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Tim O’Brien's Going After Cacciato Essay

Decent Essays

Going After Cacciato, an epic novel written by Tim O’Brien, is about a platoon of men going away without leave (AWOL) searching for a young man named Cacciato in the imagination of a man of the platoon named Paul Berlin. In Going After Cacciato the “tea party,” between the AWOL platoon and Li Van Hgoc contributes greatly to the novel by adding to the confusion and teaching the reader how to deal with the war and the ’noise.’
The first thing that this “tea party” does is that it introduces the reader to Li Van Hgoc. The response of Paul Berlin to Li Van Hgoc and his party was a “falling feeling, a slipping, and . . . being high in the tower by the sea.” This sets the novel as …show more content…

Through meeting Li Van Hgoc the reader learns the “true enemy” in the novel. According to Li Van Hgoc, “The land is your true enemy.” He mentions that the soldier is the representative of the land and the land is also fighting a battle. Through listening to Li Van Hgoc at the “tea party” the platoon realizes the land actually is the enemy and notices the natural defenses: the tunnels, dangerous trails, the land mines, the hedges and paddies, and the jungle itself. The platoon thought that their enemy were the Vietcong, but they began to come to the realization that the Vietcong used the land; what they were protecting, why they were fighting, how they were fighting, to destroy foreign troops sent there. Li Van Hgoc telling the platoon of “Xa,” meaning community, soil, home, that “a man’s spirit is in the land, where his ancestors rest and where the rice grows,” helped show that the land was the “true enemy.”
Also through Li Van Hgoc the reader learns one of the most important lessons of the novel, to “Look closer. Concentrate.” Going After Cacciato is a confusing mess filled with ’noise’ in the background, foreground, and whatever middle ground there may be. The reader of this novel must read between the lines to understand. They must “Look closer.

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