Romanticism in Tim OBriens Going After Cacciato Essay -- Going After

romanticisticism in Tim OBriens Going afterwards Cacciato Critics of Tim OBriens Going After Cacciato have examined its narrative technique (see Raymond) and its position in literature as metafiction (see Herzog). Still other critics have commented on the motif of time (see McWilliams) and the base and structure (see Vannatta). On the last point, critics find the structure of the new is fragmentize to reveal the nature of the United States involvement in Vietnam. Unfortunately, this fragmentation makes the novel appear structurally weak. Critics have found no unifying cistron to the parts to affirm the sense of wholeness readers feel after completing OBriens novel. Nevertheless, the reader senses that the seemingly random construction of the novel serves to underscore the random nature of the Vietnam war. However, to lightly dismiss OBriens organization as simply fragmentary does great disservice to this American author. A critical examination of a traditional element found in American Literature since its inception--the emblematical use of Nature--unifies Going After Cacciato and places the work firmly in the Romantic tradition. Just as Romanticists have always relied upon Nature to unify and hang on substantial depth to their novels so, too, has OBrien. Specifically, a different element of Nature appears in each of the sections of the novel. The novel divides into three distinct parts the observation ring armor chapters, the recollected history chapters, and the chasing Cacciato chapters. In the observation post chapters, Nature is represented by the sea. In the recollected history chapters, Nature is represented by the land and the new water. In the chasing Cacciato chapters, Nature becomes ... .... Nevertheless, the defeat by the land provided OBrien with a refreshfully new revitalization of the traditionally romantic motifs of water and land, while too exploiting the ambiguous nature of war. Works Cited Herzo g, Tobey C. Going After Cacciato The Soldier-Author- Character pursuit Control. critical review 24 (Winter 1983) 88- 96. McWilliams, Dean. Time in Tim OBriens Going After Cacciato. critique 29 (Summer 1988) 245-255. OBrien, Tim. Going After Cacciato. New York Delta/Seymour Lawrence, 1978. Raymond, Michael W. Imagined Responses to Vietnam Tim OBriens Going After Cacciato. Critique 24 (Winter 1983). Vannatta, Dennis. Theme and Structure in Tim OBriens Going After Cacciato. redbrick Fiction Studies 28 (Summer 1982) 242-246.