WORKING WITH GENRE & O'BRIEN

We all pretty much have the same idea of what a "typical" war story is. It consists of violence, fighting, and gory scenes like the film 'Saving Private Ryan.' "From the point of view of the producers of texts within a genre, an advantage of genres is that they can rely on readers already having knowledge and expectations about works within a genre." (Chandler). According to the movies and books we use, we picture soldiers from both sides trying to accomplish one goal which is to be the first to overthrew the opponent. There's screaming, planes soaring in the air, bullets and grenades fired with explosions everywhere. "Readers learn gradually, usually through unconscious familiarization." (Chandler). Sometimes we don't even have to think about what is actually happening. Everything is laid right in front of our eyes. We just don't realize and put more thought necessary to see another approach.

In O'Brien's short stories, we, the audience, knew they were war stories, but not "typical" war stories. In Spin, O'Brien decribed what a war was like in a different way. "Sometimes things could almost get sweet." "The war was nakedly and aggressively boring." According to our vision of what happens in a war, how is it sweet and boring? Surrounded by enemies and not knowing what will happen to you is pretty scary. No gory, bloody scenes were really used. Just the details had us see this in a different point of view.

In The Man I Killed, the solider at the very beginning summed up the descriptions of the man he killed. Later on, he repeated the descriptions but in greater detail. In this story, we, the reader, sensed what the narrator was feeling. Seeing the dead body with "the jaw in his throat, his upper lip and teeth gone" and other parts torn apart, the solider began to feel guilt. Even when people told him to forget about what happened and to just move on, he still couldn't. That's something we don't quite come across in other texts.

In Good Form, the solider stated "I did not kill him, but I was present. You see, and my presence was guilt enough." Even though he physically did not take the young man's life, just witnessing what happened was terrible enough. This was a different perspective we see compared to other war stories we've heard of. Shooting and killing opponents does not always end in a postive note. You may not always feel pleasure and accomplishment. On the other hand, it may just break your heart and cause you to regret what goes on around you.