Chapter 19

"Field Trip"

Quote 1:

"Like coming over here. Some dumb things happens a long time ago and you can't ever forget it." (page 183)

Analysis:

Here we can see how the new generation sees history; "[...] Some dumb thing [...]", if it is in the past you should leave it on the past, they say. In this case Kathleen still doesn't understand what the war meant to her dad and how foreign it all seems for her. This is also a reason why Tim O'Brien writes this story; so that hundred years from now people from the generations to come know how it was back in the day were the Vietnamese war was still being fought. 

Quote 2:

"The sun made me squint. Twenty years. A lot like yesterday, a lot like never. In a way, maybe, I'd gone under with Kiowa, and now after two decades I'd finally worked my way out." (page 187)

Analysis:

Through this quote we can infer that the author felt imprisoned with all the memories roaming around his head and not having anybody to share them with. But after writing this book, and finding the courage of accepting some things; such as being partly responsible for Kiowa's death, reliefs him, and it is as if he had been underwater for a long time and had finally surfaced to finally lay back and breath.

Quote 3:

"The old man," he said, "is mad at you or something?" 

"I hope not."

"He looks mad."

"No," I said "All that's finished." (page 188)

Analysis: 

This quote can be interpreted in two ways. You could see it from the 't way', meaning that the man is just mad because O'Brien submerged himself on the sewage. Or in the other hand you could see it from O'Brien's perspective; the rivalry between Vietnam and America was over and there was no need for people from these countries to still feel tension and hatred between each other.