Literary Analysis: “the Lives of the Dead”

Kayla-Mae Conley

Professor Alice Henton

English 102-07

9 September 2017

Literary Analysis: “The Lives of the Dead”

        In the short story, “The Lives of the Dead”, the narrator begins the story by stating, “But this too is true: stories can save us.” Considering the details and vivid imagery O’Brien uses, the reader can confirm that the narrator is obsessed with death. Throughout the well-structured short story, the narrator uses three perspectives: nine-year-old Timmy, a twenty-three-year-old sergeant serving in the war of Vietnam, and the forty-three-year-old Tim he is in the year 1990. He uses these three perspectives to inform the reader that he has been keeping the dead alive through storytelling ever since he was nine years old, beginning with his first traumatic loss, Linda. Although the diction is simple, the tone is complex and optimistic. The narrator, Tim O’Brien, shows his fascination and obsession with the deceased by telling numerous stories about his personal encounters with death. He argues that by having a vivid imagination consisting of dreaming and storytelling, one can keep the legacy of the deceased alive; thus, saving us.

        In the beginning of the story, O’Brien talks about how his comrades were talking and interacting with an old, dead man. “They proposed toasts. They lifted their canteens and drank to the old man’s family and ancestors, his many grandchildren, his newfound life after death.” (O’Brien 74). Being that this was only O’Brien’s fourth day in the war, he wasn’t familiar with their sense of humor. This is O’Brien’s first time seeing his comrades interact directly with a dead person. He then explains it by saying, “It was more than mockery. There was formality to it, like a funeral without the sadness.” (O’Brien 74). He compares the mockery by using the simile “like a funeral without the sadness”, making the tone optimistic. Seeing as to most funerals are filled with sadness and devastation, O’Brien is stating that there was not any sadness in terms of the mockery, but a way for his comrades to commend the life of the old, dead man by demonstrating the celebratory gestures. Being that they are in a war; death becomes a normality.  They were not mocking him, but accepting the life that the old man once lived—refraining from grief. The reader can conclude that O’Brien is not the only person who uses storytelling and imagination to keep the dead alive, but his comrades in the war do it as well.

        O’Brien uses clear details when he begins to reminisce his first date with his first love, Linda. The clarity of the details given shows how significant that moment was to O’Brien-- as were all the memories are to him that involve Linda. He says, “The thing about a story is that you dream it as you tell it, hoping that others might then dream along with you, and in this way memory and imagination and language combine to make spirits in the head.” (O’Brien 75-76). O’Brien is referring to telling stories about Linda and making up scenarios in his head to keep her spirit alive. He reassures the reader that fiction can overcome death. He says, “There is the illusion of aliveness.” (O’Brien 76). By keeping a soul alive through imagination, dreams and storytelling; it saves us –as human beings-- from the grief and mourning of one’s death. It is a way to cope with the harsh reality in a safe and fictional manner. O’Brien is free to imagine whatever he desires; he has the security in his own mind to dream whatever he wants about Linda. It saves him and gets him through the hardships he faces throughout the short story.

        When referring to one of his elaborate dreams involving Linda, he said, “She’d say amazing things sometimes. ‘Once you’re alive,’ she’d say, ‘you can’t ever be dead.’” He then refers to this statement as a “kind of self-hypnosis” (O’Brien 82) and describes it as “Partly willpower, partly faith” (O’Brien 82) explaining that is “how stories arrive.” (O’Brien 82). Considering Linda never actually said “once you’re alive you can’t ever be dead”, O’Brien uses a metaphor by saying it is almost as if it were a self-hypnosis. He is the one imagining Linda saying that in his dream, trying to persuade himself and the audience to believe that as a true statement. He wants the audience to believe that a soul can be revived through the process of dreaming, imagining, and by telling fictional stories.

        O’Brien finds comfort in the fictional process of rekindling a dead soul in his own mind. He uses this technique to cease from mourning the various deaths encountered throughout his lifetime. It is simply a way for him to escape reality, he enjoys it so much that he “couldn’t wait to fall asleep at night” (O’Brien 82) just to dream about Linda’s existence. His perception of death becomes more optimistic because he convinces himself that the dead are not really dead. Although their bodies are no longer physically present, he has developed a way for their souls to live on. This process “saves us” by promising an everlasting relationship with someone who has passed on and gives the reader a way to cope with what is inevitable.