More than a Game

(O'Brien, entire book)

Literary Term: Motif

Throughout this entire book, the ideal that war is a game is displayed multiple times. Very early the book reveals this: "The average age in our platoon, I'd guess was nineteen or twenty, and as a consequence things often took on a curiously playful atmosphere, like a sporting event at some exotic reform school. The competition could be lethal, yet there was a childlike exuberance to it all, lots of pranks and horseplay. (O'Brien, 35). The theme continues while he describes the outlandish images of a swimming race he saw while making the decision over the draft. The little boys that hiked around the lake almost mirror the plodding troops going through Vietnam. When Jimmy Cross mentally composes the letter to Kiowa's father, he considers explaining it through golf. In short, this novel considers war as a required PE requirement rather than its true purpose of killing and fighting others. History and Hollywood have transformed war into a bloody game, and this novel simply fuels this fire. At what point will the world realise the horrible effects and deadly effects of war? When will the world recognise that war is more than a simple game ?