In five pages this paper discusses Tim O'Brien's protagonist in his relentless pursuit of Cacciato even after he physically turns back, which is symbolic of his wartime anguish. There are no other sources listed.
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he gains a multitude of life lessons that ultimately help to formulate alternative perspectives of life, war and the often jumbled realities of both. "The facts were simple: They
went after Cacciato, they chased him into the mountains, they tried hard. They cornered him on a small grassy hill. They surrounded the hill. They waited through
the night. And at dawn they shot the sky full of flares and then they moved in....That was the end of it. The last known fact. What
remained were possibilities" (OBrien PG). Berlin, the protagonist in Tim OBriens Going After Cacciato, continues to follow/pursue Cacciato even after physically turning back as a way in which to
illustrate the physical and mental torment associated with war, as well as the elusive quest for peace that battle is supposed to afford. Indeed, he continues forward with his
pursuit in order to both strive for something seemingly unattainable while at the same time attempting to get something back - his childhood, earlier days as a young man, memories
with his father - as a means by which to make sense of the blatant brutality and carnage of battle. "For just as happiness is more than the absence
of sadness, so is peace infinitely more than the absence of war" (OBrien PG). Even after Berlin leaves the war, he is forever haunted by its memory - particularly the
episode at the observation post - because he is unable to find peace within himself. One might readily surmise that a large part of why he continue pursuing Cacciato
even after turning back was because he was actually searching for his own identity at the same time; that he existed within an emotional state of restlessness gave him the