Summary:
"The Things They Carried" is the story about Cross's company, Alpha company, in the US army and what his fellow soldiers used to carry in war on their missions. The things they carried were according to the preference and size of each and every soldier in the company.
Medha Kaushik
English105
Paper 2
"The things they carried"
The things they carried revolves around the protagonist named Jim cross who also looks like the name given to the author of the story .The name Jim cross which Tim O Brien has used to mention his own experience in the war .Author used a term called as magical truth which is more true than the real truth .Magical truth is the story truth which Brien has made from his experiences because he is also a veteran from Vietnam war. The things they carried is the story about Cross's company, Alpha company, in the US army and what his fellow soldiers used to carry in war on their missions. The things they carried were according to the preference and size of each and every soldier in the company.
The First chapter "the things they carried" explains about the preference of soldier that what they preferred to carry some because of superstition and some because of need. Jim cross used to carry various reminders of her love named "Martha", he thinks of the prospect of her returning his love someday. This thing proves to be major distraction for him in the war also. The things they carry depend on several factors, including the men's priorities and their constitution. The machine gunner Henry Dobbins is exceptionally large, for example, he carries extra rations; because he is superstitious, he carries his girlfriend's pantyhose around his neck. In the things they carried they have shown some places that how US soldiers because of pressure of war became addicted to things like marijuana. Cross reaction to Ted Lavender's death shows how an experience of war can become a life long paining experience. In the second chapter again author has tried showing his personal experience to the extent he can show to the readers. This becomes clear when author says that Cross comes to meet him in Massachusetts. They discuss the situation when lavenders died and some good experience of Henry Dobbin who plays a comic role in the story. As Cross tells the author that he had a reunion with Martha it looks like the same experience author had when he came back from the war. I think Martha would have got married in the real life and author with the help of character Cross don't want to show that he was not one of rejected. There are occasions in the story when it looks that cross never met the author.
It looks like again when author says that Tim is 43 and he cannot forget the death of his friends like Curt Lemon. The things they carried explain the horrifying experience of a war and what happens to soldiers after that. In the chapter "On the rainy river" it becomes clear that author had an experience of war and he confesses some truths because of which he feels guilty even today. Author boldly tells that once he had a cowardly feeling of running away from war and he gave the explanation for that by saying that he wants to protest war but when he met Elroy Berdahl and lived with him for 6 days in Tip Top lounge he overcame his cowardly feeling. He finally went back home and finally to Vietnam for war. According to me author have shown these feelings because he wants readers to feel what was happening to him at that time so he can be relieved.
Brien have shown that how a soldier becomes different from a normal person, he mentioned a fight between Jensen and strunk .There was finally a written pact between them that if one is injured then other will kill him but when Strunk steps on mine, Strunk is injured and begs for his life .Jensen decides not to kill him but he is tension without caring about the life of strunk but later Jensen discovers that Strunk is decided and he is happy after that. This event shows that the meanness of mankind that how humans only thinks of their own happiness. Tim O Brien tells about another experience which he had when his friend Rat Kiley died and he wrote a letter to his sister but he never got a response back from her. I think Rat Kiley sister must have had some kind of shock because of which she was not able to respond.
In the next chapter "how to tell a war story" it looks like that author is making some of the stories to make the story realistic and this becomes clear when he says true war stories are true even if they never happened. He talked about story truth which is truer than the real truth. Author has shown relationship between soldiers and their woman in two chapters "Stocking" and "Sweetheart of the song Tra Bong." He explains how soldier values common thing as they are away from them. In most of the cases soldiers don't get the girl they loved even when they came back .I think author is trying to show the feeling he had when he came back from the war. "Man I killed "shows other feelings author, author says that he killed a man who was neither a communist nor a soldier and he had a feeling of guilt after that. He accepts the fact that he killed a person in the next chapter when he telling the story of war to his daughter "Kathleen" who is also a figure which is present to be the audience of Brien's story.
Most of the soldiers which were fighting in Vietnam war were generally very young so author have shown one of the example as "Azar" who is soldier and is laughing at the death of his friend "Kiowa" but later in the story author showed that how he changed and he has tried depicting the change which he must have seen when he was in Vietnam. The character "Kiowa" in the story looks like the character that died in Vietnam and that was one of the very first deaths of close one in front of Brien. There are 3 consecutive chapters in the book regarding "Kiowa" death. He has shown his feeling again .The book Things they carried shows the life of soldier especially those soldiers who came back from Vietnam war and when they came back after long time there was nothing left for them in their country. It looks like that the story is inspired from a soldier's life. Author in all the stories tried the readers to feel the same thing what he must have felt when he saw the scenes.
The final work in the book has very less to do with Vietnam War and it have more to do with the relationship between life and death. The character Linda he has shown in the story is to show his experience with life and death. It looks like an irony in the story that how can such an old person can fall in love with 9 year old girl Linda .Linda dies in the end of brain tumor which author have shown more tragic than the death of his colleagues.
O Brien is keeping things alive by making the character alive he don't want to forget the memories of war both good and bad .This is doing my making the characters alive in his thoughts. By this process O Brien makes his stories not only war stories but love and tragic story as well.
This is the complete article, containing 1,246 words
(approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page).
