"I was terrified. There were no thoughts about killing. The grenade was to make him go away-just evaporate- and I leaned back and felt my mind go empty and then felt it fill up again. I had already thrown the grenade before telling myself to throw it." (pg.133)
This passage is the point of view from Tim O'Brien before he kills an enemy soldier. It is one of a frightened man who does the only thing he knows at this point, to kill. It's sad because he starts to analyze what he has done right after he delivers the fatal blow. But that is human nature to analyze what one has done after the action. This point of view gives the reader a look inside what O'Brien was thinking and makes us understand the pressures of war. He embodies every soldier that has had to make a difficult decision in order to survive. In the end the only judge he has to face is himself. But, of course, we are the judges of ourselves and our actions and more then never we are own worst critics.
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