Things They Carried and in the Field

¶ … Things They Carried and in the Field

The novel The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, is an episodic account of Alpha Company, a platoon of American soldiers and their experiences during the Vietnam conflict. We will focus on two chapters of the book, "The Things They Carried," and "In the Field." These are the only chapters in the book that are told from an omniscient point-of-view. Both of these chapters evoke the horrendous fear, sadness, stress, chaos, loneliness, and uncertainty of one's future brought on by active combat.

In the first chapter, "The Things They Carried," O'Brien works to bring order and comprehension into a chaotic and incomprehensible situation by spotlighting the burdens, both physical such as photographs, rations, weapons and their weights and so forth as well as the less tangible such as their memories, hopes, guilt, and stories. This device works well to give the reader an understanding of what the men endured and how they coped.

The first line first two lines "First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey. They were not lover letters, but Lieutenant Cross was hoping so he kept them folded at the bottom of his rucksack" (p. 3) suggests to the reader that Cross has an optimism about his future that helps him deal with the realities of the war.

The chapter describes the meaningless death of Lavender, a gentle soul who carries tranquilizers and premium pot, who is shot in the head after "going off to pee" (p. 12). It is a stark reminder of the absurdity of war and the ever present possibility of death. Norman Bowker carried a human thumb of a dead young Vietnamese to remind him of the "moral" of the story (p.14). Of course there is no logical moral to war. Bowler eventually kills himself.

Kiowa, an American Indian who carries a copy of the New Testament and is the most spiritual member of the company constantly describes Lavender's death. "Like cement…I swear to God -- boom, down. Not a word…A pisser, you know? Still zipping himself up. Zapped while zipping (p. 17). It is significant to note that Kiowa "wanted to share the man's pain, wanted to care as Jimmy Cross cared" (p. 18) but could not.

Lieutenant Cross bears the weight of the guilt for Lavender's death for he was thinking about Martha when it happened. He carries the responsibility for the men's well-being and as atonement he burns the letters and pictures she sent him and resolves to be a better leader. There was "a new hardness in his stomach" (p. 22-23). To me this is symbolic of his loss of hope. This is an inevitable consequence of the daily grind of war.

Later, in the chapter entitled "In the Field," Kiowa is killed by mortar fire during the night. The company is camped in a "shit field" and during the night a young soldier named Tim O'Brien switched on a flashlight to show Kiowa a picture of his girlfriend. "He remembered switching on the flashlight. A stupid thing to do, but he did it anyway, and he remembered Kiowa leaning in for a look at the picture -- 'Hey, she's cute,' he'd said -- and then the field exploded all around them (p. 192). Because of this he blamed himself for his friend's death, "…if I'd kept my mouth shut none of this would have happened. Like it was my fault" (p. 197).

Lieutenant Cross also carried guilt over the incident. "Tactically, he'd say it was indefensible ground from the start. Low and flat. No natural cover. And so late at night, when they took mortar fire from across the river, all they could do was snake down under the slop and lie there and wait" (p. 191).

It is the issue of assigning blame that dominates this chapter. When the boy solder tries to his lieutenant that it was his flashlight and the photo that led to the attack that resulted in the death Cross had already tuned him out. Floating in the field of shit, eyes closed he thought:

"When a man died, there had to be blame. Jimmy Cross understood this. You could blame the war. You could blame the war. You could blame the idiots who made the war. You could blame Kiowa for going into it. You could blame the rain. You could blame the rain. You could blame the river. You could blame the enemy. You could blame the mortar rounds. You could blame people who were too lazy to read a news paper, who were bored by the daily body counts, who switched channels at the mention of politics. You could blame whole nations. You could blame God. You could blame the munitions makers or Karl Marx or a trick of fate or an old man who forgot to vote" (p.198-199).