In this chapter, we see the point of view shift from an omniscient outside observer to the eyes of the author himself, Tim O'Brien. I'll be honest, this shift of perspective threw me for a second, and I couldn't quite immediately grasp exactly to whom the "I" referred. Perhaps I was simply blinded by my view of Lt. Cross as the protagonist; however, from this point on, this is clearly O'Brien's story, not Cross's. Still, I think that Cross's very presence in this chapter helps ease this shift along, and makes it fairly clear that though Cross was king of the previous chapter, the story is really all about O'Brien, his personal views of the war, and the people he knew.
Another thing worth mentioning is that Cross appears to still be humping his feelings for Martha. tsk tsk. IMHO, he should probably find himself another lady to obsess over. One thing about the little Martha-Cross anecdote that I didn't quite get though was what she meant by "the things men do" (p. 28). Theory number one is that she got raped, although that's about as bluntly as one can interpret that quote. Theory number two is that she knows lots of guys with knee fetishes, which is significantly more ridiculous, but also...feasible, I suppose.
This is Captain Falcon performing a rising knee. It also includes a bad knee-related pun.
you'll get more info on what she means by "the things men do." I can confidently say it's unrelated to knee fetishes.
ReplyDeleteThe view point shift caught me too...it took me a while to realize it was actually O'Brien's point of view. I figured that since the first chapter had mostly been about Cross instead of the other characters it was going to be him as the "I"...guess I was wrong. And I agree...the rest of the book makes it clear that this is obviously O'Brien's story, not Cross'...as for the knee thing...I don't really know what that means either. I think theory one is more likely though...but I'm still not really sure if that's what she meant
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