1. Why does Rat Kiley kill the baby water buffalo
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.

2. Why does Rat Kiley kill the baby water buffalo
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.

3. Why does Rat Kiley kill the baby water buffalo
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.

4. Why does Rat Kiley kill the baby water buffalo
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.

5. Why does Rat Kiley kill the baby water buffalo
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.