Summary

The short story “The Man I Killed” by Tim O’Brien begins with the narrator, Tim, describing a young Vietnamese man he has just killed outside the village of My Khe, Vietnam. The story opens with a description of the dead man’s face and body, as well as precise details about his appearance. Tim begins to imagine the life of the young Vietnamese man. Tim pictures the young Vietnamese man being born in the village of My Khe, in a family who considered defending their country an important tradition. Tim then imagines the young Vietnamese man was probably an intellectual, most likely a teacher of mathematics.

A fellow comrade named Azar makes unpleasant comments about the state of the dead body. Another comrade named Kiowa tells Azar to go away and tries to stop Tim...