In Tim OÆBrienÆs If I Die In A Combat Zone: Box Me Up and Ship Me Home, the Vietnam veteran explores socially constructed concepts of virtue, honor, courage and blind conscription to duty in contrast to following oneÆs own moral code of rightness. Using the definitions of courage and maleness that were established by the ôold order,ö OÆBrien (p. 192) writes, could blind one into being stupid during combat. Having explored the horrors and ignoble suffering of combat, OÆBrien (p. 142) contends that concepts of bravery or courage often associated with combat and the military male ôhero,ö may equate to something truly brave or courageous but they may also be nothing more than a ôcrudely idealizedö concept of masculinity.
In another novel based on his Vietnam experiences, The Things They Carried, OÆBrien provides a similar exploration of concepts typically associated with war that are a far cry from the actual concepts associated with the death and horror of the battlefield. This is particularly true in a conflict like Vietnam, where controversy over U.S. involvement and strategy fueled doubt in many troops about concepts like courage, honor and bravery. In The Things They Carried, OÆBrien (p. 21) wrote, ôMen killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what brought then to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor.ö
In this book as in If I Die In A Combat Zone, OÆBrien puts the lie to many valuations of qualities associated with the heroic male combatant from courage and bravery to glory and honor. OÆBrien (p. 135) maintains that for those who are opposed to engaging in combat but who are unable to challenge the expectations of parents, neighbors, and military officers in favor of their own moral code are exhibiting ôwell-disguised cowardice.ö OÆBrien (p. 194) questions the male heroic code of war th
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