My Lai 'By Tim O' Brien: Chapter Summary

The first chapters in the novel clearly show that there is unconventional style used in the novel. There are several chapters consist of evidence while there are others that are written in the third person. A lot of evidence is based on the quotations of other people, some fictional and some real. By assessing, the occasional appearing foot notes that area written in the first person and tends to reveal that the main Character John Wade might have visited My Lai and again been in Vietnam War. The author of the book Tim O’Brien indeed did serve in Vietnam and even visited My Lai in real life. In chapter one of the novels, Tim O’Brien begins by introducing two unnamed characters who, indeed after the aftermath of a primary election, the audience

In Vietnam at My Lai the American troops were ordered to kill children and women no questions asked. Wades reactions in relation to the Vietnam War experience is a good fit to the type of trauma that is experienced by Sigmund Freud, he is severally quoted in the book. The two unnamed characters came to the place in sought of solitude and togetherness. From this perspective, O’Brien develops his fiction story from a point of uncertainty. The audience does not know who the two characters are, and the same applies to their activities, and as we learn later in the story, the readers come to realize that the mood of uncertainty develops the theme of the

Wades actions in Vietnam made him be labeled as an evil man especially when news came in that he was involved in massacring Vietnamese civilians and an American soldier; this made the voters of Minnesota lose confidence in him. John killed many other people, one can view it as his troubled father to son relationship, his sinking marriage and his terrifying experience in Vietnam contributed to his killing . On the other side, one can view it as John felt the urge to kill and not his father and not Kathy. . After learning of his father’s death, John felt the desire to commit a murder crime. At the funeral, John had this passion to kill everyone on the scene. The idea of John of killing anyone in this chapter could link to chapter 2 where evidence is significant. Is it possible that John killed Kathy in revenge for his father, or for love reasons? However, since Katy’s body missed, the credibility of the evidence is another factor to consider. In the previous chapter, John woke up to find Kathy missing in the cabin. Coming on, the ambiguity of the story comes in when John sleeps under his pillow and imagines himself being his dead father. John’s behavior gets controversial in the sense that his father’s was not justifiable according to him. In fact, the revenge sought by John was