Chapter 8, Alpha Company Summary and Analysis

O'Brien's introduction to life with Alpha Company is an abrupt transition to the vulgarities of daily life in Vietnam. The first strange days are like a weird tropical vacation in a war zone. Alpha Company moves along the beaches, followed by a procession of Vietnamese prostitutes. Little boys follow along to clean weapons and give back rubs. Everywhere the men of Alpha Company go, the Vietnamese people serve the Americans in any way possible for money.

O'Brien explains more of the military language he incorporates into his narrative. There are also abrupt transitions between a limited first person and the second person point of view. Though the transition is abrupt, the use of the second person point of view does pull the reader deeper into the narrative. The reader learns that a hand grenade is a "frag...