The Things They Carried
The Things They Carried is a narrative about a group of soldiers in the Vietnam War. Tim O' Brien tells the story form the second person point of view giving precise details of the emotions and the life of the soldiers during the entire period. The author provides the emotional, physical, and life struggles that the soldiers face, drawing the reader into the incidences of the narrative. This paper, therefore, will examine, analyze, and interpret the texts in the novel the things they carried.
O'Brien's Depiction of Soldier's Burden
O’Brien overtly allows the reader to see the burden the soldiers had on their shoulders with repetition, imagery, and figurative language. The story laden with the theme of death, love, and hope talks of the war experience and the changing feelings the soldiers have each waking day of the war. True to its title, The Things They Carried, O’ Brien describes in detail the items each soldier carried including their emotional loads (Bloom, 121). Some of the items include ammunition, grenades, and pictures of their loved ones, pocketknives, chewing gum, mosquito repellent, and love letters (Bloom, 121). Throughout the account, O’ Brien uses the items as a point of reference to create emphasis to ensure the reader comprehends the physical as well as the emotional state of the soldiers. The items they carry are in great contrast since some represent reality while other objects represent their fantasy world. The pictures and the love letters acted as an escape from their reality in war. However, dwelling on the fantasy world led to a lot of destruction during the war stage. For example, Lieutenant Cross is obsessed with a letter from his lover Martha that leads to total negligence of his duty as the leader of the troop. The negligence leads to a lot of irresponsibility, and when one of the soldiers named Lavender dies Lieutenant Cross regrets his actions and fascination with the letter.
Chapter One: The Soldiers and Their Objects
The first chapter of the book is critical to the development and comprehension of the novel. The description of the objects each soldier carries defines their characteristics, fears, dreams, and hopes. For instance, O’Brien states that Ted Lavender had tranquilizers and additional ammunition. The statement shows that Lavender is a scared individual. He hopes that the additional ammunition will be a source of protection and the tranquilizer will help him be calm. The account by Obrien also depicts that Ted was not in the war on his own volition so he tries to hide his anxiety and fear through the ammunition he carries and the tranquilizers he pops each day.
Ted Lavender's Sudden Death
“Ted Lavender, who was scared, carried 34 rounds when he was shot and killed outside Than Khe, and he went down under an exceptional burden, more than 20 pounds of ammunition, plus the flak jacket and helmet and rations and water and toilet paper and tranquilizers and all the rest, plus the unweighed fear” (O'Brien, 6). In this sentence, O’Brien captures a lot of emotion and the physical state of Lavender. He posits that Lavender fell heavily on the ground; the heavy fall was due to the loads he carried. The heavy fall signifies the fall of his physical and emotional burden. His death freed him from the entire load he was carrying. The irony is evident in the sentence, despite the fact that he carried additional ammunition for protection he still died and the ammunition could not save him. O’ Brien describes Lavender’s death as sudden, since it was not expected and creates the mood of suspense for the readers and the characters in the storyline. The sudden death is a sudden loss that weighs on the attachment the soldiers had for each other and the attachment the reader has with the characters. O’ Brien tries to elucidate to the reader that death in war is sudden which jolts people into the reality of losing their close friends.
The Raconteur's Guilt and Fear
“This was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war.” (O'Brien,16). The sentence uses figurative language to describe the feeling the raconteur felt when Lavender died. For example, in this statement, the reader feels the guilt Lieutenant had when Lavender died due to his negligence. The figurative language hooks the reader to understand the decisions and the fear that the soldiers had during the war. Similarly, the sentence, “There were times of panic, when they squealed or wanted to squeal but couldn't, when they twitched and made moaning sounds and covered their heads and said Dear Jesus and flopped around on the earth and fired their weapons blindly and cringed and sobbed and begged for the noise to stop and went wild and made stupid promises to themselves and to God and to their mothers and fathers, hoping not to die” (O'Brien). He illustrates to the reader that even soldiers are normal people. They are afraid of death, they may appear tough, composed, and fearless, but they are still human beings who are traumatized by the deaths and the uncertainty of life in war zones.
Conclusion
In conclusion, The Things They Carried is a captivating story that talks about the life of soldiers in war. O’ Brien describes the soldier characteristics using the items they carry physically and emotionally. He employs the use of imagery and figurative language to show the struggles soldiers face, as well as the pressure war places on their shoulders. O’ Brien in the novel exemplifies that the items that the men carried were the biggest burden to them.
Works Cited
Bloom, Harold, ed. The Things They Carried. Infobase Publishing, 2009.
O'brien, Tim. The things they carried. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.
