If I Die In A Combat Zone Analysis

Kyarah Rogers In If I Die in a Combat Zone, the author Tim O’Brien displayed that the Vietnam War was detrimental by depicting harsh physical environments, expressing how he dealt with despondency, recounting his intense training, explicitly describing brutal deaths and injuries, and including his personal opinions. The landscape was one of the most noteworthy aspects of the story. Throughout the novel, O’brien’s explicit descriptions were used to set up a clear picture of his environment for the readers. For instance, upon his arrival to Vietnam, O’Brien first took in the “inky, mildew smell” that permeated the air (70). The putrid odor clearly implied that the area was dirty and unpleasant. Moreover, O’Brien found that he must

Because of the kinds of weapons that were used, fatalities were common. Such dangerous weapons included one called the “M-14 antipersonnel mine,” which was referred to as the “toe popper” because it had the ability to “take a hunk out of your foot.” There was also the “Soviet TMB and the Chinese antitank mines” which were “known to have shredded more than one soldier” (125). In the time of an attack, the fighting was abrupt, so that in “one moment the world [was] serene” and “in another moment the war [was] there” (110). This signified the immediate impact that an influx of war could have on an area. Furthermore, there was an incident in which the Forty-eighth Viet Cong Battalion was responsible for the death of several American soldiers, leaving “scraps of [them]...dropped in plastic body bags” (119). In another attack, several more tragedies took place. First, the tracks ran over a man named Paige, “taking away his foot.” Then, “a track ran over a little guy,” and “he was smothered and crushed dead.” (152). Finally, the men found a fellow soldier, McElhany, with “most of the blood...out of him” (154). With this in mind, it was safe to say that the Americans undoubtedly suffered; however, they acted just as savagely toward the Vietnamese. Not only did they attack them with artillery, but they also “tore up the floors” and “poured sand into the well” that belonged to innocent villagers (129). They also held three village men as prisoners and “stuffed wet rags into their mouths” and beat them the following morning before finally dismissing them (130). O’Brien made sure to include these tragic events in his writing to prove to the reader that the war was extremely