Delineation Of Traumatic War Experiences In Tim O’Brien’s If I Die In A Combat Zone

Abstract

established himself as a proficient writer, especially in Vietnam War fiction, since he himself was a part of that bloody conflict which took place from 1955 to 1975. His experiences in the Vietnam war get reflect throughout his works. If I Die in a Combat Zone, is an autobiographical work which was published in 1973, is a work of non-fiction, a memoir which delivers the true feeling of war as experienced by the writer himself, his most personal thoughts about the war and his own mental state during and after the war itself, bringing about his story to a logical end. In his work O’Brien argues that the Vietnam war had deteriorated him and his fellow soldiers minds due to the responsibility of serving for their country and the constant back and forth mental conflict of wanting to leave the war but there was a compulsion and continues their duty in the war field. Even though, they do their duty for the country, but the scars and impacts on the horrendous war cannot be left on the minds of the author and the other soldiers too. It gives an ineradicable experience to those who participated in the war.