Speaking of Courage

A detailed Summary of Speaking of Courage


"Speaking of Courage" is a short story written by Tim O'Brien. O'Brien was born in Austin, Minnesota, and graduated from Macalester College. In 1968, he was drafted and served with the U.S. Army in Vietnam, where he attained the rank of sergeant. In the story the character Paul Berlin comes back to his hometown in Wisconsin after the Vietnam War. Berlin struggles to fit back into his normal life before the war. Coming back from the war the young solider sees the world in a different light. Berlin has an external and some internal conflicts. His external conflict is not finishing Frenchie Tucker's mission. His internal conflicts are wishes he had been more courageous and he could talk about the war and his feeling of shame and terror with his dad.

Paul Berlin's external conflict is not finishing Frenchie Tucker's mi


Another one of Berlin's internal conflicts is he wishes he could talk about the war and his feeling of shame and terror with his dad. Berlin wishes he could tell his dad the fear he felt in side the tunnel and the embarrassment he felt of being dragged out of the tunnel. He wants his dad to talk to him so they could share war stories and experiences.

" His father would not talk. His father had been in another. So he knew the truth already, and he would not talk about it and there no one left to talk with" (968). Berlin wants to tell his dad the new things he has learned like telling the different between enemy fire and our fire and telling time without a watch but he knew his dad wouldn't talk.

".... you close your eyes like a mole and follow the tunnel walls.... lose all sense and are dragged out by the heels ...." (O'Brien 971). He

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 571
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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