If I Die in a Combat Zone Themes

Tim O’Brien was drafted and served in the Vietnam War from 1969 to 1970, which inspired many of the books he wrote throughout his career. In Obrien’s memoir If I Die in a Combat Zone, the first and most autobiographical account he wrote of his time in Vietnam, he describes serving as an infantryman with Alpha Company and witnessing the horrors of war firsthand. Although as a foot soldier, O’Brien does not feel qualified…

O’Brien recognizes that Americans have long considered war to be a coming-of-age ritual for young men, a way for them to test their resolve and prove their courage. This drive to act courageously is a powerful force in young men’s’ live, especially during wartime, and evokes time-honored ideals of heroism, fearlessness, and bravado. However, O’Brien’s experiences of fear, moral conflict, and horror as a soldier lead him to believe that such an ideal of courage…

For many American soldiers, the Vietnam War lacks the clear-cut objectives and open battlefields of past major wars, particularly compared to World War II. Instead, they find themselves fighting in a war they don’t understand against an enemy who employs guerrilla tactics, hiding within the jungle and killing American soldiers in ambush attacks or with booby-trapped mines. As O’Brien describes, he and his fellow infantrymen in Alpha Company begin to lose their sense of who…

Although the U.S. Army no longer practices overt segregation in 1969, and although America is ostensibly fighting to protect the South Vietnamese people from communism, O’Brien recognizes that his experiences during the Vietnam War are all framed by racial hostility. Old and new racial prejudices impact who occupies what role, how much empathy soldiers show to civilians, and how everyone involved in the war perceives the people around them, as well as those they fight…