-
Period: to
A Chronology of a Non-Chronological Novel
-
O'Brien's First Love Dies
O'Brien relates the story of his first love at nine years old. The girl's name was Linda and he fell in love with her only to find out that she was dying from a brain tumor. Seeing her dead body at the funeral home seemed so unreal to him and he relates this feeling to how he and his fellow soldiers felt about death in Vietnam - they would keep the dead alive by telling stories about them. -
The Draft
O'Brien recieves his draft letter for the Vietnam War. At the time he was working at a meat processing plant awaiting his start of grad school at Harvard in the fall. His life was going well and was instantly disrupted by the draft letter. -
To Dodge or Not to Dodge
Faced with the draft letter, O'Brien contemplates dodging the draft. He is wrestling with the guilt he would feel for participating in a war he does not believe in versus the guilt he would feel for disappointing his family and his nation if he didn't go to the Vietnam War. He flees for a weekend at the Tip Top Lodge - at the Canadian border - to contemplate his decision and befriends the proprietor of the lodge who eventually helps him decide for himself that going to war is the best decision. -
O'Brien Arrives in Vietnam
On O'Brien's fourth day in Vietnam, he experiences his first violent encounter as his platoon took sniper fire. His platoon leader then ordered an airstrike that destroyed the village from which the sniper fire had originated, and the village is destroyed. O'Brien then witnesses his fellow soldiers making jokes as they disturbed a dead man's body and pretended to meet and greet him. -
Ted Lavendar is Killed
Ted Lavendar, a low ranking soldier, is the first person in O'Brien's platoon to be killed. Lavendar, a soldier that dealt with the war by taking tranquilizers and smoking marijuana, is shot in the head one evening returning from the bathroom. Lieutenat Cross felt immediately guilty for Lavendar's death as he was preoccupied dreaming of his love interest, and he still carries the guilt twenty years later. -
O'Brien Kills a Man
Scared for his life, O'Brien throws a grenade at a man appearing through the fog. This killing of a man is a very telling event for O'Brien as he tells the story in third person and becomes fixated on what the man's life must have been like and the insensitive reaction of his platoon mates. O'Brien does not comment on the way he feels about killing the man which is telling of the struggle he met to distance himself from the reality of war. -
O'Brien Gets Shot the First Time
The first time O'Brien gets shot in Vietnam, he is greatful for the skilled care of medic Rat Kiley. He appreciated Kiley's courage and ease in caring for him until he could be shipped off to a hospital for the next twenty-six days. When he returns to his platoon, he finds that Kiley had been wounded and shipped off and replaced my a new medic named Boby Jorgenson. -
Rat Kiley Shoots Himself
Rat Kiley is struggling with his duties as a medic as he has trouble reconciling how a man can be so alive one moment and so dead the next. He is having trouble dealing with the emotional toll of constantly picking up body parts and plugging holes. So, he devises a plan to escape the war - he shoots himself in the toe. This injury is bad enough to have him shipped off to Japan and the men of the platoon feel that his cowardliness and refusal to serve was as bad as death itself. -
Curt Lemon is Killed
Curt Lemon was a member of O'Brien's platoon. One day, Lemon and another soldier were playing a game of toss with a hand grenade, and as Lemon stepped out from under a tree, he was instantly blown up by a land mine. His body parts were strewn about in the tree. O'Brien gives a graphic account of Lemon's death, but he focuses more on the beauty of the story such as the sunlight. This story serves to show the trouble O'Brien has reconciling the beauty of life with the gruesomeness of war. -
Kiowa Sinks in the Muck
O'Brien's fellow platoon member, Kiowa, sinks in a mucky sewage field when the platoon is camping near a riverbank. As the platoon struggles to find Kiowa's body, we learn a lot about them as most choose to revel in the delight of still being alive as each death they experience gives them a better sense of how good it is to be alive. -
O'Brien is Shot a Second Time
O'Brien is shot for the second time and is mad at medic Jorgenson for what he feels is inept care as O'Brien falls into shock and almost dies from gangrene. This experience makes him want to seek revenge on Jorgenson and make him suffer, too. Perhaps the greatest reason for this need for revenge is that O'Brien is most upset that he has been taken away from his platoon as a result of his injuries, so he is no longer a part of his group and feels alienated. -
O'Brien Returns to Harvard Grad School
O'Brien finished his tour of duty in Vietnam and returns home to attend graduate school at Harvard. He credits his return to Harvard as giving him some normalcy of life after the war. He was able to easily make the transition from Vietnam to Harvard and reflects on the struggle many fellow soldiers had upon returning from the war. -
O'Brien Revisits Vietnam
After writing about Kiowa's death, O'Brien decides to take his daughter to visit the site of his death in Vietnam. This chapter serves to illuminate the divdide between O'Brien and his experience in Vietnam versus those of us who have not experienced it. This trip represents a coming to terms with the many memories created in Vietnam and provides an opportunity for the reader to allow history to affect us, too. -
Norman Bowker Commits Suicide
O'Brien attempted to capture the stories of his fellow platoon members and Norman Bowker was one of these men. The chapter "Speaking of Courage" was written on Bowker's request and deals with Bowker's guilt over not being able to save Kiowa from death and how Bowker brought this guilt home with him. Three years after the original publishing of this story in 1978, Bowker commits suicide, as he finds himself unable to deal with the aftermath of Vietnam. -
O'Brien Asks to tell Cross's Story
O'Brien meets with his friend, and prior Lieutenant, Jimmy Cross. They speak of the impact a girl named Martha had on Cross before, during, and after the war. This conversation illuminates the things these men carried to war - Cross's love for Martha - and the things that had changed when they returned from war - Cross never realized his dream of marrying Martha. O'Brien asks for Cross's permission to include this story in his novel to show how memories can be essential for survival.
