Language

Style of language

The language used by Tim O’Brien in the short story “The Man I Killed” is informal and imitates natural speech. This makes the language more authentic and more approachable. An example of this is Azar's remark: “ ‘Oh, man, you fuckin’ trashed the fucker,’ Azar said. ‘You scrambled his sorry self, look at that, you did, you laid him out like Shredded fuckin’ Wheat.’ ” (ll. 33-34). Slang is also used in expressions such as “no sweat, man” (l. 45) or “pull your shit together” (l. 130). These features give authenticity to the characters’ dialogue. This is also achieved through the use of contractions: “Hey, you’re looking better” (l. 144). The author also uses italics. For example: “ ‘You scrambled his sorry self, look at that, you did’ ” (ll. 33-34) or “Tim, it’s a war’ ”(l. 60). These are used when characters want to stress certain ideas.

The author relies on powerful images and negative words to present the harsh realities of war. For instance, the description of the dead man’s body:

His jaw was in his throat...