Going After Cacciato

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Title Going After Cacciato

Author	Tim O'Brien
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	War, Novel
Publisher	Doubleday
Released	January 1978
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN	ISBN 0-440-02948-1 (first edition, hardback)

Written by author Tim O'Brien and winner of the National Book Award for fiction in 1979, this complex novel is set during the Vietnam War and is told from the point of view of the protagonist, Paul Berlin. The story traces the events that follow after Cacciato, a member of Berlin's squad, decides to go AWOL by walking from Vietnam to France by way of Asia. Cacciato, pronounced "catch-ee-ah-to," means "hunted" or "caught" in Italian.

[edit] Plot introduction

Typical of many stories that deal with themes of psychological trauma, Going After Cacciato contains distinct ambiguities concerning the nature and order of events that occur, which often requires readers to look beyond superficial appearances conveyed by the narrator's language. It is a chronologically unstable book. Basically the idea of the story is, by O'Brien's estimations, being a grunt in Vietnam for the standard one year tour of duty entails constant walking; if you were to put all the walking in a straight line, you would end up in Paris, where Cacciato is going. The entire story occurs during a couple of hours, in Paul Berlin's head, at the "Observation Post". Thus, every chapter entitled "The Observation Post" is a return to reality, while the other chapters are Berlin's imagination rendering what could have happened, had his squad followed the perhaps fictional character of Cacciato. Paul Berlin, the main character, is a frustated writer who, during the entire novel, focuses on every little detail he encounters, whether in the past or in the would-be chase. His obssesive search for detail enabled the reader to believe that the chase was real, making this novel a very complicated piece of work, but in the chapter "A hole on the way to Paris" the characters escaped the endless tunnels by "falling out" just as they fell in, an allusion to "Alice in Wonderland" which revealed the story's fiction.

[edit] Characters

• Paul Berlin (Narrator)
• Sarkin Aung Wan (Burmese Refugee)
• Cacciato (Fictional Soldier who goes AWOL)
• Frenchie Tucker (Dies in Tunnel)
• Bernie Lynn (Dies after following Frenchie Tucker into the tunnel)
• Eddie Lazzutti
• Stink Harris (Leads Party, "Trigger Happy")

  Harold Murphy 

  Murphy is another soldier in Berlin's squad. He carries the "big gun." In the story that Berlin tells of them going after Cacciato, Murphy leaves early on since he feels the mission is worthless.

• Buff
• Cpt. Fahyi Rhallon

  Billy Boy Watkins 

  One of the casualties in Berlin's squad. Billy Boy Watkins is referred back to many times, often accompinied by a short song that the squad sung freqeuently about his death. Watkins died after a mine exploded and cut off his leg. Although this is not a fatal wound, Billy Boy Watkins was in such fright that he died. Doc Peret says that it was a heart attack. Watkins, especially the song, demonstrates how soldiers cope with the death around them, sometimes making it into comedy to lessen the fear.

• Ready Mix
• Doc Peret (Philosopher)

  Lt. Sydney Martin 

  Martin was the old lieutenant of Berlin's squad. He insisted on following SOP (Standard Operating Procedures). One of the SOPs in Vietnam was to search all tunnels before blowing them. Martin enforced this rule sternly. None of the men in the squad wanted to search tunnels after seeing Frenchie Tucker and Bernie Lynn die. The men in the squad attempt to plead with Martin, but he sternly restates that they must search tunnels before blowing them. In the end, all the men in the squad agree to kill Lt. Martin. The exact manner of death is never stated except that Lt. Martin died in the tunnels.

• Lt. Corson