Structure

The extract “A Rumor of War” is taken from the memoir with the same name written by Philip Caputo. The memoir was published in 1977, and it contains recollections about Caputo’s experience as a member of the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam War.

A memoir has a few characteristics that make it distinguishable from other types of texts. First of all, it is structured as a flashback that presents the narrator’s connection to a certain event or period: “In the midafternoon, Charlie Company was ordered to search Ha Na, one of the large villages that fronted the Vu Gia River” (p. 220, ll. 1-2).

Secondly, the memoir is written in the first person singular, which makes it easier for readers to understand and relate to the narrator’s feelings: “I could feel myself losing control of him and the platoon” (p. 222, ll. 10-11). Thirdly, the readers have access to a subjective depiction of the events and get to understand how they influenced the narrator later on: “But none of that conventional wisdom relieved my guilt or answered the question: “Tai Sao?” Why?” (p. 225, ll. 12-13).

The extract “A Rumor of War” is structured around a single event in the lives of an American Marine Company: they are ordered to search a village which possibly functions as a “supply dump” (p. 225, l. 7) for the Viet Cong guerilla organization.

The events unfold progressively and increase in tension. At first,...