Tim O'Brien by Aubrianne Crosby STUDENT

General Comments

aubriannec325 — 2025-03-14 18:31:11 UTC

O'Brien is a round character. We can see this through how the war changes his perspective on truth and life over all. We also see this struggle throughout the novel he struggles to display his true feelings about Vietnam as well.
O'Brien also plays the role of sharing these conversations and memories with the reader as they move along in the book. He shares these experiences to give the reader a second hand experience as to what it was like to fight in Vietnam.

Description

aubriannec325 — 2025-03-14 18:37:04 UTC

O'Brien is around 21 years old in the war, however when writing the novel he is 43 years old.
Tim is also thoughtful, complex, and faithful in his story telling.
Tim is described as a slim and dainty young man.
O'Brien is the main character in this novel because he is the one looking back and remembering these stories to write about in the novel.

Quote

aubriannec325 — 2025-03-14 18:39:35 UTC

"I’d come to this war a quiet, thoughtful sort of person, a college grad, Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude, all the credentials, but after seven months in the bush I realized that those high, civilized trappings had somehow been crushed under the weight of the simple daily realities. I’d turned mean inside."

This quote describes O'Brien's perspective on the thoughts of war because he realized these innocent people had to suffer through this violence. He recognizes that the reality of this violence has caused him to lose his humanity, and he has turned "mean inside".