Going After Cacciato

Criticisms

• No pretentious language or attitude
• Staying within means makes it enjoyable
• Keeps on edge with calculated literary elements, enjoyable style and POV
• Shock
• Uses war as a tether to allow more fun, fictitious elements in converse to reality
• More of a trip than a quest
• Great, probably an American historical

10/10 would read again

Plot Overview

The story takes place in the Vietnam War; one of Paul Berlin's squad members, Cacciato, has gone AWOL by walking to France from Vietnam. The story follows two unique and equally surreal timelines: Paul Berlin's imagination and a gnarly reality.

Themes

War is Hell

Ignorance is Bliss

Control as a Necessity

Works Cited

Bates, Milton J. "Tim O'Brien's Myth of Courage." Modern Fiction Studies (Summer 1987).

O'Brien, Tim. Going After Cacciato. New York: Dell, 1978.

Vannatta, Dennis. "Theme and Structure in Tim O'Brien's Going After Cacciato." Modern Fiction Studies (1982).

Elements

Symbolism

Archetypes

"Cacciato" means "caught" in Italian

An observation post as a place of solace

Paris, on the road west, as paradise

Killing of water buffalo, unnecessary force

Murdering their CO, good in a bad place

The Quest

Chaos of War

Morality Conflict

Decisions

Motifs

Imagination

Chronology

Ploy

War

Snafu

Artfulness

Personality

Characters

Cacciato

Paul Berlin

Antagonist of sorts, flees towards France

Slippery, strange, deft/daft

Protagonist, member of Cacciato's squad

Virtuous, humble, deep-thinking

Joined the war by family's wish

1:"You'll see some terrible stuff, I guess. That's how it goes. But try to look for the good things, too. They'll be there if you look. So watch for them" (63).

2:"He wasn't dreaming, or imagining; just pretending. Figuring how it

would be, if it were" (17).

3:"Paul Berlin, feeling hurt at being told he was a dead man,

complained that it was unfair" (24).

1:"'I just hope Cacciato keeps moving,' Paul Berlin whispered, 'That's all. I hope he uses his head and keeps moving'" (14).

2:"Whistling on ambush. Always chewing gum. The smiling. Fat, slow, going bald, young. Rapt, willing to do the hard stuff. And dumb. Dumb as milk. A case of gross tomfoolery" (65).

3:"Dumb, but not all that dumb" (14).

• Dumb as a bullet, Stink said. Dumb as a month-old oyster fart, said Harold Murphy
• "Just dumb. He's just awful dumb, that's all."
• "Shhhh. He's dumb, that's all."
• "Dumb-dumb. Right, sir? Dumb as a dink."
• "Dumber than marbles," Stink giggled. "Dumber than Friar Tuck."
• He told how Cacciato had walked away in the rain, a dumb kid with maps and candy and an AWOL bag.
• "Jesus, no. That one. The dumb one."
• Cacciato was dumb
• Dumb, all right. Just dumb.

Vietcong

Omnipresent yet never present, a tether to war themes in imagination timeline

Terrifying, cunning, well-hidden

1:"He had never seen the living enemy. He had seen Cacciato's shot dead VC boy. He had seen what bombing could do. He had seen the dead. But never had he seen the living enemy" (47).

2:"'The land is the enemy.' 'Does the leopard hide?'' asked Li Van Hgoc. 'Or is it hidden by nature? Is it hiding or is it hidden?'" (48).

3:"'Ruined by a war I never cared about, never even thought about. Ruined.' The man took a deep breath. He blinked and looked at each of them. His eyes finally settled on Paul Berlin. 'So,' he said slowly, 'I decided to resist. I... well, I ran'"(53).

Going After Cacciato

By Tim O'Brien

Hayden Dunn, Period 2