In The Field 'By Tim O' Brien: Chapter Analysis

I disagree with the statement that every chapter in the book is the same story. Although each chapter is connected with other chapters through characters and plot, each chapter shows a unique perspective on war and the soldiers who fight in it. For example, in the chapter “Spin” Tim O’Brien shows the reader the immaturity of the troops, particularly Azar. From the chapter, the reader views Azar as careless and cruel with nothing to suggest otherwise. In “In the Field”, however, Azar shows a new side of himself when he apologizes to Norman Bowker for the jokes he made earlier. The two chapters helped show that war changes people; it provided two different perspectives. As we saw in “The Danger of a Single Story” Ted Talk, seeing a single version of everything is dangerous and can lead to delusion. Tim O’Brien wrote The

Had Tim O’Brien written the same story in each chapter or utilized the same perspective, his chapters would be highly ineffective to demonstrate the complexity of warfare and its effects on the human soul. Therefore, his chapters are not all the same story; instead, they are all a pieces of Tim O’Brien’s imagination that when put together form one coherent story. These chapters are not meant to be read alone. Only reading them together allows the reader to comprehend the paradoxical nature of war and its effect on people.
In the fishbowl, the class discussed gender roles in The Things They Carried and what it means to be a man or a woman according to the book. The group talked about how women were typically portrayed in the book: civilian, innocent, and ignorant of the war. One of such examples was Sally Kramer in “Speaking of