The Man I Killed tells the story of a man, Tim, who killed a soldier during the Vietnam War. Tim killed this story out of obligation and not because he aspired to. After killing the Viet Cong soldier, Tim O'Brien describes himself as feeling a little guilty and contemptuous. When selected soldiers enter a war like Vietnam, some are capable of killing while others kill because they have a heritage to defend. Physically, a soldier may appear strong, but mentally he may not possess the required qualifications. The author uses many literary elements such as point of view, repetition, and setting to describe what Tim O'Brien actually felt. Throughout the story, O'Brien used point of view as a literary element. Azar, Kiowa and Tim O'Brien were the only viewpoints mentioned. These three characters' perspective on the war was completely different. The most sensitive person in the whole story was Tim. The reader notices how sensitive he is because he is perplexed when he analyzes the corpse of the Viet Cong soldier. "His jaw was in his throat, his upper lip and teeth were gone, ...