The setting of a piece of literature includes several different aspects. It includes what is going on politically, culturally, and also in the temporal environment (page 253). O'Brien's short story takes place in another country: Vietnam (page 80). The parts of Vietnam mentioned include both Than Khe and Chu Lai, but the homeland of the homeland of the main character is also mentioned, New Jersey. The setting plays an important role, because it dictates all of the most important parts of the writing: tone, diction, and theme. The tone is one of bitterness, and the diction is risqué. Because of the places where the story is set it is easy to conclude that the time in which they are serving the country is in the seventies. Therefore the war they are fighting is the Vietnam war. This war politically had little outcome, besides the lives of many innocent soldiers. It had very little accomplishments. During this time period, however, the idea of peace and love is in the hearts of the generation of Americans. This idea makes drugs and different forms of expression of love and peace more acceptable including sex. The items some of the men carry are condoms and dope. Because of the time period it makes the reader see the objects as more acceptable because it was acceptable in the seventies. The story is set while the soldiers march through cities and through the woods. The poor conditions in which the men are marching through are described as having cold nights, wet monsoons, and even hot days (page 75). These conditions help the story because it shows how the characters are so far from their homeland, and all civilized people leading to a yearning of the old stuff. When the soldiers do encounter any form of civilization, they become destructive and destroy even the innocent. Which refers to how the innocent die in this war with little accomplishments. The language the men at this war use is very vulgar and vivid which is o...