Brotherhood


Spending months living and fighting with other men in a platoon causes a type of brotherhood to form.  Tim O'Brien narrated his journey through his brotherhood that was created during the Vietnam War.  They bonded over war stories, girlfriends, crude humor, and fear of the war.  They carried each other whether it was emotionally, mentally, or physically.  They loved each other like a brother, in fact they did consider each other as brothers united by war and the fear of death.  When one of them died, a part of everyone died.  They felt each others pain and tried to help bare it.

The brotherhood of war is typically a lifelong bond, but for O'Brien his bond was ended after he was shot in the buttock.  Angry with the medic for his lack of action, which caused him to get gangrene, he wanted revenge.  O'Brien's pain from his injury was something that he wanted the medic to feel.  It was then that he broke the bond of brotherhood by trying to hurt and scare the medic as he was taking his spot in the platoon.  He felt empty and shameful.  He no longer belonged to the brotherhood and it was clearly evident.  Brotherhood can unite men and give them a sense of comfort, but as easy as it comes it can go easily as well.  It is trust, support, and acceptance that bonds men together.  Once these bonds are broken, there is no brotherhood.  O'Brien had experienced this whole process throughout his deployment in the Vietnam War.

Comments

  1. Olivia SmithSeptember 22, 2017 at 6:10 PM

    Caroline,
    I agree with your points on brotherhood and especially how O'Brien lost that sense of brotherhood when he wanted revenge on the medic. In one of the later chapters, O'Brien says that the war made him mean, and it is prevalent in all the chapters that the war also made the the men do things that are not morally right or acceptable. Similar to what you said, I think that the need for comradery and brotherhood is so necessary during a war because they have common fears, goals, guilts, and they are all becoming people they do not want to be whether that be mean or cruel. The brotherhood is even more so important after the war has ended and the soldiers return to a world that seems more foreign to them than Vietnam. Just as you had said how easily it is to break this brotherly bond, I wondered if the men felt remorse such as O'Brien had felt with the medic once they found out Bowker committed suicide. Did they feel regret for not caring for a brother in need when he was in pain? The immense power of their brotherhood is seen through the guilt and shame the characters have when they break that bond. This guilt and shame haunt them and in what seems to be a circle of events, it actually in return makes the bond stronger.

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