Emotional and physical burdens in Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried"

¶ … Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried"

The Things They Carried is an emotional narrative about several American soldiers serving together in the Vietnam War. The story is told to the reader in the second person, yet the reader can identify with each soldier as if he was telling the story himself. The reader is very quickly drawn into the home lives of each soldier and writer O'Brien briefly and simply describes the physical and emotional burdens that each soldier carries. In the first chapter of the book, O'Brien discusses each soldier and the Things They Carried in depth. He mentions war-related items, thoughts from home, emotions and disease. This gives the reader a very clear perception of what it may have been like to be a soldier during Vietnam.

Throughout this essay, O'Brien's meaning of the book, particularly what he intended for the reader to understand in the first chapter, will be outlined and discussed. Using a few quotes taken directly from the text, the story will be analyzed. Some of the questions that will be answered include the following:

1. What message was O'Brien trying to convey to the reader?

2. How was the narrative and plot described throughout the story and what makes readers want to read further?

3. How do the material items that the soldiers are carrying relate to their emotional feelings?

4. How does O'Brien provide a deeper insight to the lives of the soldiers within the text and how does the reader connect with the characters in the book?

Analysis

Tim O'Brien's the Things They Carried is narrated in the second person. The first chapter of the book allows the reader to get to know the men in the war. This narrative is very interestingly written in a way that speaks about the soldiers in the second person, but allows the reader to see things through each man's point-of-view. In the descriptions of what each man is carrying, O'Brien is able to describe both physical items, as well as a non-physical burden. All men are carrying fears, hopes and dreams, each relying on their own individual personalities. That being said, all men are carrying material items that represent each man individually, as well as emotional scars, which prove to be a burden.

Author O'Brien speaks a great deal about soldier Ted Lavender in the first chapter. The reader gains an understanding of Lavender's fear, learning how the man carried tranquilizers, which he frequently used until his death. Even though the author alludes to the fact that Lavender will die early in the text, he continues to describe Lavender and the other men. That being said, when Lavender is described as dying suddenly on page 13, the reader feels the same sense of shock that the other soldiers must have felt. Even before describing his death, O'Brien points out that Lavender is scared, so he carries the physical burden of additional ammunition. This fact is important in the description of his death, because the man falls like a great weight after being shot in the head. This part of the book very early on captures the reader's attention:

"Lavender is very scared, so he carries a great deal of ammunition, and when he is shot he falls heavily and suddenly."

This short sentence regarding Lavender's death is short and simple, yet it holds a great deal of emotion and the reader can identify with Lavender and how he must have been feeling, especially when the reader comes to the realization that Lavender is dead. Readers have not gotten very far into the plot yet, but just like in a war, the reader has become extremely attached to all of the men who are being described.

Both Kiowa and Bowker are both deeply affected by Lavender's death, even though neither man wants to admit it. Kiowa is there and witnesses it, so he is obviously traumatized. Bowker, who carries the thumb of a dead Vietnam soldier and would like to believe that he is tough and unfearful, won't admit that Lavender's death bothers him. Kiowa wants to talk about Lavender's death repeatedly, going over it all again, but Bowker wants Kiowa to stop talking about it. After Kiowa finally stops talking, Bowker realizes he can't stand the silence and demands Kiowa tell the death story anyway. Bowker is using the thumb and his hardened personality to try to hide the things he is truly feeling. He is not unaffected by the death and killing around him, but he would like his fellow soldiers to believe he is immune to it all. This description of Bowker's personality could be said for all the soldiers. This is evident in this passage:

"Usually the men are brave, but sometimes when they are being attacked they become terrified and cry and scream and make promises to God. They are ashamed afterwards."

This passage connects all of the soldiers, because it does not single any one out. It is a good description of pure human nature and is completely normal. No matter who they are, most soldiers become fearful of the war they are about to enter at some point in their life. Many refuse to admit this, but that doesn't make it untrue.

Conclusion

In Krajek's paper, the Things They All Carried: Discovering Theme through Imagined Stories of Votive Offerings, Krajeck talks about hearing author Tim O'Brien speak in 2004 at the University of Akron. Krajek points out that what she took from O'Brien's lecture was the fact that a fiction author can help the reader connect with the story in reality, even if the story is not true. "His lecture's overarching message illustrated his belief that fiction, while a product of a novelist's imagination and not true in the literal sense, gets closer to the meaning of emotional and spiritual truth" (Krajek, 2009).

The Things They Carried is a fictional story, but it is written by a man who experienced a war and though the men O'Brien talks about in the story are purely fictional, O'Brien is clearly basing these stories and the characters on men he served with. At some point in his 2004 lecture, O'Brien explains that imagination plays a role in how well a soldier sometimes accepts the truth of what has happened. It may become difficult to separate what happened to what seemed to have happened, O'Brien explained.

Tim O'Brien's the Things They Carried is very simply written, but his descriptions allow the reader to identify with each character and even though the characters are fictional, it is clear that O'Brien has been in a place similar to what he is describing in his book. The simplicity of the story allows the reader to clearly understand what O'Brien is talking about and so the reader does not lose interest quickly, as he or she might while reading other war stories. Both men and women tend to find O'Brien's account of Vietnam fascinating and interesting and all can see the deeper meaning in the book, particularly in chapter one.

As humans, we tend to carry material items with us, which represent our emotional sensibilities. A mother may carry a locket with her child's hair and a picture of her grandmother, a child may carry her favorite doll. These individuals are no different than a soldier being terrified of the war he's in and carrying so much additional ammunition that he himself falls hard, like a bullet, when he's shot in the head. Lavender may not have been a real character, but he and the other characters described in O'Brien's account of Vietnam represent soldiers in every war.