SPIN

Changing Narrative Gears

SPIN IS ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING SECTIONS OF THE

BOOK, AS IT SWINGS FROM DETAILS ABOUT SEVERAL OF THE SIGNIFICANT

CHARACTERS, IT SEEMS ALMOST WHIMSICAL IN ITS STORY TELLING. IT SUGGESTS THAT THERE WAS SOME

WARMTH IN THE WAR… THAT IT WASN’T ALL EVIL.

“Christ! What’s Everyone so Upset about? I’m just a boy!”

Azar - Gives a chocolate bar to a young boy who has been hurt by the war. This image is heart warming, and strange considering that later in the story Azar kills a dog that Ted Lavender had started to care for. When asked why he committed such an atrocious act, Azar replies that he is blameless, his inexperience has led to an inability to cope with the stress of war. Thus, he is blameless for his behavior.

Genuinely funny

Mitchell Sanders-This soldier sits under a tree removing body lice from himself which he then puts into an envelope and mails home to his draft board in Ohio. He tells the other men crazy stories from his time in the service.

Aww, cute!

Henry Dobbins and Norman Bowker – Dig a foxhole together each night and play checkers. This is another uplifting image in a jungle of killing and violence. Bowker complains that his father is putting a lot of pressure on him to earn medals. This foreshadows his eventual suicide. In a later story, after Bowker returns from the war, he hangs himself in a YMCA bathroom

Authorial Interruption

O’Brien interrupts the narration to write that telling his story has been difficult on him. His daughter Kathleen tries to brighten his spirits by telling him to wrote something more cheerful. The story, for O’Brien is a way for him to express the incredibly complex emotions stemming from the war

Buffalo Soldier

Kiowa – Teaches some of the men how to rain dance. The men ask him afterwards why the dance did not make it rain and Kiowa responds “The earth is slow, but the buffalo is patient.” This reinforces what we know about Kiowa, and characteristics that will be reinforced throughout the novel. Kiowa is introspective, thoughtful, and Philosophical. He is in outsider in the US but in Vietnam the men respect him.

Poppa-San – An old Vietnamese man who guides the troops through a mine field outside his village. His departure is troublesome for the men

Quit Harshing my Mellow!

Ted Lavender – Takes too many tranquilizers and describes the Vietnam War as “nice” and “mellow”

Another Ambigous Ending

The story ends as the men wait for a chopper

Kiowa is telling O’Brien that there was nothing he could do

O’Brien reflects on the nature of story telling

“Forty-three years old, and the war occurred half a lifetime ago, and yet the

remembering makes it now.  And sometimes remembering will lead to a

story, which makes it forever.  That’s what stories are for.  Stories are for joining the

past to the future.  Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story.”

Again, O’Brien plays with the nature of narrative-his writing bounces from character to character as he describes the characteristics of his men. A reader used to his novels telling a story from point A to Point B is in for a difficult time

He interrupts his own story to briefly discuss how difficult the process has been for him-again blurring the lines between fiction, autobiography, and history