#19 Metaphor

On page 21, Tim O'Brien compares a plane to a bird. "but it was more than a plane, it was a real bird, a big sleek silver bird with feathers and talons and high screeching. They were flying." During war, so many people just wanted to leave. They would dream of hurting themselves just so they could ride to safety away from the maddness on a "freedom bird." The freedom birds were airplanes. When anyone got injured or died, they were taken to Japanese hospitals to be taken care of. They wanted to feel light and free away from the disaster. By including this metaphor into the story, it creates a visual for the readers to picture. Also, it elaborates how badly some of those people wanted out of their. THey wanted to soar like a bird-planes were the way to feel like that.