Men Killed And Died Because They Want To Die

O’Brien uses his own experiences to help explain to the reader that “Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to.” (21). This can mean a lot of things, and it depends on how the reader interprets O’Brien’s writing. Men killed because they had to and there is no other way to say it. War is weird. It changes the way humans live, communicate, and function. It takes a lot out of people and really pushes them to their limits. This is one of those weird cases where war makes the men fighting act a certain way. Men are supposed to be strong in times of war, and show that you can kill and are willing to die, or at least pretend. O’Brien goes on to say that “It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive,

The way O’Brien says this makes it all come together. Most men didn’t want to go to war, or fight and kill, and they definitely didn’t want to die. They went so that they didn’t have to face everyone in their lives. They went so they didn’t have to endure the ridicule and harassment of knowing that they were too “afraid” to go and fight for everything they were taught was right. Men would rather die in battle than have to deal with the guilt of not going to fight for their families, friends, country, but most of all themselves. The entire first capture he talks about the things they carried, and goes on and on about literally everything. Emotionally or physically, but he says “They carried the soldiers greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing.” (21). This pretty much explains itself. From all his experiences throughout the war O’Brien says in black and white that the things men cared about the most was not being seen as afraid, or that they couldn’t

He was a leader of mean and even though he didn’t want to be he did it. Jimmy didn’t want men to die under his command, he didn’t want to deal with the guilt, but most of all he didn’t want to be considered a coward for not leading them. “He would place the blame where it belonged.” (191). Cross felt guilt for the death of Kiowa, and he felt it was his responsibility to apologize to his father. He had the courage to sit down and write a letter explaining how it was his fault. That’s what makes a man courageous, owning up to what he has done wrong, or even what he thinks he’s done wrong. The fact of the matter is it wasn’t really Jimmy’s fault that Kiowa died, but someone had to take the blame for it and cross’s courageousness allowed him to do that. Lieutenant cross’s situation is different. He takes blame for something that honestly wasn’t his fault. If anything it was Bowker’s fault. Because he is their commander he takes ownership for it. That’s why Cross is so courageous, he takes someone else’s “screw up” and completely takes responsibility for it. That’s the definition of being courageous, and Jimmy goes above and beyond proving it. To actually take blame for a man’s death, and tell his father you’re sorry takes a lot of guts. War makes people own up to things that they normally wouldn’t. It turns boys into men, and proves cowardice or