Values
By: Taylor Pagel, Emma Stanard,
Annalise Steinmann, and Evan Zhao
Thesis~
Despite the values they held
prior to the war enduring,
soldiers may be inclined to act
against these beliefs in times
of war. O’Brien reveals this
through the use of vivid,
detailed diction, imagery,
personification, and syntax.
Excerpt
“Something had gone wrong. I’d come to this war a quiet, thoughtful sort of person, a college grad,
Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude, all the credentials, but after seven months in the bush I
realized that those high, civilized trappings had somehow been crushed under the weight of the
simple daily realities. I’d turned mean inside. Even a little cruel at times. For all my education, all my
fine liberal values, I now felt a deep coldness inside me, something dark and beyond reason. It’s a
hard thing to admit, even to myself, but I was capable of evil. I wanted to hurt Bobby Jorgenson the
way he’d hurt me. For weeks it had been a vow-I’ll get him, I’ll get him-it was down inside me like a
rock. Granted, I didn’t hate him anymore, and I’d lost some of the outrage and passion, but the need
for revenge kept eating at me. At night I sometimes drank too much. I’d remember getting shot and
yelling out for a medic and then waiting and waiting and waiting, passing out once, then waking up
and screaming some more, and how the screaming seemed to make new pain, the awful stink of
myself, the sweat and fear, Bobby’ Jorgenson’s clumsy fingers when he finally got around to working
on me. I kept going over it all, every detail. I remembered the soft, fluid heat of my own blood. Shock, I
thought, and I tried to tell him that, but my tongue wouldn’t make the connection. I wanted to yell,
“You jerk, it’s shock-I’m dying!” but all I could do was whinny and squeal. I remembered the rage. But
I couldn’t feel it anymore. In the end, all I felt was that coldness down inside my chest. Number one:
the guy had almost killed me. Number two: there had to be consequences. That afternoon I asked
Mitchell Sanders to give me a hand. “No pain,” I said. “Basic psychology, that’s all. Mess with his
head a little.” “Negative,” Sanders said. “Spook the fucker.” Sanders shook his head. “Man, you’re
sick.” “All I want is-” “Sick.”(Page 190-192).
Vivid, Detailed Diction
★ Certain words:
○ “cruel” “vow” “whinny and squeal” “sick”
★ Vividly depict his devotion to getting back at Bobby
Jorgenson
★ Helps show the level at which his willingness to
uphold values decayed: conflicts with ideas
previously determined in passage: On the Rainy River
★ “Phi Beta Kappa” juxtaposed to being “capable of
evil”
★ Exaggerated descriptions of him as a frat brother
evolving to someone evil helps show this evolution
on values
Imagery
★ Strong imagery conveys trauma
○ “the screaming seemed to make a
new pain, the awful stink of myself,
the sweat and fear” (191).
○ “I remembered the soft fluid heat of
my own blood” (191).
★ Vivid details illustrate pain and suffering
★ This trauma led to O’Brien’s desire for
revenge, and ultimately his willingness to
act against his values/morals
○ Further developed later in this
vignette
○ “The Man I Killed” “Ambush”
develop this idea of trauma (fear)
leading to soldiers acting against
values
Personification
⪢ “...but the need for revenge kept eating at
me”(Page 191).
⪢ Personification because revenge can not - in a
literal sense - eat at you.
⪢ Revenge has more prominence in concreteness
as opposed to in abstractness.
⪢ Retention of values is seen in the conjunction
“but” put at the beginning of the quote.
⪢ Increased inclination to act against values
seen in O’Brien’s eventual fulfillment of his
so-called “revenge.”
⪢ Similar instances can be seen in other chapters
such as “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong.”
Syntax
★ “For weeks it had been a vow -- I’ll get him, I’ll get
him -- it was down inside me like a rock” (191).
★ Italicizing those words emphasizes desperation
to accomplish immoral deed
★ Long sentence structure for description of Tim
before the war
★ “a quiet, thoughtful sort of person, a college
grad, Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude, all
the credentials” (190).
★ Contrasts with description of Tim following his
experiences in the war
★ “I’d turned mean inside. Even a little cruel at
times” (191).
★ This can be seen in other vignettes such as
“Church” in which the global issue is revealed
through the soldiers’ conversation
Conclusion~
An individual’s values and
morals persist during war,
however, war blurs lines
between right and wrong. This
makes people more likely to
act against the values and
morals they claim.
thanks for
listening !!! :) <3