Why does Rat Kiley kill the baby water buffalo? What makes the baby
water buffalo scene more disturbing then the death of one of O’Brien’s
platoon members?
5 out of 5
Rat Kiley kills the water buffalo as a transference of his grief. Unable to cope
with the loss of his friend, Curt Lemon, Rat attempts to deal with his
emotions by torturing the baby water buffalo. This is most evident in the
way that Rat wounds the animal.
Rat does not attempt to mortally wound the buffalo, just as Lemon’s death
does not mortally wound him. Instead, Rat inflicts nonfatal wounds in
various sensitive areas (just as Rat’s heart is wounded over the loss of his
friend). Rat shoots “randomly, almost casually, quick little spurts in the belly
and butt”(75).
Afterwards, Rat is finally able to feel some emotional release as the water
buffalo lies dying, “Rat Kiley was crying. He tried to say something, but then
cradled his rifle and went off by himself” (76).
It is Rat’s level of detachment and apathy as he shoots the baby water
buffalo that makes this scene so disturbing. Unlike the death of the soldiers,
which are not as detailed, the men feel sadness or grief, but with the water
buffalo Rat responds as the trained killer that he is. In fact, Rat fires his first
shot after he “…stroked its nose. He opened up a can of C rations, pork and
beans, but the baby buffalo wasn’t interested” (75).
It may be that Rat took this as a sign of rejection, just as Curt Lemon’s sister
rejected his letter, but regardless his passivity as he pulls the trigger his both
startling and disturbing…
This response
receives full credit
because it answers
both questions
completely. The
response addresses
each key point with
explanation and
text support.
Why does Rat Kiley kill the baby water buffalo? What makes the baby water
buffalo scene more disturbing then the death of one of O’Brien’s platoon
members?
4 out of 5
Rat Kiley doesn’t want to kill the water buffalo but rather he
wanted to hurt it. Rat takes the anger he has from watching his
friend, Curt Lemon, die out on the poor animal. Rat was crushed
by the way Curt died. He even sent a letter to Curt’s sister and she
never sent him a letter back. That hurt him even more than just
being crushed by Curt’s death. The way Curt died was not a nice
death. He was blown up by a booby-trapped 105 round while
playing his and Rat’s game they made up. Curt was blown up into
pieces, and Rat saw it all happen right in front of him. All the
pieces of his friend were blown up into the trees.
The way Tim makes the water buffalo scene more disturbing than a
death of one of his platoon members is in the way he describes the
details of the water buffalo’s death. When Tim described a platoon
member’s death it was just in the way he died. Tim described the
water buffalo’s death in detail. He tells everything Rat did to the
poor animal. Tim describes what Rat shot off, from the tail to the
jaw and nose. All the men saw this happening and just stood and
watched.
This response fully
answers both
questions and
provides details
and explanation,
but lacks specific
text support.
Why does Rat Kiley kill the baby water buffalo? What makes the
baby water buffalo scene more disturbing then the death of one
of O’Brien’s platoon members?
3 out of 5
Rat Kiley killed the baby water buffalo because he
was so distraught over Curt Lemon’s death. He felt
like he needed something to release his anger and
grief, and the water buffalo just happened to be
there. I understand why Rat killed the water
buffalo, but as someone who loves animals, I still
thought it was wrong and disturbing.
This scene is much more disturbing than the
death of one of O’Brien’s platoon members
because the water buffalo scene has much more
detail than the deaths. There is at least one page
of the book describing exactly where Rat Kiley
shot the buffalo and the animal’s reaction to being
shot. Another reason it is more disturbing is that
many people see animals as being harmless,
helpless creatures, whereas the platoon members
are men with guns who can defend themselves.
This response fully
answers both parts of the
question, but doesn’t
provide enough
detail/explanation, and
does not include any text
support.
Why does Rat Kiley kill the baby water buffalo? What makes the
baby water buffalo scene more disturbing then the death of one
of O’Brien’s platoon members?
2 out of 5 RESPONSE
What makes it very disturbing is that
he shoots it but doesn’t kill it. He
tortures it by shooting in in
unfatal places, like the legs and
jaw. He was trying to hurt the
buffalo. I think he was also
showing strength in the buffalo
and for everyone to toughen up.
The response fails to restate the
question and does not fully answer
both questions. While it does
suggest knowledge of the reading,
there is no text support and the
explanation is poor.
Why does Rat Kiley kill the baby water buffalo? What makes the baby
water buffalo scene more disturbing then the death of one of O’Brien’s
platoon members?
1 out of 5 RESPONSE
Rat killed the baby water buffalo
because he was mad. The
buffalo’s death was disturbing
because he used lots of details
and described what was
happening, and you could feel
how terrible it was.
This response fails to answer both
questions sufficiently and contains
only a generic statement which
doesn’t indicate a knowledge of the
text. There is no text support and
there really is no explanation with
the response.