A Study Guide for Tim O'Brien's "Where Have you Gone, Charming Billy?"

By Gale and Cengage

A Study Guide for Tim O'Brien's "Where Have you Gone, Charming Billy?," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Short Stories for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Short Stories for Students for all of your research needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cengage Learning - Gale
• Release date: Jul 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9781535842853

Book preview

10

Where Have You Gone Charming Billy?

Tim O'Brien

1975

Introduction

Tim O'Brien's Where Have You Gone Charming Billy? was originally published in Redbook magazine in 1975. The story won an O'Henry prize in 1976, and it was published in the Prize Stories of 1976 and Prize Stories of the Seventies. Although it is currently out of print, Prize Stories of the Seventies is probably the easiest place to find a copy of the story, although it appears under the chapter title Night March, which is the title that O'Brien used when he reworked the story in his subsequent novel, Going After Cacciato. Going After Cacciato was published in 1978, and O'Brien won the National Book Award for it in 1979. Going After Cacciato is generally considered one of the best novels about the Vietnam War experience, as well as a book that broke new formal ground by mixing fantastic and realistic styles in a serious war novel.

Where Have You Gone Charming Billy? is the story of Private First Class Paul Berlin's attempt to adjust to his first full day of combat in the Vietnam War. Paul Berlin (always referred to by his rank and full name) does not want to be in the war, and he spends much of his first march trying to figure out how he is going to survive the experience. Paul Berlin is terrified, especially after Billy Boy Watkins dies early in the day, and he struggles to contain his terror. The story takes place during a march the platoon takes at night in order to avoid detection. Darkness only amplifies Paul Berlin's terror, since he does not yet know his fellow soldiers, he is in a hostile foreign country, and he watched a soldier die earlier in the day, ostensibly from fright. The story is an extended meditation on fear and the tricks that soldiers use to manage that fear.

Author Biography

O'Brien was born William Timothy O'Brien on October 1, 1946, in Austin, Minnesota, to William T. O'Brien, an insurance salesman, and Ava E. (Schultz) O'Brien, an elementary school teacher. When he was ten, the family moved from Austin to the small town of Worthington, Minnesota.

O'Brien had a classic midwestern childhood. He played football, golf, and Little League baseball on a team coached by his father. He has admitted, though, that he was not a good athlete, which