost as if O'Brien is tired with the way there was no purpose for the war. He felt the reasons for being in Vietnam could be taken several ways, as seen on page 15: "...and for all the ambiguities of Vietnam, all the mysteries and unknowns, there was at least the single abiding certainty that they would never be at a loss for things to carry." He comes right out and states on page 38 that "it was my view then, and still is, that you don't make war without knowing why. Knowledge, of course, is always imperfect, but it seemed to me that when a nation goes to war it must have reasonable confidence in the justice and imperative of its cause. You can't fix your mistakes. Once people are dead, you can't bring them back." O'Brien is talking about the US government's decision to go to war. He's angry with the war, still. It was a mistake. Friends lost, money lost, time lost, innocent lives lost.

Kiowa was "folded in with the war; he was part of the waste" (page 147).

Dealing with death was a theme. I particularly liked the passage on pages 169-170 that discussed all the things you can blame death on including "the war, ...the idiots who made the war, ...God, ...Karl Marx, ...or an old man in Omaha who forgot to vote." Karl Marx stands for the communistic ideals being fought against. There are so many levels of blame in this quote from omniscient God to the little old man.

Another theme is the beauty and sacredness of story telling. Often times an important message is tacked on to the end of chapters, like on page 36: "And sometimes remembering will lead to a story, which makes it forever. That's what stories are for. Stories are for joining the past to the future. Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except." This doesn't need much explaining. For O'Brien, it's "a clearing of the throat." Storytelling will carry on forever; it's timeless.