"I was a coward, I went to war."
Tim O'Brien
The reason O'Brien doesn't go to Canada
Embarrassment/Cowardice
The perfect American girl turned dehumanized hunter of the night
Mary Anne
the water buffalo
loss of innocence/grief/anger
Mary Anne's story
Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong
"The silver star?" his father might have said "Yes, but i didn't get it. Almost, but not quite."
Norman Bowker
fear/innocence/someone first experiencing war
Platoon's medic, told Mary Anne's story, later succumbs to stress and purposely injures himself
Rat Kiley
Linda
memory/love/death
O'Brien's reaction to being drafted
On the Rainy River
"I'll tell you the straight truth," he said. "The guy was dead the second he stepped on the trail. Understand me? We all had him zeroed."
Kiowa
The reason Jimmy Cross burned Martha's letters
Guilt/Shame
Criminally insane, unsympathetic, cruel, but in his 'defense', he's just a boy
Azar
The lake Normal Bowker circles in Speaking of Courage
Where Kiowa died/the shitefield
O'Brien's story about the two times he'd been shot
The Ghost Soldiers
"What's everybody so upset about?" he said "I mean, Christ, I'm just a boy."
Azar
What the men carry (emotionally)
grief/loss/ghosts
Resident gentle giant and machine gunner
Henry Dobbins
The burning of Martha's photos
a turning point/acceptance
Henry Dobbins superstitions about magic garments
Stockings
"Hear that quiet, man? That quiet, just listen. There's your moral."
Mitchell Sanders
The reason O'Brien writes the stories
memory/the power of memory
Minor character, stole a jackknife and got rocked, later succumbs to injuries after tripping on a mine
Lee Strunk
The dead young vietnamese soldier
mortality/death/humanity
Curt Lemon's fear
The Dentist