Imagery

Within pages 36 to 48, imagery abounds. Realistically, the entire book is full of it. Whether O'Brien is describing the poop field Kiowa dies in or the field many years after when he pays a visit to the site to reminisce with his naive daughter, O'Brien's main goal, as he states multiple times, is to force the audience to understand and appreciate many of the things he experienced in his time as a soldier.

"The damp, fungal scent of an empty body bag.
A quarter moon rising over the nighttime paddies.
A field of elephant grass weighted with wind, bowing under the stir of a helicopter's blades... (pg 37)."

This one passage continues on in amazingly detailed imagery, but I'm sure you get the picture from what's there. The whole idea of imagery is mainly to transport the reader to the current scene of te novel. While I'm sure this explanation would suffice with this novel, I feel there is much more to O'Brien's literal lists of imagery than simply that. With this particular author, the entire book takes on an extremely personal role. Having lived through possibly a few of the things described in the novel, the book surely means a lot to him, but this also brings up a question that has puzzled me throughout the beginning of this book: exactly what has the author experienced and what is total and utter fiction?