Plot:
During the Vietnam war an American soldier named Cacciato, decides he'd rather be in Paris; so he escapes and intends to walk all the 8.600 miles to Paris.
His squad gets the orders to retrieve this deserter, so they're all going after Cacciato.
Among the men is a soldier named Paul Berlin, who is a real dreamer and his imagination takes him all the way to Paris, where he hopes to find peace. Whereas reality stops at some point, imagination takes you much further. But in the end it all breaks down when he's in Paris and then he's back to reality.
Theme(s):
Besides the use of imagination to reach your goals, this book brings up this big moral question:
How to do right in an evil situation:
When you're in a war you're faced with a lot of atrocities and you'd probably wish you were somewhere else. This desire to flee may have begun as a reaction to fear, but what keep a lot of soldiers from running away is self-respect and the fear of losing it.
So maybe turning your back on the evil situation isn't such a good solution; but what is ?!
You can start by looking for the good in the war, but this doesn't outweigh or even equal the bad. Here's where purpose gets involved; Captain Rhallon states that it's purpose that keeps a soldier going, that the reasons for fighting in a war are politics and ideology.
We keep wars because there is something inherent in human nature that likes to destroy, to do evil.
Another theme in the story is that there's no order in a war: There are no rules.No time-outs.
No penalties for fouls.If you can't accept that, then you can't accept war, because that's what war is. Knowing that there are no right answers and that no matter what you do in a war is wrong, the only solution is to walk away.
Maybe evil cannot be defeated, but you can at least turn your back on it.
Characterization:
Paul Berlin: He's the story's main character. Being fed up with all the evil situations he has been in during the war he dreams his way out of the war. The mere possibility of reaching Paris is good enough for him to keep dreaming of better things.
Paul Berlin is a round character.
Doc Peret: This doctor's the thinker of the squad.Whenever they have to make a difficult moral decision, the Doc tries to solve the problem by digging deep in his philosophical mind.
Doc Peret is a flat character.
Lieutenant Corson: Respected and loved by all soldiers, this lieutenant earns their respect for his sense of justice- He believes in his missions, but isn't afraid to bend the rules.
Lieutenant Corson is a flat character.
Sarkin Aung Wan: She's a young Vietnamese refugee, who's only looking for peace.
She falls in love with Paul Berlin, or Spec Four as she calls him, and she tags along to Paris.
She's a flat character.
Cacciato: Just a dumb kid, who actually thinks he can make it to Paris.
Highly underestimated by the squad, but he get's there (in Paul's imagination, that is).
Cacciato's a flat character.
The other squad-members are also flat characters.
Narrative perspective:
Inside the story
Third person perspective
The narrator has omniscient knowledge
Subjective
Is the reader's interpretation of the story or of the character's influenced by the choice of perspective?
It sure is; because of the narrator's omniscient knowledge you get to know all the character's thoughts and emotions-this greatly influences your point of view.
Title:
Going after Cacciato-I think the title speaks for itself; they simply go after him.
(correction: They follow his example)
Symbols and metaphores:
The road Westward is a big metaphore: the West stands for civilization and peace.
Killing the water-buffalo: just an example of a useless atrocity.
Murdering the commanding officer: They prevent many needless deaths by murdering their commanding officer(They do good in an evil situation).
Watching the sunrise: Paul Berlinlooks for the good things in the war and he finds this in the sunrise. He concentrates on the blending colours and thinks of the possibilities of actually reaching Paris.
Personal opinion:
I've really enjoyed reading this book, because of it's fine structure that keeps you in suspense untill the last page. Another thing is that you feel that every word is in the right place, so I really think this book deserves the title 'All time classic'.
J.Wasser's appreciation: Well done!