quotes
themes
characters
symbols
chapters
200

"I was a coward, I went to war."

Tim O'Brien

200

The reason O'Brien doesn't go to Canada

Embarrassment/Cowardice

200

The perfect American girl turned dehumanized hunter of the night

Mary Anne

200

the water buffalo

loss of innocence/grief/anger

200

Mary Anne's story

Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong

400

"The silver star?" his father might have said "Yes, but i didn't get it. Almost, but not quite."

Norman Bowker

400
What Bobby Jorgenson symbolizes

fear/innocence/someone first experiencing war

400

Platoon's medic, told Mary Anne's story, later succumbs to stress and purposely injures himself

Rat Kiley

400

Linda

memory/love/death

400

O'Brien's reaction to being drafted

On the Rainy River

600

"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

600

The reason Jimmy Cross burned Martha's letters

Guilt/Shame

600

Criminally insane, unsympathetic, cruel, but in his 'defense', he's just a boy

Azar

600

The lake Normal Bowker circles in Speaking of Courage

Where Kiowa died/the shitefield

600

O'Brien's story about the two times he'd been shot

The Ghost Soldiers

800

"What's everybody so upset about?" he said "I mean, Christ, I'm just a boy."

Azar

800

What the men carry (emotionally)

grief/loss/ghosts

800

Resident gentle giant and machine gunner

Henry Dobbins

800

The burning of Martha's photos

a turning point/acceptance

800

Henry Dobbins superstitions about magic garments

Stockings

1000

"Hear that quiet, man? That quiet, just listen. There's your moral."

Mitchell Sanders

1000

The reason O'Brien writes the stories

memory/the power of memory

1000

Minor character, stole a jackknife and got rocked, later succumbs to injuries after tripping on a mine

Lee Strunk

1000

The dead young vietnamese soldier

mortality/death/humanity

1000

Curt Lemon's fear

The Dentist