If I Die in a Combat Zone Book Review

When reading the book If I Die in a Combat Zone by Tim O'Brien I thought of many different ideas and concepts the book may have been trying to convey.

One thing I thought of was how even though you dislike something while you're doing it you may find you actually miss it after you finish. The main example of this in the book is the author's changing opinion about the Vietnam War from the beginning to the end. When he is drafted he spends a long time deciding whether or not he should desert his position or stay with the army, at one point even getting on a bus to the airport. However he decides to stay, even though he disagrees with the war, because he didn't want to bring shame to his family. Once he is in the war there is a remark on almost every page about home not wanting to be there and how much he would rather beat home or anywhere else, just not in the war. After all of his daydreaming about getting out of the war and going home, he is finally on the flight to Minnesota, where he is from, and he feels saddened that he is leaving. This example shows how the author, even though he disliked the war and much of the time he spent fighting in it, he missed it when he left.

Another concept shown by that example is fear of change. When he was drafted he didn't want to go because it was a change from what he was used to and he feared the unknown, because it was different. Then after all the time he had spent fighting in the war he did not want so much to return home because the new normal for him was to be fighting in Vietnam, and not watching TV on his couch at home. He feared the change even though it was a change back to something he had once known because it was not what he was used to. He knew what to do in Vietnam, sleep in foxholes, walk through rice paddies, shoot in the general direction of the enemy; but home he was not used to, he had been gone so long that it was not normal to him anymore. The war had become normal and going home was a change.

Another thought I had while reading the book was of things having the ability to be both right and wrong. The example of this in the book is the author going to Vietnam. It is partially wrong because he disagrees with the war and therefore doesn't want to fight in it. However it is also partially right because, in his opinion, his country wants him to fight and he would not have thought to go to another country if he wasn't drafted so he should stay and serve his country. This example clearly shows how when looked at from different points of view actions can have both positive and negative consequences.