"The Lives of the Dead"
Quote 1:
"But this is true: stories can save us. [...] in a story, which is a kind of dreaming, the dead sometimes smile and sit up and return to the world." (page 225)
Analysis:
By starting the last chapter of his book with "[...] this is true: stories save us.", we can see that the author is trying to make it explicit for us, that without his stories he wouldn't have been able to be the person he is now a days. Also throughout his book O'Brien has been bringing the dead back to life, such as Kiowa, Kurt Lemon, Linda, Norman Bowker and the young man on the trail. All of them reviving in his stories. But, what is more essential and appreciated by the author is that this characters will remain a life in the pages of this book.
"You did a good thing,' [Kiowa] he said. 'That shaking hands crap, it isn't decent. The guys'll hassle you for a while-- especially Jensen-- but just keep saying no.
Should've done it myself. Takes guts, I know that." (page 227)
Analysis:
Soldiers tend to do this 'ritual' to the dead so they protect their reputation and show that they are tough, when in reality they are affected by the person's death, and know it is wrong to disrespect a dead person's body in such a way. In this quote when Kiowa says "Takes guts, I know that." what he really means is that it takes guts to admit that you are not always tough.
Quote 3:
"I'm skimming across the surface of my own history, moving fast, riding the melt beneath the blades, doing loops and spins, and when I take a high leap for into the dark and down thirty years later, I realize it is as Tim trying to save Timmy's life with a story." (page 246)
Analysis:
In this extended metaphor we can see how the author, examines how the stories he tells evolved from the dreams and memories he had from Linda. Also Tim O'Brien is confident about the capacity that memories and stories have to give a certain kind of immortality to both to the dead- In this case his friend Linda, making her 'alive' again and giving her the possibility to skate with Timmy through the night- and also for the one who tells this story- in this case Tim O'Brien, permitting him to cope with his horrible and terrifying past.
In O'Brien's last story "The lives of the Dead" he deepens the meaning of his work by juxtaposing his first confrontation with death as a solider with his first encounter with death, when at age nine he lost his friend Linda to a brain tumor. In this fragment we can also see how O'Brien uses his memories and writing as comforting thing so he can cope with the mourning.
In this extended metaphor we can see how the author, examines how the stories he tells evolved from the dreams and memories he had from Linda. Also Tim O'Brien is confident about the capacity that memories and stories have to give a certain kind of immortality to both to the dead- In this case his friend Linda, making her 'alive' again and giving her the possibility to skate with Timmy through the night- and also for the one who tells this story- in this case Tim O'Brien, permitting him to cope with his horrible and terrifying past.
In O'Brien's last story "The lives of the Dead" he deepens the meaning of his work by juxtaposing his first confrontation with death as a solider with his first encounter with death, when at age nine he lost his friend Linda to a brain tumor. In this fragment we can also see how O'Brien uses his memories and writing as comforting thing so he can cope with the mourning.
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