English 015 - Americans Abroad
A Tourist Fantasy
A Tourist Fantasy
Category: 4E: O'Brien | Matt Nickel
“What about money? Money for hotels and food and train tickets? What about passports? What about the law? Illegal entry, no documents, no military orders, no permits for all the weaponry? What about police and customs agents?” (page 125). Throughout Tim O’Brien’s novel Going After Cacciato, the soldiers are constantly spending money and traveling without any passports. These soldiers travel across Asia and to Europe with a seemingly inexhaustible amount of money and are rarely confronted by immigration problems. The lack of passports and an unlimited supply of money prove that Going After Cacciato is a tourist fantasy as a true tourist would never be able to travel without money or a passport. In a fantasy, an infinite amount of money and a lack of passports could happen but for the soldiers in Vietnam it is impossible. The characters are living in a tourist fantasy opposite the life they lead as soldiers. The tourist fantasy crumbles and falls apart after meeting Sarkin Aung Wan, roaming the streets of Mandalay, riding on the train to Delhi, walking around Tehran and living in Paris. This destruction stems from two things: a slow metamorphosis into a tourist then finding a hint and or catching a glimpse of a deserter and becoming a soldier again. The soldiers follow a pattern between wanting to be a tourist and being a soldier.
The first change from soldier to tourist happens at the beginning on the road to Paris when they meet up with Sarkin Aung Wan. Up until encountering Sarkin Aung Wan, the soldiers “had marched many weeks through jungle and rain” (page 58). Marching through the jungle represents the extreme opposite of being a tourist and the harshness of being a soldier. The soldiers now travel by ox cart and Paul Berlin mentions that, “…the riding was everything, the riding and the road and the grassy plains. The days were sunny. The nights were deep and still” (page 56). The soldiers no longer have to dig holes at night to protect themselves from mortar fire; they can sleep quietly again. These soldiers have traveled from Vietnam to a friendly nation and are allowed to roam at will even though they do not have passports. A lack of identification has not yet proved problematic for the soldiers. They do not even think about the issues that might arise if they are caught by any authorities. Their blissful attitude suddenly changes when Stink Harris “crept away from the fire, staying in the shadows, moving in on the intruder from behind. Then he pounced. Screaming, he tackled Cacciato” (page 61). Up until Stink almost captured Cacciato, everything was peaceful and quiet in the soldiers’ lives and after the ambush they change back into soldiers and are on the look-out for any signs of Cacciato.
The next day on the road to Paris, the caravan falls into a hole in the road and after Sarkin Aung Wan leads the soldiers out of the hole unto the streets of Mandalay, the soldiers once again become tourists. Paul Berlin mentions that, “They ate fried fish at a high rooftop restaurant, the whole city lighted below” (page 117). The soldiers quickly change back into tourists as they have a plentiful supply of money and indulge themselves in decent food. These tourists walk around Mandalay as if they own the city, unaware of the amount they are spending. Berlin notices that Eddie is “shaved, dressed in blue jeans and a striped T-shirt [and] his black hair combed up slick and shiny” (page 117). This is an obvious change from soldier to tourist as they drop their fatigues for jeans and t-shirts. All the time, money is not an issue with the soldiers who have no known source of income, other than the monthly pay they no longer receive for deserting the army. The soldier’s free-spending is only the imaginary work of Paul Berlin’s tourist fantasy; being a tourist, traveling all over the world, able to buy anything that he wants.
Traveling on the Delhi express, the soldiers act as tourists and sleep instead of searching the train for Cacciato. Only after they see the picture of Cacciato in the station and Berlin sees a poem left for him on the mirror do they transition back into soldiers. Berlin is surprised at first but ultimately they start to act and talk like soldiers again. “Mechanically, he pressed through the crowded coach, checking IDs, testing for false beards and puttied noses and enemy infrastructure” (page 137). This soldierly conduct contrasts with the earlier idle actions of the “tourists.”
As tourists in Iran, they search a little for Cacciato but they did make “one visit to the circus and a weekend excursion to the countryside” (page 184). These soldiers are starting to change into tourists and with every stop they become more and more like tourists. After seeing the beheading of an Iranian man who was AWOL, similar to Cacciato, they are arrested by the Iranian secret police. At the police headquarters, Captain Fahyi Rhallon questions the “tourists” and asks them if “they [have] visited the lovely mosques along the river? The museums? The ARAMCO institute?” and continues on to ask them “You only tour?” (page 190). After seeing the execution of the boy who symbolizes Cacciato, the tourist fantasy falls apart and the “tourists” become soldiers again. Paul Berlin cannot hold on to his tourist fantasy upon seeing the execution of a boy who was AWOL.
In Paris, these soldiers become tourists again. Although they lost almost everything they owned in Tehran escaping from the secret police and the army, the soldiers still have a plentiful supply of money and no problems with their lack of passports. Berlin mentions that in Paris, “The days were warm. [and] he would stroll with Sarkin Aung Wan in the way he imagined lovers must stroll” (page 294). Once again the soldiers are tourists as they walk around Paris lazily searching for Cacciato. Paul Berlin and Sarkin Aung Wan even take the time to look at apartments they can rent. The soldiers have almost completely changed from American soldiers to American tourists. Paul Berlin mentions that in Paris, “Strangers would buy drinks. Policemen would smile and shake their heads. Money was never a problem, passports were never required” (page 295). However, Paul Berlin finds Cacciato in “Les Halles” and when he tells the rest of his squad about his find, the Parisian tourist fantasy falls apart (page 313). The soldiers realize that they must capture Cacciato or risk being imprisoned as deserters. They have permanently changed back into soldiers, searching and trying to ambush Cacciato.
The repetitive nature of the tourist fantasy falling apart and mixing with the squad’s real lives as soldiers brings about an interesting point. The tourist to soldier fantasy on the road to Paris reflects the true nature of Paul Berlin. Paul Berlin wants to escape the harsh reality of war and he does this by trying to become a tourist. He tries to imagine what life could be like for him after the war but since he has seen so much death and destruction that his old life will never be the same again. On the road to Paris, he slowly changes from soldier to tourist, but this change is never permanent as he constantly reverts back to becoming a soldier. Once Paul Berlin leaves the army, he can never be a tourist in a foreign nation with an unlimited supply of money and no passports; he will always be a soldier and always think like a soldier seeking the enemy.
Posted by on December 15, 2003 at 02:04 PM