English Literature

Delving into the essence of why an author(s) choose a setting or why the reader may notice the setting plays an important role into the impact of a short story.  Some authors may choose a settinglocation to emphasize the challenges or struggles facing the characters in question. How to Tell a True War Story by Tim O Brien and Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne hare many similarities between their settings and the importance of the settings in relation to the plots.  On the other hand, OBrien and Hawthornes short-story settings also represent separate identities.

How to Tell a True War Story and Young Goodman Brown both depict a time in the characters lives which was represented by the settings. OBrien states the characters awakening to the vicious and cruel environment by emphasizing that, When a booby trap explodes, you close your eyes and duck and float outside yourself (174-175). Hawthorne sets the tone of his short story by describing the environment in which his characters are placed by adding, It was deep dusk in the forest, and the deepest part of it where these two were journeying (2). Both short stories depict the dangerous and dire situations in which the characters are placed.  In OBriens short-story the reader is introduced to the vile world of combat by his illustration of words in, you close your eyes and duck. (174-175). The same type of unpleasant environment was explained by Hawthorne in which he stated, deep dusk of the forest (.2).

When reading both of these works, the description of the settings allow the reader to paint the image of a scary, violent, and deadly world in which these characters are entrapped.  Not only are the settings depicting desperate and challenging circumstances, but also, the characters from both of these short stories are faced with personal obstacles and challenges, which is reflect in the setting of the text.

The evidence of OBriens character to make the best out of a bad situation is reflected in the following quote, In the midst of evil you want to be a good man (180). One can infer from this quote that the character wanted to overcome the dreadful war and move beyond the stressful daily challenges of war and fatigue.  In Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown, his main character, Goodman Brown faces the challenges of deciphering between good and evil through his journey to find what is pure versus unholy. Just as OBrien character, Brown, confronts his own personal challenge by Hawthorne writing, Goodman Brown felt himself justified in making more haste on his present evil purpose(1). One could note that both of these characters since of defining their manhood was reflected directly upon the situations and setting in which they lived or endured.  OBrien and Hawthorne created characters who faced struggles and hardship, but the characters did not share the same manhood-defining pressures of their time period nor personal attributes.

In OBriens How to Tell a True War Story, the reader is quickly introduced to a man who is placed within the day-to-day reality that their current presence could be their only future in Vietnam and earth.  OBrien writes, .I remember sitting at my foxhole that night, watching the shadows of Quang Ngai ,thinking about the coming day and  all the ways I might die, all the things I did not understand (179).  OBriens character was not placed in a voluntary situation he was drafted to serve his country.  The choice of defining good versus evil was a choice he did not makenor was fighting a war his choice.  However, Hawthornes character chose to take his journey to discover good versus evil.  This characters time period emphasized personal growthnot patriotic deeds.  Hawthorne eludes the reader to Browns self-driven need to define the goodness or evil of his life by stating, Goodman Brown felt himself justified in making more haste on his present evil purpose (1).  One could predict that Brown was a character who defined all social norms in order to definediscover what was important to him.

Overall, OBriens How to Tell a True War Story and Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown exemplified the creativity of an author when a setting defines the character.  In both short stories, the main characters are in a pursuit, whether by choice or lack of choice to define his manhood. OBrien painted for the reader a young man who was thrown into a different world and required to survive from day to day, and his every move defined what kind of man he would be.  Where as Hawthornes character Brown was on a personal pilgrimage to define what type of man he was.  Indeed, both men were defined by where they were.