One theme I noticed in O'Brien's writing is his seamless integration of the profane and the innocent. Throughout The Man I killed, he describes the dead man, whom we are to infer O'Brien shot, in cold, harsh detail while adding in details which, in another scenario, would provide a delightful visual description. ". . . the skin at his left cheek was peeled back in three ragged strips, his right cheek was smooth and hairless, there was a butterfly on his chin . . ." The reader is forced to contrast the brutality of war with the beauty of nature, rather than absorb a description of gore without contrast.
A second theme I picked up on is repetition. O'Brien repeats certain phrases, which to me points to a stream-of-conscience style of writing. Like many veterans do, Tim relives his traumatic experiences without a definite sense of time. As he remembers the man he killed, certain details emerge, and reemerge in the theater of his mind. ". . . his one eye was shut, his other eye was a star-shaped hole . . ." is one such repeated lines. Perhaps these more-repeated details are the things that struck Tim the hardest.
He uses repetition in Speaking of Courage as well. Bowman drives around the lake in his home town again and again, seeing the quaint town's people going about their lives the same way every time he makes the loop, and in fact as they always do. Another way he makes use of repitition in this chapter is how, in his imaginary conversation with his father, it takes Bowman several times through the beginning of the story until he finally arrives at the critical part, when he describes how he let Kiowa sink into the swamp.
I had the same thought when I read the quote, ". . . the skin at his left cheek was peeled back in three ragged strips, his right cheek was smooth and hairless, there was a butterfly on his chin . . ." It really did seem odd to add the butterfly into that image. I think it goes back to the theme of PTSD because O'Brien can't get his thoughts, let alone his emotions, on track. For example when he keeps explaining how Rat Kiley always interrupted his own stories.
ReplyDeleteRepetition is definitely present in "Speaking of Courage", the way Norman Baker keeps thinking the same thoughts about the Silver Star and doing the same things driving around that lake. Repetition is also in "The Man I Killed", with the description of the bloody neck and the star faced hole in the eye; O'Brien repeats that in the opening paragraph as well as the body, and the closing paragraph.
I think there is also a theme of regret which I find very common in O'Brien's writing. Although, it's not always the type of regret we (the reader) would expect. For example, in "Speaking of Courage", Norman Baker doesn't really empathize at all with the sadness or regret of letting his friend and fellow soldier die. He instead talks about letting Kiowa's boot go and follows it with, "If things had gone right, if it hadn't been for that smell, I could've won the Silver Star". He regrets not giving up for the medal he could have won instead of the life he could have saved. One could also say that this plays into the recurring theme of PTSD as well.