Summary And Symbolism In Rain By Tim O Brien

In this chapter, O’Brien used repetition, a motif, and symbolism to stress the futility of the Vietnam war. First off, the word “Rain” is repeated numerous times throughout the chapter. This repetitious motif symbolizes war, as the war is all around, like how the word is all around the chapter. Furthermore, O’Brien used “Rain” when referring to everlasting events in the story, alongside setting a sad tone (war is never a happy event). For instance, during the hard trek through the waterlogged Song Tra Bong, the rain pounded on the men as they sought out Kiowa. This situation symbolized the unnecessary need for “Rain,” especially while trying to do something already difficult. As Lt. Cross put it, “The rain was war and you had to fight it”

In this chapter, O’Brien heavily expressed his ideas through Kiowa’s disappearance and death. In addition to symbolizing a false necessity, the aftermath of Kiowa’s death further exemplifies his point. For example, from pages 162 to 169, the truth behind Kiowa’s cause of death is explained. Basically, the night before he died, all of the men were lying low and remaining incognito. That night was perfectly still, until a fellow soldier shined his flashlight on a picture of his girlfriend to show Kiowa. Kiowa glanced at the image, and simultaneously the young soldier and Kiowa were blown away by enemy artillery. The young soldier knew beforehand that he shouldn’t flash his light at night for that potential reason, but he did anyway and the two soldiers were pelted by the enemy, because of his bad decision. Yet, after the nighttime pandemonium and into the following day, the soldier spent his time trying to locate his lost picture of his girlfriend, instead of Kiowa. Though, on page 165, it is clear that the soldier is wading through slimy, thick waters to find this one little picture. Similar to needles in a haystack, the soldier looked far and deep, “as if something might actually be salvaged from all of the waste,” (pg 165). This part of the story, this line, is implying that the war had no real purpose. Clearly, Kiowa’s death symbolized the unnecessarily wasted

Backing up, way before the men found Kiowa, the small platoon, led by Lt. Jimmy Cross, focused particularly intensely on locating him. Although, three men in particular, Norman Bowker, Azar, and Mitchell Sanders, tried to lighten up the mood and their hopes about the search mission. The three passed around comical beliefs about what Kiowa would of thought about the men searching for him at the time. On page 158, Azar flippantly reported, “Man talk about irony. I bet if Kiowa was here, I bet he’d just laugh. Eating sh** - it’s your classic irony.” Norman Bowker replied, “Fine. Now pipe down.” Once again Azar kidded, “Wasted in waste… A sh** field. You got to admit, it’s pure world class irony (Sic).” There are two ways to interpret this communication amongst the men. First, this situation about ”Eating sh**” is exactly what happened to Kiowa, as all through the book, the river is referred to as excrements in smell, look, feel, and so on. In the end, Kiowa did bite it as he died. Kiowa was “folded in the war,” as foreshadowed on page 155. That line may go to show how the war just kept going on in a cycle, in an unnecessary cycle. Another other way to interpret this is to look at the final line “Wasted in the waste.” This line blatantly states that Kiowa’s death was wasted in the war. Kiowa’s death represents false necessities in war, so this line