Essay for "The Man I Killed" from THE THINGS THEY CARRIED

 Title of the essay is: Literary Analysis of "The Man I Killed"

Prompt:

How does Tim O'Brien use dialogue, repetition and imagery to convey the emotional state of the narrator?

THE INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH:

You must have the author's name in the opening paragraph. The author's name is Tim O'Brien.

You must include the title of the book, which is THE THINGS THEY CARRIED.

You must include the title of the chapter, which is "The Man I Killed."

Do not use informal tone.

You may use information about the Vietnam War or the effects of killing on the soldiers as part of your introduction.

 Please work the prompt into the introductory paragraph. You may use a quotation to introduce your essay.

Please state the three main points which will be discussed in the essay:

1. Tim O'Brien's use of repetition

2. Tim O'Brien's use of dialogue

3. Tim O'Brien's use of imagery

And state how all three are used to show  O'Brien's emotional state after killing a young Viet Cong soldier.

The opening should be about a third to a half page long.

THE BODY PARAGRAPH:

Each new paragraph should have a "mini-topic" sentence, followed by a minimum of two supporting sentences.

You MUST include evidence (quotations or paraphrasing) to support your thesis.

YOU MUST INTRODUCE THE QUOTATION OR EXPLAIN THE SITUATION SURROUNDING THE PARAPHRASE!!!!!!

After you include the evidence, then you must comment on the evidence or, in other words, show how the evidence supports what you are claiming.

Example of how to do quotations:

Tim O’Brien is crouched in a  catatonic state of shock, not moving, not speaking. Kiowa, concerned about the emotional state of his army buddy, says to him, “Hey, you’re looking better.” Then he says, “C’mon, talk!”  O’Brien does not say that he is in such a state of shock that he cannot speak, rather he reveals his extreme state of pain by having Kiowa speak and it is what Kiowa is saying to him, "I'll give you five minutes to snap out of it" and "Get it together, man" that shows the state the character is in. 

A quotation needs three elements:

An introduction (This is what you write, and it is like the bun.)

The quotation itself (This is what you copy from the book. It is the meat.)

A comment on the quotation (This is what you write, and it is the other piece of bun the meat rests on - or veggie patties, if you're vegetarian.)

You then write a tidy transitional sentence to move on to the next claim or topic.

THE CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH:

Please do not write "In conclusion".

Briefly recount (no more than one sentence per point) the major points in your essay: O'Brien's use of repetition, dialogue and imagery, and how they showed the narrator's emotional state.

Use the concluding paragraph as a final "wrapping up", which means to simply review the main points supporting your thesis, and to state in one sentence how they support your thesis.

Do not introduce new information,

Do not use quotations, particularly new quotations.

The concluding paragraph should be about a third of a page long.

PREPARATORY WORK for the Essay:

The following are preparations you may do to rally all the information you may need to write this essay.  The preparations include:

1.    Finding ten repetitive phrases describing the young Viet Cong.

2.    The dialogue Kiowa and Azar say to O’Brien

3.    The description of the young Viet Cong

4.    The backstory O’Brien created for the young Viet Cong.

Skim “The Man I killed” for ten repetitive phrases (you only have to write the phrases once) and then write the number of times they are repeated next to them.

1. “His one eye is shut and the other one was a star shaped hole.”(3 - 5)

2. “He’s got child like wrists.”(2)

3. “He loved mathematics.”(4)

4. “His eyebrows were thin and arched like a woman’s.” (2)

5. “He had a gold ring on the third finger of his right hand.” (3)

6. “His upper lip and teeth were gone.” (2)

7. “Long shapely fingers.” (4)

8. “He had smooth skin.” (2)

9. “He was a slim, dead, almost dainty young man.” (3)

10. “He had clean finger nails.” ( 2)

Tim O’Brien stared obsessively over every detail of the young man’s face, chest, fingers, legs. The American soldiers’ fire power gave them god-like powers – they literally had the power of life and death. This was the first man he had killed and this murder traumatized O’Brien.

Next, find and write down the dialogue that the other soldiers say to Tim O’Brien.

How does the dialogue suggest Tim O’Brien’s  emotional state? How does the dialogue suggest what Tim O’Brien is doing?

Dialogue:

1. Azar: “Oh, man, you ****trashed the *******. You scrambled his sorry self, look at that, you did, you laid him out like Shredded ****Wheat.”

2. Azar: “Oh, man, you – ******* scrambled his sorry self.”

3. Kiowa to Azar: “Go away.” (2)

4. Kiowa: “Just forget that crud….No sweat, man. What else could you do?”

5. Kiowa: “I’m serious. Nothing anybody could do. Come on, stop staring.”

6.“All right, let me ask you a question….you want to trade places with him? Turn it all upside down – you want that?”

7. “Tim, it’s a war. The guy wasn’t Heidi – he had a weapon, right? It’s a tough thing, for sure, but you got to cut that staring.”

8.“Maybe you better lie down a minute.”

9.”Take it slow. Just go wherever the spirit takes you.”

10. “Listen to me…you feel terrible, I know that.”

11. “Okay, maybe I don’t know.”

12. “You okay?”

“I’ll tell you the straight truth….the guy was dead the second he stepped on the trial, understand me…..So listen, you best pull your ****together. Can’t just sit here all day.”

13.“Five minutes, Tim. Five more minutes and we’re moving out.”

14.“Hey, you’re looking better. All you needed was time – some R&R."

15.“Come on man, talk.”

16. “Talk.”

“Stop staring.” (4)

The story ends with Tim O’Brien doing what?

Reread the chapter and make a list of all the concrete details Tim O’Brien notices about the young man he shot and killed. You must have at least ten concrete details.

Example: “….His eye was a star shaped hole.”

1.              He had thin arched eyebrows like a woman.

2.              There was a slight tear on the lobe of one ear.

3.              A gray ammunition belt

4.              His left cheek was peeled in thin ragged strips.

5.              His forehead was lightly freckled with small dark freckles.

6.              His jaw was in his throat.

7.              His upper lip and throat were gone.

8.              His chest was sunken and poorly muscled.

9.              His neck blood went to a deep purplish black.

10.          He had bony legs.

11.          And long shapely fingers.

Now find ten discrete elements of the backstory Tim O’Brien created about this young man:

1.                Born in 1946

2.               His father and two uncles and neighbors joined in the struggles against the French.

3.              He probably wanted to be a teacher of mathematics.

4.              He was afraid of disgracing himself and therefore his family and village.

5.              He prayed with his mother that the war would end.

6.              He fell in love with a seventeen year old girl.

7.              He never wanted to be a soldier.

8.              He pretended to be excited for war.

9.              He attended a university in Saigon in 1964.

10.          He knew the war would take him.

11.          He fell in love with a classmate.

What are the similarities between Tim O’Brien and the young man he killed?

Vocabulary:

 Dainty: delicate, fragile

How does the author use repetition to create the narrator’s emotional state?