Compare And Contrast The Man I Killed By Thomas Hardy

War brings out a side of people they may never have been aware of beforehand. This side is darker and scarcely guided by morals. This in the two texts “The Man I Killed” by Tim O’Brien and “The Man He Killed” by Thomas Hardy. In the first text, the main character, Tim, as well as the reader, is plagued with vivid descriptions of the dead man’s corpse. In the second text, the main character mulls over the idea that if the situation had been anything else, things would have gone differently, which sets up his hesitancy in his action of killing his enemy. There are several similarities shared between the two texts, such as the doubt of the justification of their actions as well the reinforcement of the mentality of either kill-or-be-killed,

They both bring in the sense of devastation which follows taking of one’s life and their hesitancy in their justification of their actions. In the first text by Tim O’Brien, the hesitancy isn’t shown through the main character, but rather the side characters, who detail the silence and disbelief which comes from the main character. The unsureness is also displayed in the second text, where it is stated “I shot him dead because - / Because he was my foe, / Just so: my foe of course he was; / That’s clear enough; although” (Hardy). The last word of the quote shows while he is clearly aware the man was killed due to them being on opposing sides of the war, he isn’t sure if he is truly justified in taking the man’s life. Another similarity is the mentality displayed the main character is in a situation where they either kill or be killed. This is exhibited in the second text by the character Kiowa, who tries to comfort the shell-shocked Tim, who states, “ ‘ All right, let me ask a question,’ he said. ‘You want to trade places with him? Turn it all upside down - you want that? I mean, be honest?’” (O’Brien). This shows while the character struggles with his decisions, he also is aware the only other option was the one which would result with his own death. However, despite these similarities, there are several differences between these two