Summary v. Literary Analysis

I chose the “The Ghost Soldiers” by Tim O’Brien, this story is told in the first person through the memories of Tim O’Brien and his twelve months as a soldier fighting in a jungle and an American firebase in the Vietnam War in the late 1960's. The Principal Characters are Herb, Lemon, Azar, Teddy Thatcher, and Jorgenson. The story occurs at two distinct moments in time when Herb is shot for the second time, and then when he later tries to get revenge on the brand new medic Jorgenson, who froze instead of immediately treating him and blamed him for the infection because of Jorgenson’s dely. Jorgenson sought O’Brien’s forgiveness for freezing up the time O’Brien got shot. But O’Brien who was set on revenge, enlisted Azar to help him get it. “Ghost Soldiers” shows the dark side of camaraderie, it shows just what happens when someone fails in his duty and how the relationship among soldiers is a social contract, which can be broken and unforgivable.