Tim O Brien's Where Have You Gone, Charming Billy?

Words: 482
Pages: 2
Open Document
Tim O’Brien’s “Where have you gone, charming Billy?” The main character, Private first class Paul Berlin is in Vietnam in The Vietnam war. Paul's first day is full of fear and being nervous. He tried to stay calm, Billy boy stepped on a mine, but that did not kill him. He died of a heart attack.

In the last line of the story it say, “But even when he smelled salt and heard the sea, he could not stop being afraid.” This line contains a lot of information. This line says even though they are safe, they cannot stop being afraid, It indicates that the pure darkness of this war has implanted fear into their heads. In the story before they reached the sea, they said, “They would have their rear guarded by three thousand miles of ocean, and they would swim and dive into the breakers and hunt crayfish and smell the salt, and they would be safe.” Even though …show more content…
It wouldn’t show how the war affected their whole lives, it would just show they feared when they were afraid, And not fearing fear itself. If the last line was not in the story, The people reading the story might not understand how big of a war this was and how it affects people’s lives and still today affect people’s lives. In the text, It the last sentence says “He could not stop being afraid”. Even though he was safe, he was afraid. That tells the readers that they fear being afraid.

In Conclusion, The story, “Where Have You Gone, Charming Billy” The last line tells you a lot of information. The last sentence says, “But even when he smelled salt and heard the sea, he could not stop being afraid.” The line tells you how the soldiers that fought in the war felt and how terrifying their experiences were. How the soldiers were terrified when there was no need to be terrified, Another sentence says they had a “fear of being so terribly afraid again”. That is why the last line of the story is so
Show More

Related Documents: Tim O Brien's Where Have You Gone, Charming Billy?

Of View In Tim O Brien's Where Have You Gone, Charming Billy?

Gilman, and Tim O’Brien’s “Where Have You Gone, Charming Billy?” use different points-of-view to assist the reader’s understanding of the story. In "The Yellow Wallpaper", Gilman’s first-person diary point-of-view expresses a more personal theme. This point-of-view helps the reader understand the main character’s submission to her husband, along with explaining the development of the main character in a more intimate matter. Antithetically, Tim O’Brien’s “Where Have You Gone, Charming Billy?” uses a…

Words 702 - Pages 3