The Man I Killed Annotated

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The Man I Killed 26 February 2015 10:39 Summary This short story is about an American platoon in Vietnam. The main character, Tim, has violently killed a Vietnamese soldier and is now paralysed with chock. He continues to sit and stare at the body, while imagining the dead man's life story. His fellow tries to comfort him in different ways, but isn't able to reach out to him. Important passages from the text Analysis Narrator: It is a 1.person narrator, written from Tim's point of view. Tim is completely paralysed and the way he describes the man's life in his thoughts is an implicit way of telling us how feels about the war. He never directly tells us how he is feeling, but shows us in his behaviour and "nonreactions"…show more content…
The story begin in medias res and never really has a climax. As readers we are intrigued, not because the plot is complicated or ground breaking, but because the situation and the way it's presented is uncommon. We long for Tim to get up, but this never happens. The structure consists of many repetitions fx, which is used to show how utterly chocked and traumatized Tim is. When looking at the wounds he realises what he's done and what great power he had and used against a much weaker opponent. When he keeps repeating the fragility of the dead young man and re-enacting his life, it is an indicator of his regret. His fantasy of the dead young man being in engaged is supported by the mentioning of the golden rings. Tim is aware that someone is going to miss the man he killed. Put the text in relation to the other text from the "War" theme In generation kill you can compare the soldiers mind set and their "get some"-attitude with Azar and his very insensitive tone. Both stories show how people react differently under pressure. In the movie, Born on 4th of July, the main character is very similar to Tim. His superior tells him to get over it and move and that is what Kiowa is trying to do in different

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