Tim O’Brien

Name
Instructor
Course
Date
Works of Tim O’Brien
Tim O’Brien is an author who became an adult during the historical period of the Vietnam War. Tim O’Brien’s books and memoir mention Vietnam War. “Though, In Lake of the Woods,” “Things They Carried,” and “Going After Cacciato” books, and his memoir “Box Me Up and Ship Me Home” and “If I Die in a Combat Zone” they discuss in detail the war experiences. He is a famous American novelist who said in an interview, “the good writer must write beyond his moment.” O’Brien makes use of Vietnam War to be able to explore truth, storytelling, memory, and courage as used in his different books.
Tim O’Brien is a child to Ave E. Schultz O’Brien and William Timothy O’Brien who was an insurance agent. He was born on October 1, 1946. He has a sister called Kathleen and a brother known as Greg. After O’Brien had joined an elementary school, the family moved to Worthington, Minnesota in a small town called Prairie. He describes the town as “if a person would look for the meaning of the word boring, you will find a little pen and ink of my hometown,” “it was a town full of typical Kiwanis boys and holier than thou preacher: Mid-America.” The town has acted as a background to some of the stories that O’Brien wrote.
O’Brien uses memory as one of the major styles in his work. The author uses past remembrance of Paul Berlin in the book “Going After Caccinto,” to structure the whole book. For example, he begins the story by remembering some deaths, “it was a bad time .

. . And Frenchie Tucker had been shot through the nose. Bernie Lynn and Lieutenant Sidney Martin had died in tunnels. Pederson was dead, and Rudy Chassler was dead. Buff was dead (O’Brien 1). Similarly, in “The Things They Carried” he makes use of the narrator’s memory to show the dissimilarity between Tim O’Brien the narrator and Tim O’Brien the writer. Both books make use of central happenings mostly death of friends to reiterate the story in detail. It makes the reader be able to understand the story better. In one of his recent book, “In the Lake of Woods” uses past remembrance of John and other affected characters to explain to the readers the different possibility that could have led to Kathy Wades disappearing.
Another significant theme in O’Brien works is the use of courage and cowardice. For example, in “The Things They Carried” towards the end of “On the Rainy River” chapter, the narrator ends by stating that, “I was a coward, I went to war” (O’Brien 57). It means that because of fear he joined the infantry and failed to move to Canada. Likewise, in the memoir “If I Die in a Combat,” the author confesses that because he lacked courage and he went to Vietnam. In the novel “Going After Cacciato” the novel’s central event is that Paul Berlin collapse because of fear.
Another important theme is the way that O’Brien tells his stories. According to the book “Going After Caccito” the narrator explains that the use of past knowledge and experiences assist in developing a coherent narrative. In “The Things They Carried” the author uses metafiction to tell the story. In the novel, the author is one of the characters who is remembering his war experiences and at the same time a writer who is following the techniques required to write a story. He is forced to add some incidences that are fiction. In one of the interviews, O’Brien revealed this fact, “ninety percent or more of the material is invented, and I invented ninety percent of new Tim O’Brien, maybe even more than that” (Vernon 56).
O’Brien was a man who became an adult during the Vietnam War. Most of his books and memoir are about the Vietnam War. He makes use of different styles in his writings. For example, O’Brien uses memory to be able to explore his stories such as, some of the characters remembers something’s that happened to their friends or themselves. He also uses courage and fear to explain why some of the characters behaved or acted the way they did. O’Brien also uses storytelling and truth to make the readers understand his writings.
Work cited
Vernon, Alex, and Catherine Calloway. Approaches to Teaching the Works of Tim O’brien. , 2010. Print.
O’Brien, Tim. Going After Cacciato. New York: Broadway Books, 1999. Internet resource.Bottom of Form
Top of Form
O’Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried: A Work of Fiction. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1990. Internet resource.