“To call Going After Cacciato a novel about war is like calling Moby-Dick a novel about whales.”(O’Brien)- is it true? Indeed, Going After Cacciato is not just a thrilling novel about one man’s adventure through the dark depths of war; it is a thrilling novel about one man’s shocking fantasy through the dark depths of war. Throughout the novel, this man named Paul Berlin takes the readers through a journey between reality and his fantasy. It is up to the reader to figure out what is reality and what is his fantasy. In this novel , Paul Berlin admires Cacciato, a runaway soldier, for his independence, happiness, and courage, so he lives Cacciato’s adventure of fleeing from war to Paris in his fantasy. Paul Berlin and Cacciato are opposites in the sense that Cacciato is a figment of Paul Berlin’s fantasy of what he would have done if he were more independent, happy, and courageous. Had Paul Berlin been as independent, happy, and courageous as his fantasies about Cacciato’s adventure, he would have been likely to flee the war himself because he sees fleeing war as a positive thing.

Paul Berlin fantasizes being Cacciato and his journey to leave the war because he wishes he were as independent as Cacciato in his fantasy. Cacciato does not care about what other people think of his actions, he does what he truly wants to do. Even though walking to Paris is an absurd idea, Cacciato disregards that and continues his trail to Paris. “Shout it. Shout to me that it is stupid and impossible to walk to Paris.”( Colonel pg. 231) shows that the Colonel is aggravated with the absurd idea of walking to Paris. Paul Berlin dreams about being Cacciato and not caring about societal opinions. Had Paul Berlin had this sense of independence, instead of being locked in the circle of war or staying in an observation post every day, he would have been closer in having the motivation in fleeing to Paris.

Cacciato is a happy young man, of which Paul Berlin admires him for. Being in war is never a happy thing, and Paul Berlin certainly does not enjoy it either; “No one ever learned his real name. Certainly no one ever remembered it.” (pg. 146). Paul Berlin feels like he is only a soldier and nothing more because that is what he and everyone else in war is trained to be. This causes a loss of happiness, of which Cacciato still has.

“ It is easy, of course to fear happiness. There is often complacency in the acceptance of misery… It is another to act in behalf of our dreams, to treat them as objectives that are achievable and worth achieving. It is one thing to run away from happiness; it is another to take action to realize those qualities of dignity and well-being that are true standards of the human spirit” (pg. 317).

After being told that it is easy to fear happiness, Paul Berlin thinks deep inside himself that he truly does fear happiness; as he has been so long without it. Cacciato, on the other hand, is a happy boy who just cares about reaching Paris. Cacciato does not let war drag his spirit down because as long as he knows he is doing what he feels is right, he is happy. He dreams of being this happy, of which could lead to the fleeing to Paris.

Unlike popular belief, Paul Berlin sees fleeing war as being an act of courage. He admires Cacciato for being brave enough to flee the war, as Paul Berlin himself fears the consequences of fleeing.

“ He smiled. It would make a fine war story… Desertion, wasn’t that what it boiled down to? Didn’t it end in jail, the stockade? What about the laws? Illegal entry, no documents, no military orders, no permits for all the weaponry? What about police and customs agents?”(pg. 125)
Paul Berlin makes up his story of Cacciato fleeing war to Paris as a way of fantasizing how things would turn out is he would have been courageous enough to flee. Cacciato is the opposite of Paul Berlin because Paul Berlin fantasizes about what could have happened on an imaginary adventure through being courageous enough to flee to Paris.

Paul Berlin and Cacciato are opposites in the sense that Cacciato is a figment of Paul Berlin’s fantasy of what he would have done if he were more like Cacciato. Had Paul Berlin been as independent, happy, and courageous as his fantasies about Cacciato’s adventure out of the war, he would have been likely to flee the war himself because he sees fleeing war as a positive thing. Paul Berlin is a sad soldier stuck in war. Cacciato is a young man whose heart leads him elsewhere; to Paris and away from the war. Although Paul Berlin is also a young man, he is stuck in the grey shadows of the gloomy war, much of which is spent alone on an observation post. He fantasizes of the wonderful possibility of fleeing to Paris and escaping the torturous horrors of war.