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The Man I Killed Theme

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In the chapter “The man I Killed,” O’Brien narrates an incidence which had permanently destroyed his life, murdering an innocent man. He had a lot of difficulties describing the man he killed, and that is why he avoided using the first person in his narrative. The reason for doing this was to relieve some of his guilt which had possessed him. Nevertheless, O’Brien could not hinder himself from picturing a complete imaginary life for the Vietnamese soldier. He outlined the similarities that he possessed and those of the dead man. For instance, he claimed that the man was a student who was not ready to join the war, but he had no otherwise because he did not want to let his family down (O’Brien 126). Also, in this chapter, the narrator continuously described the dead man’s appearance. For instance, “He was a slim, dead, and almost charming young man of about twenty. The man laid with one of his leg bent, and his jaws in his throat, where his face was …show more content…

That is when Kiowa steps in and authorize Azar to get out. Kiowa whispered to O’Brien and told him; there is nothing else that O’Brien could have done anyway. In fact, he all through repeated this, and commanded O’Brien to stop staring at the corpse of the dead man completely. Kiowa courageously asked O’Brien if he would prefer being the dead man’s shoe. That is when O’Brien kept staring at the star-shaped structure as he described it. Kiowa later comes back and informed O’Brien that it was a real war, and he had no alternative. Through this, it is clear that Kiowa acted as a calming presence for the killer O’Brien. It seems like he was trying to remind him that it is not like he killed the man without a discrete reason. In fact, war changes the real definition of murder. However, the fact that Kiowa also kept coming back to O’Brien signifies that he was not only trying to help him, but he was also uncomfortable and disturbed by the death as

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