In Susan Farrell’s essay about Vietnam literature, she talks about how authors of Vietnam literature many times do not place the blame of their actions upon themselves, but upon “forces greater than himself.”
These forces are apparent in Tim O’Brien’s novel in the chapter “How to Tell a True War Story,” especially when he tells the story of Rat Kiley and the water buffalo.
In this story, O’Brien describes the brutal scene of Rat shooting this baby water buffalo. He tells of how Rat “shot it in the right front knew . . . shot off the tail . . . [and then] went off by himself” (78 and 79). This brutal scene is pivotal in this chapter because it describes how war stories cannot generalize.
The reason for Rat to do this to this baby innocent animal was because his friend Curt Lemon had just died. Curt and Rat were playing catch with a smoke grenade when all of a sudden Curt stepped on a “booby-trapped 105 round” and was blown up (78). O’Brien is trying to justify what Rat did do the baby buffalo through the death of his good friend Curt, just as Susan Farrell suggested Vietnam Literature does in her website. http://www.cofc.edu/VietnamRetro/farrell.html
The fact is that the things that these soldiers had to deal with on an every day basis drove some close to or even to insanity. As is the case with Rat Kiley, he was taking his emotion out on something that was innocent and young. This seems to somewhat hint at the fact that these soldiers would take their anger from the war out on anything that they found, which can explain the violence to the innocent Vietnamese during this war.
These forces are apparent in Tim O’Brien’s novel in the chapter “How to Tell a True War Story,” especially when he tells the story of Rat Kiley and the water buffalo.
In this story, O’Brien describes the brutal scene of Rat shooting this baby water buffalo. He tells of how Rat “shot it in the right front knew . . . shot off the tail . . . [and then] went off by himself” (78 and 79). This brutal scene is pivotal in this chapter because it describes how war stories cannot generalize.
The reason for Rat to do this to this baby innocent animal was because his friend Curt Lemon had just died. Curt and Rat were playing catch with a smoke grenade when all of a sudden Curt stepped on a “booby-trapped 105 round” and was blown up (78). O’Brien is trying to justify what Rat did do the baby buffalo through the death of his good friend Curt, just as Susan Farrell suggested Vietnam Literature does in her website. http://www.cofc.edu/VietnamRetro/farrell.html
The fact is that the things that these soldiers had to deal with on an every day basis drove some close to or even to insanity. As is the case with Rat Kiley, he was taking his emotion out on something that was innocent and young. This seems to somewhat hint at the fact that these soldiers would take their anger from the war out on anything that they found, which can explain the violence to the innocent Vietnamese during this war.
5 comments:
So, is your definition and notable characteristic of Vietnam war literature the fact that many times, due to their own personal losses, Vietnam soldiers would take out the pain on innocent people or creatures?
Do you think Rat Kiley was justified in shooting the baby buffalo? One could argue that it was because his best friend that he loved had just died. In the words of U2, was it "in the name of love" or is that no excuse for his actions?
I agree that many times ordinary people who would never commit any type of violent act can change when put in a certain situation. The situation of Rat Kiley is seeing his friend getting blown up. In a normal situation, a ordinary person would never torture a water buffalo just because they were upset, but after seeing a traumatic event like this, even the most decent people can change.
Okay, I understand. It's really amazing and awful how much the human mind can change by a traumatic experience, how much they can desensitize themselves to other people's pain.
I believe that this was the point Obrien was getting at with the scene about Rat shooting the buffalo was to show that not only was it a dangerous and uncomfortable place to be, but Vietnam made people do things and behave differently than ever expected of them.
I think part of O'Brien's point in making it Rat who kills the water buffalo (and not someone like, say, Azar or even Lee Strunk) -- Rat is one of the good guys, the character most like O'Brien, thoughtful, insightful, a gifted and empathetic storyteller who notices everything...
And of course, Rat goes more insane later and shoots himself, and it seems to me that that later event is directly connected to his horrifying behavior in "How to Tell a True War Story." Rat, like O'Brien, has a long and powerful memory and doesn't let himself off the hook for anything, but carries everything with him and sometimes, it's just too much...
I don't think O'Brien is trying to justify or rationalize what happens, though -- I don't think Rat even gives himself that "out". It's most likely that this is just a "true war story" -- complex, amoral, in some ways inexplicable...
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