"The Things They Carreid"- Tim and the man he killed

In this post I will be discussing a possible reason that Tim O'Brien portrayed the young man that he killed as almost identical to himself (other than the fact that it might be true in this fictional collection of memories).

As far as I have read in the book (through "Speaking of Courage"), Tim has only killed one Vietnamese soldier. The young man that he killed, and his injuries, are described with some of the most graphic imagery in the novel thus far. I think that they way Tim O'Brien described the man, first in terms of his injuries, then in terms of his life, and then finally in terms of his motives for being in the war. Obviously, Tim (the character) never knew this man before, so all of his analysis is based upon his body and speculation. I think that Tim O'Brien (the author) used his vivid memories and Kiowa's comments designed to make him feel better, to get him out of his state of shock and horror to heart when writing this story. Tim O'Brien portrays the man that he killed as an almost-exact copy of himself in the Vietcong army. He pictures this young man to be someone who thought that the war was wrong too, who wished the Americans could go away just as Tim wishes he could go home, who had an intellectual brain and lots of promise and plans for continuing his education, who had fallen in love and had a happy life that was spoiled by his obedience to tradition and honor and Tim's instinctive throw. The similarities between Tim and his victim are uncanny, even down to the reasons for joining a war they did not support -- fear of disappointing their families because they didn't have the courage to desire to go to war with a dangerous foe. Tim O'Brien uses his image of the man that he killed and the person he had been before the grenade to demonstrate why Tim was in such a state after he saw the carnage of what he had done, and why even his friend Kiowa's comments could not break him out of his trance. Tim knew that the man was human, but until he saw the man's body I don't think it had fully registered what he had done and how possibly similar that man could have been to himself. It is empathy in the most extreme sense. Kiowa tries to console Tim by telling him that it could have been him (Tim) lying on the ground rather than that man had their places been reversed. But Tim also realizes that this man's death was avoidable, if his instinct had not controlled his body as if he were only a computer programmed to kill, this man could have lived, or at least not died at Tim's hand, the man who is arguably so similar to him. Tim O'Brien uses his imaginations about the man that he killed almost as a symbol of his death because he killed another man. He makes the man so similar to himself, or his characterized self, that it is as if he has killed who he was and he is staring at what he was and could have been if he had not thrown that grenade and become like so many others in Alpha Company.