Reflections of War
Both Tim O’Brien and Sean Huze use their stories of the times they spent at war as a reflection of the things they witnessed and endured, oftentimes, sharing with the reader a bit of insight on the civilians who, undoubtedly, are forced into the hardships of war without choice. In Tim O’Brien’s “Good Form,” he reflects on a death that he caused and shares with the reader all of the graphic images he saw. In a monologue in Sean Huze’s “The Sandstorm,” Doc Matthews recalls an instance when he witnessed another individual’s family become pieces skewed across the road. Both of these stories show the compassion and agony that these soldiers felt while fighting for their country. Oftentimes the civilians in these war stories are over looked, almost as if they were never involved. Huze never fails to include those individuals, especially in this particular monologue. These innocent people are showcased because they had no choice but to be caught in the middle of a war zone with the harsh reality of death and heartache. The civilian’s life is in fact one thing that O’Brien spends little to no time reflecting upon.
Doc Matthews, in “The Sandstorm,” reflects on an instance that he will never forget. He shares, “..His wife and two children were a different story. I’m going through the motions you know? He was burned pretty bad and had some minor lacerations but overall he was in decent shape. We’re about 15 feet away from the car where his family is dead. Their bodies aren’t even recognizable. I could smell their still smoldering flesh and I just broke down” (Huze 4). This is a direct reflection of the heartache that soldiers feel, although they may not share it as boldly as Matthews did here, they feel it, and they certainly face it in their daily endeavors. Huze uses a lot of descriptive language in his play when sharing with the viewer or reader the bitter circumstances of war. This passage is very similar to O’Brien’s in good form when he writes, “He was a slim, dead, almost dainty young man of about twenty. He lay in the center of a red clay trail near the village of My Khe. His jaw was in his throat. His one eye was shut, the other eye was a star-shaped hole. I killed him” (O’Brien 180). Although these stories are not the same, they represent the same story line, one that is crude and without any type of sugar coating. They take the reader directly into feeling their grief and pain. They paint a picture that may even be unbearable. This is what makes Sean and Tim’s writing so similar. They are both unafraid of scaring the reader away, or writing something to harsh to bear; they are just telling the story exactly how it happened.
It must be taken into consideration how many similarities there are between the current war in Iraq, and the war that happened in Vietnam. These stories were written in two different time periods, one current, and one many years ago. They relate to each other in many ways. This reverts back to the fact of war stories, everyone who has experienced it, war that is, has one, and as is said in “The Sandstorm,” “War hasn’t changed much over the years”(Huze 1). The only thing that has maybe changed slightly is how these stories are told. Both of the authors use very good descriptions when telling their stories, but Huze uses much more emotion. He warrants the characters to become vulnerable through his writing the reader is able to feel what they feel. Where as in O’Brien’s writing it is almost felt as though he is invincible, he does not feel emotion, or much grief, even when the story being shared is one of depth and gruesome reality. O’Brien does not feel compassion towards the young boy whom he killed in the story “Good Form.” He instead makes it seem like the story is more surreal then anything to him. O’Brien states, “What stories can do, I guess, is make things present. I can look at things I never looked at. I can attach faces to grief and love and pity to God. I can be brave. I can make myself feel again” (O’Brien 180).
Maybe the real reason that O’Brien does not show emotion through his writing is because he doesn’t “feel” while experiencing these horrific events. Oftentimes blocking out the ability to “feel” for others is important when situations appear where you must put yourself first, such as war. Yes the boy died, but if the boy wouldn’t have died, would O’Brien have? This is another aspect to look at. Throughout Huze’s “The Sandstorm” the reader is updated on how many individuals die each day while fighting in Iraq, in O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried,” exact numbers are never mentioned. This paints a vivid visual for the reader, when the picture of 13 soldiers dying for our country is presented, then the harsh and cruel acts that are being made towards civilians might not seem as bad, or as disturbing.
Doc Matthews shares what he witnessed, “That’s when we turned out attention to the civilians. Jesus, there were so many of them. Most were beyond help. The next few hours were a blur of bandaging up the Rags. I hated it. Men, women, children; young and old; they just kept coming. It seemed like it was endless you know? Then I treated this one man and, Christ, I don’t know how...to express…” (Huze 4). The descriptive and emotion language that is showcased in this passage is completely different from what is written in O’Brien’s “Good Form.” Although O’Brien does reflect on the things he saw, during their happening it was hard for him to find grief. O’Brien writes, “Here is the happening-truth. I was once a soldier. There were many bodies, real bodies with real faces, but I was young then and I was afraid to look. And now, twenty years later, I’m left with the faceless responsibility and the faceless grief. It seems as though Matthews grief attacked him when the incident he shared was taking place, where as O’Brien’s grief came later, possibly because he was young and naïve, or possibly because the tragedies of war don’t hit home until it was all said and done. That utter reality could be a possibility for many soldiers and may in fact be the reason so many soldiers deal with depression and shock when they return home. Although these stories both share similarities they are different in many, many ways.
Works Cited:
The Sand Storm. By Sean Huze. The Elephant Asylum Theater. 2005
O’Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. First Mariner Books, 2009. Print.
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