Tim O’Brien Interview

O’ Brien’s goal in having a fictional book was to sort out the important details of his experience into only thing things that really would have an impact on his audience. He put himself in there and made it seem realistic because he wanted the reader to actually feel like it was real and feel all that he went though. I think he achieved that goal for me. O’ Brien talked about how he thinks the best way to tell a war time experience is through a story. By doing so I think he has achieved his goal in that he makes it seem more realistic by not giving us the insignificant details of everyday war life. We understand the actual pain and suffering these men endured in the Vietnam war more so when we hear it in a story form instead of in hard facts.

Tim O’ Brien didn’t expect his book to become this popular and widely read on all age levels. His man target was people that were 25 years of age and up. He is clearly against wars and you can tell that he is happy that a younger audience has picked up his book. Because younger people are reading this book he says that it is a good thing so that they see how their actions affect other people. He mentions an analogy that if you shoot a little boy you don’t just kill him but you start a fight with his parents and his friends and everyone around that one person. He explained how there are ripple effects to everything you do and that with a younger audience reading it he will be able to teach them that through his writing.

Larry Miller

This guy basically talks about all that personally happened to him during the war. He joined the marines at 18 because that’s what he though he was suppose to do. His bother had joined and his uncles so he only thought it was right for him to join as well. They went into many war and battles where the odds were not in their favor. They were sometimes out numbered by a thousand or so men. From my knowledge of the Vietnam war I can only conclude that even if the odds were in our favor we would still face a humongous challenge. The Vietnamese used gorilla warfare which meant that they didn’t play fairly.

I can only imagine with the uncertainty of when you were going to get attached and in what method would just eat someone alive. The idea of going into a foreign county and there being traps everywhere would be terrifying. Larry Miller is a brave man and everyone who was in the Vietnam war. Often times we as a country have looked over the Vietnam war because of the sheer fact that we didn’t really come out on top like we always have in the past. My grandfather was in the Vietnam war and you can still the the effects it had on him and how emotionally and physically scaring that war was. We should be so proud of our Vietnam veterans because they went through hell in Vietnam and we can’t even begin to imagine it.

” If you’re gonna be a bear, be a grizzly.” – Larry Miller