Things They Carried by Tim O\'Brien

Tim O'Brien's the Things They Carried

The most shocking aspects of the novel, The Things They Carried, are the graphic descriptions and the striking honesty with which Tim O'Brien employs to describe the devastating effects of war. Several stories are written with an honesty that reveals the horrors of war as well as the frailty of the human spirit. The most moving of these stories are "The Man I Killed" and "The Sweetheart of Song Tra Bong."

Perhaps one of the most shocking stories is "The Man I Killed." This story is written in first person narrative and the most compelling aspect of the story is the fact that the narrator never speaks. This effect emphasizes the shock of killing someone, even if it is an act of self-defense. The narrator cannot takes his eyes off of the enemy soldier. For instance, the beginning of the story describes "His jaw was in his throat, his upper lip and teeth were gone, his one eye was shut, his other eye was a star-shaped hole" (O'Brien 124). The narrator notices every detail about the soldier, including his "bony legs, narrow waist" and "long shapely fingers" (124). He notices his sandals and the gold ring on the third finger of his right hand. The sight of the man and the reality of his death are overwhelming for the narrator.

Recognizing details about the dead soldier cause the narrator to think of what kind of life that the soldier had before his death. The narrator imagines the young boy being taught to defend the land, even though the thought of fighting "frightened him. He was not a fighter. His health was poor, his body small and frail. He liked books. He wanted someday to be a teacher. He hoped that Americans would go away" (125). As the narrator watches the soldier's body decompose, he still cannot stop thinking of the kind of life the soldier lived. He imagines that the soldier "devoted himself to his studies. He spent his nights alone, wrote romantic poems in his journal" (128). This image allows us to understand how the narrator was struck by killing a man. Suddenly, the dead soldier was not just a soldier; he was a man with hopes and dreams just like the narrator.

This story is also powerful because it takes place in just a few minutes of time. However, these few moments change the narrator's life in a way that is beyond words. The narrator's friend, Kiowa, tries to get him to talk about it, but the narrator cannot speak. The narrator's inability to speak and take his eyes from the corpse represents the unspoken horrors that men experience while in war.

Another story that describes the brutality of war is "The Sweetheart of Song Tra Bong." This story illustrates how anyone can become a victim of war. Mary Anne Bell goes to visit her boyfriend and decides never to return to civilized life. What is the most striking about Mary Anne is the contrast in her character at the beginning and end of the story. Mary Anne arrives in white culottes and a "sexy pink sweater" (90). Mary Anne is curious about the land and the people. We are told she picked up on things fast.

For instance, the narrator says, "She wasn't afraid to get her hands bloody. At times, in fact, she seemed fascinated by it. Not the gore so much but the adrenaline buzz that went with the job" (98). She was not afraid of anything and "quickly fell into the habits of the bush. No cosmetics, no fingernail filing. She stopped wearing jewelry, cut her hair short and wrapped it in a dark green bandanna" (98). Mary Anne also begins to go on ambushes with the Green Berets. Mary Anne becomes a victim of the way in a strange way. She, unlike most individuals, does not want to leave it. She tells the others:

Sometimes I want to eat this place. Vietnam. I want to swallow the whole country -- the dirt, the death -- I just want to eat it and have it there inside me. That's how I feel. It's like... this appetite... When I'm out there at night, I feel close to my own body, I can feel my blood moving, my skin and my fingernails, everything, it's like I'm full of electricity and I'm glowing in the dark -- I'm on fire almost -- I'm burning away into nothing -- but it doesn't matter because I know exactly who I am. (111)

Again, the striking thing about Mary Anne's story is something is practically beyond words. She was consumed by something outside of herself and forever changed as a result of it. The story ends with a description of Mary Anne's stark transformation. The narrator says, "She was wearing her culottes, her pink sweater, and a necklace of human tongues. She was dangerous. She was ready for the kill" (116). This statement illustrates an unusual force of war. Mary Anne was a victim of the war but she was probably never aware of that fact.