Themes and message

War

A very important theme in the short story "The Man I Killed" by Tim O'Brien is war. The events take place during the Vietnam War. The title initially prepares readers for the atmosphere, as they predict reading about a tragic event. Tim is a soldier fighting for South Vietnam, while the Vietnamese man he kills fought for North Vietnam. The death of the Vietnamese soldier is tragic: “his neck was open to the spinal cord and the blood there was thick and shiny and it was this wound that had killed him” (ll. 7-9). As Tim’s comrade Kiowa says, people losing their lives is one of the realities of war: “ ‘All right, let me ask a question,’ he said. ‘You want to trade places with him? Turn it all upside down—you want that? I mean, be honest.’ ” (ll. 53-54). However, Tim is mentally unprepared for war and its aftermath. He is unable to cope with the fact that he has killed a man and, consequently, he engages in self-torture by imagining the life he has killed, and thus acknowledging the magnitude of his act.

The theme of war is also illustrated b...