Tim O'Brien

Tim O’Brien’s use of diction, imagery, and selection of detail helps create a portrait of innocence.
Tim O’Brien an author and veteran thinking about Vietnam. As Tim O’Brien recollects and presents a story about animating the dead — the scene with the toast to the dead Vietnamese — another story within that story unfolds, O'Brien recollecting the death of his childhood friend, Linda. After O’Brien’s Platoon took sniper fire from a little village, Lt. Jimmy Cross got on the radio and ordered an airstrike. “When it ended, we formed into a loose line and swept through the village. It was all wreckage. I remember the smell of burnt straw; I remember broken fences and torn up trees and heaps of stone and brick and pottery. The place was deserted- no people, no animals- and the only confirmed kill was an old man who lay face-up near a pigpen at the center of the village” (p.225-226). O’Brien’s use of concrete diction helps the reader understand the innocence of the poor old man that had nothing to do with the war but was just carrying on his day like the usual and all of a sudden these soldiers showed up and decided his death with an air strike. As the soldiers swept through the village “They proposed toasts. They lifted their canteens and drank to the old man’s family and ancestors, his many grandchildren, his newfound life after death. It was more than mockery. There was a formality to it, like a funeral without the sadness.” (p.227). As the old man sat helplessly against the fence the soldiers continues to harass the innocent old man without any emotions due to the fact that he is dead. As dusk came closer Kiowa talked to O’Brien about what the soldiers had done was wrong. “ You did a good thing today, That shaking hands crap, it isn’t decent.” (p.227) O’Brien being the new and innocent soldier of his platoon was pressured to do something he did not want to but he chose not to because of his past experience with someone dear to him.
“She had poise and great dignity. Her eyes, I remember, were deep brown like her hair, and she was slender and very quiet and fragile-looking.” (p.228) Tim O’Brien’s use of abstract diction and imagery helps the reader picture this young girl with an almost vivid view of this innocent young girl. Linda was 9 yrs old and so was Timmy (Tim) later on Linda and timmy went on a double date with timmy’s parents to the movies. As Timmy and Linda sat in silence, “Now and then I’d glance over at her, thinking how beautiful she was: her white skin and those dark brown eyes and the way she always smiled at the world-always , it seemed- as if her face had been designed that way.” (p.229) As timmy keep on glancing over at Linda, O’Brien gives us a visual of Linda, how beautiful and innocent she looked as she stares out the window smiling as the they drove to the movies. “That night, I remember, she wore a new red cap, which seemed to me very stylish and sophisticated, very unusual. It was a stocking cap, basically, except long, almost too long, like a tail growing out of the back of her head. It made me think of the caps that Santa’s elves wear, the same shape and color, the same fuzzy white tassel at the tip.” (p.229) Tim O’Brien gives the reader a perspicuous picture of Linda’s cap. As O’Brien describes the cap he also makes the analogy between Linda’s hat/cap and the hats that Santa’s elves wear. After the next few weeks Linda wears her red cap everyday to school never taking it off not even in the classroom. “He took hold of the white tassel, stood up, and gently lifted off her cap… Even now, when I think back on it, I can still see the glossy whiteness of her scalp. She wasn’t bald. Not quite. Not completely. There were some tufts of hair, little patches of grayish brown fuzz...She turned and looked at me across the room… Later on , she cried for a while.” (p.235). At a young and innocent age Linda was diagnose with cancer. Even though Linda was balding it did not matter to Timmy. This shows that illness can weigh and drag the ones u love and care for down to a never ending slumber. O’brien’s use of imagery made the reader visualized an innocent young girl being picked on as Timmy helplessly gaze as Linda get humiliated by her classmate.
The last thing that O’brien uses to help portray innocence is selection of detail. The detail in this chapter is mainly about young and innocent love. “Linda was nine then, as I was, but we were in love and it was real… It’s tempting to dismiss it as a crush, an infatuation of childhood, but I know for a fact that what we felt for each other was as deep and rich as love can ever get.” (p.228). The author shows that love is innocent and nothing can ever set the sun on the path of love. love can show one’s true feelings towards another without talking but by slightly looking at their eyes and making someone feel what you feel. Another detail is innocent death. “well, right now, I’m not dead but when I am, it’s like… I don’t know, I guess it’s like being inside a book that nobody’s reading.” (p.245). “An old one. It’s up in a library shelf, so you’re safe and everything but the book hasn’t been checked out for a very long time. All you can do is wait. Just hope somebody’ll pick it up can start reading.” (p.245). The author shows that death can be innocent in a way. death is not being dead but being stored in a safe place but no one will be able to to open that safe for death is eternal.
These three things showed how Tim O’Brien portray the portrait of innocence in this chapter “The Lives Of The Dead”. Tim explains that innocence can come from anyone. Things can come unexpectedly and change people for the better or worse but no matter what happens there is always innocence deep within people.