Post on 28-Dec-2015
transcript
“Where Have You Gone, Charming Billy”
Tim O’Brien
Characterization
•Direct Characterization – the writer tells us what the character is like
• Indirect Characterization – the reader puts together clues about what the character is like
• Static Characters – characters that do not change
• Dynamic Characters – characters that change
• Round Characters – characters that are developed fully
• Flat Characters – characters not fully developed
Historical Context
•The social, cultural, and political issues of the time and place in which the story is set
Vietnam: the historical context
• French began military campaigns in Vietnam in the mid 19th century
• 1941 Ho Chi Mihn started a resistance movement
• 1945, Japan took control• French tried to regain control and the
Indochina War broke out• US supported the French
North vs. South Vietnam
• Ho Chi Mihn controlled the North
• Ngo Dihn Diem controlled the South
• Elections held to unify-Diem blocked them
• US supported Diem to resist Communism
WAR
• North Vietnamese attack US ship
• President Johnson authorized troops to Vietnam in 1965 to fight North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and South Vietnamese guerrillas (Viet Cong)
Troops
• 16,000 initial troops
• 500,000 at peak
• At withdrawal in 1973, 57,605 Americans had died
• 303,700 wounded
• Many Vietnamese civilians killed
Guerrilla Warfare
• US soldiers trained for traditional combat
• Viet Cong took advantage of jungle landscape
• Planted traps such as bamboo stakes in the jungle
• Tough to distinguish between civilians and enemy soldiers
Strategy
• US used massive bombing campaigns
• Pacification tactics such as search and destroy missions and free-fire zones
Turning Point
• 1968—NVA and Viet Cong prepared to launch a simultaneous attack against all major cities in South Vietnam
• Occurred on Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, rumored to be truce time
• Tet failed in terms of casualties but succeeded in turning US sentiment against the war
March 1968
• Johnson halted bombing and began peace talks
• Richard Nixon was elected President
• Nixon began reducing troops and turning Vietnam over to Army of the Republic of Vietnam leaders
Tim O’Brien
• Drafted into the US Army right after college• Spent 2 years in Vietnam• After the war, he wrote to cope with his
memories from the war• Often used the character Paul Berlin to tell
the story