追寻卡西艾托 (1978)

Going After Cacciato is an anti-war novel written by Tim O'Brien and first published by Delacorte Press in 1978. The novel is set during the Vietnam War. It is told from the third person limited point of view of an American soldier, Paul Berlin. Cacciato, one of Berlin's squadmates, goes absent without leave (AWOL) to walk from Vietnam to Paris. The nonlinear narrative follows Berlin's imagined chase of Cacciato across Eurasia; it is interspersed with Berlin's memories of the Vietnam War prior to Cacciato's departure.

Going After Cacciato won the 1979 U.S. National Book Award for Fiction.

Plot and themes

The main conceit of Going After Cacciato is that American soldiers in Vietnam were required to walk nearly constantly; by Tim O'Brien's estimation, the total distance walked in a standard tour of duty was as far as walking in a straight line from Vietnam to Paris.

Cacciato, an American soldier who is unintelligent but self-sufficient, happy, and untroubled by the larger questions of the war, goes AWOL. He intends to walk from Vietnam to Paris. Cacciato is pursued by Paul Berlin and the rest of the squad.

The protagonist, Paul Berlin, is a frustrated American soldier. While on watch duty one night, Berlin thinks about the past and daydreams about going to Paris. He remembers Cacciato's desertion and imagines a journey in which Cacciato made it successfully to Paris, pursued by Berlin and the squad the entire way. The courage it takes to chase one's dreams is a recurring theme which is often expressed through Paul Berlin's reveries.

Typical of many stories that deal with themes of psychological trauma, Going After Cacciato is ambiguous about the nature, order, and reality of events that occur. The chronology is nonlinear for most of the book. Surreal events occur, such as Cacciato flying off a mountain, or the squad falling into an endless tunnel complex and, finding no exit, simply deciding to fall out of the tunnels to escape.

Characters

Paul Berlin - Narrator and protagonist, Paul Berlin imagines the prolonged chase after Cacciato. In his mind, Cacciato and Berlin's squad eventually reach Paris.

Cacciato - The soldier from Berlin's squad who goes AWOL with the intention of reaching Paris. Cacciato is frequently described by his squadmates as unintelligent and he is shown to be dangerously unconcerned in combat. His first name is not known; Cacciato is his last name, meaning "hunted" or "caught" in Italian.

Sarkin Aung Wan - A Burmese refugee, and later Berlin's romantic interest, who saves the squad many times as she accompanies them on the journey to Paris.

Doc Peret - The medic in Berlin's squad. He sometimes uses M&M's as medicine for those under his care, usually as a way to calm down the over-reactive and the dying. He enjoys philosophical debates.

Oscar Johnson - A Black soldier in Berlin's squad. He says that the cold weather in Vietnam reminds him of Detroit in the month of May, which he calls "lootin' weather." It is implied that despite his posturing and claims, Johnson is not from Detroit: his mail comes from and goes to Maine, he cannot name recent players from any Detroit sports teams, and one of his nicknames is "the nigga from Ba Haba." Johnson is responsible for convincing the squad that Lieutenant Martin must be killed.

Lieutenant Sidney Martin - The West Point-educated previous lieutenant of the platoon containing Berlin's squad. Martin insists on following military standard operating procedures (SOPs). One of the official SOPs he follows is the process of searching tunnels prior to collapsing them with explosives; the unofficial but widely accepted procedure is to simply collapse the tunnels without searching them. Martin firmly enforces the official SOP, leading to the deaths of Frenchie Tucker and Bernie Lynn. The squad's refusal to search tunnels solidifies after the deaths and they attempt to plead with Martin, but he sternly restates that they must search tunnels before collapsing them. In the end, all the men in the squad agree to kill Martin. The circumstances of Martin's death are not specified except that it occurs while he is in the tunnels. It is repeatedly implied that Oscar Johnson fragged Martin.

Frenchie Tucker - A soldier who dies in a tunnel after being shot through the nose.

Bernie Lynn - A soldier who is fatally shot below the throat when he tries to retrieve Frenchie Tucker from the tunnel.

Lieutenant Corson - Frequently referred to simply as "the lieutenant", Corson takes command of the platoon containing Berlin's squad after Lieutenant Martin dies. Corson is a career soldier who has been demoted from captain to lieutenant twice. He is nominally the commanding officer of Berlin's squad as they follow Cacciato, though he is often ill with dysentery. As the soldiers move west from Vietnam through Asia and Europe, Corson feels he is too old for the war and wants to return to his home. Doc diagnoses Corson as suffering from nostalgia and homesickness. When the squad stops in the Indian city of Delhi, Corson is temporarily cured when he meets a woman, a married hotelier who had studied in Baltimore, Maryland. He becomes sick again when the squad moves on.

Stink Harris - A violent soldier who leads Berlin's squad and suffers from ringworm.

Harold Murphy - A soldier in Berlin's squad who carries an M60 machine gun. Early on, Murphy leaves the mission to retrieve Cacciato since he feels it is pointless.

Eddie Lazzutti - A soldier in Berlin's squad who is proud of his voice and so typically carries the squad's radio.

Captain Fahyi Rhallon - An officer of the Iranian SAVAK who arrests the squad in Tehran.