We examined thematic and stylistic similarities between a chapter in the novel and Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms and Conrad's "Heart of Darkness." First, we discussed how O'Brien and Hemingway both use a simple syntax and detached tone. Thematically, we next studied the story "The Sweetheart of Tra Bong" . We addressed how Hemingway wants the reader to see and to hear the experience of war whereas O 'Brien wants the reader to feel what Viet Nam FELT like, thus the injection of the imaginative elements,. We further delved into how Mary Ann is a character like Kurtz in Heart of Darkness:both become a part of the jungle and abandon the morals and standards of civilian society. We discussed what living on the verge of death does to the soldiers and why that experience ultimately estranges them from civilians who have not experienced war.