The Things I Carried

When I read this book, I carried a pen, a highlighter, and an analytical brain. I carried the soldier's fear and anxiety. I carried their pain and sorrow. I carried their jokes and laughter. I carried their friendship. I really enjoyed reading the book. I was so enthralled with the settings and the characters. I know I have said this a lot but it felt real. I normally do not read books about modern wars. I thought this book was going to be boring and I was going to hate it because of all the homework that went with it. I loved the book and I would definitely recommend the book for anyone who can appreciate good writing and a good story. I have never been in a war but "story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth", so I guess I can say I have been in a war.

Wounded in War

When Tim O'Brien gets shot the first time, Rat Kiley was there to take care of him. He gets better and there were no complications caused by the bullet. Rat Kiley shoots himself in the foot and is shipped off so Bobby Jorgenson takes over as medic. O'Brien gets shot the second time but is not treated soon enough. There were complications because he almost died from shock. He has to put a special cream on his butt because the wound was infected. He hated Jorgenson because of it. Jorgenson should have been there to help him after he was shot. It was what a medic is supposed to do. O'Brien plans his revenge and he does get Jorgenson back. I do not really think he hated Joregenson though. He was the blame for being shot. O'Brien was mad that it happened to him and he almost died because of it. When bad things happen, many people need something or someone to blame. It helps them feel grounded because they normally blame the cause of the event. People also do not like to blame themselves or admit to any faults so they blame someone else. O'Brien did not want to be in the war let alone be wounded because of it and this fuels his anger. Because of his previous speedy recovery, O'Brien compares Rat and Bobby even though Rat had been there longer and Bobby was new. People always seem to ask "why me?" when bad things happen to them.

Bored out of my skull

"If you weren't humping, you were waiting. I remember the monotony. Digging foxholes. Slapping mosquitoes. The sun and the heat and the endless paddies. Even in the deep bush, where you could die any number of ways, the war was nakedly and aggressively boring" (page 34). This reminded me that soldiers were not always going out and killing all the time. Reading this part made me think of Hawkeye Pierce from the t.v. show, MASH. Hawkeye was a surgeon and was drafted into the Korean War. He hates the war and all of the people who created the war and those who are supposed to end the war. He constantly says he is 'bored out of his skull.' While the 4077th waits for causalities, there is not much to do. He drinks, pulls pranks, and talks to nurses. Hawkeye's friend, B.J., says that war is an unorganized bore. It is true because the soldiers are limited to what they can do as they wait. They do not have televisions or phones in the bush.

Not in the plan

"In June of 1968, a month after graduating from Macalester College, I was drafted to fight a war I hated" (page 40). I often like to imagine what my future life will be like. Becoming a Senior is exciting and I keep thinking that this will be my last year in high school. I will go to college and declare a major. Once I finish college, I will get a job. Then maybe I will get married and raise a family. This was probably the thought process of most people before they were drafted in the war. Some people may not have planned on going to college but once they were out of high school, they would have a job. A war was not in the plan. They had to postpone their hopes and dreams to fight a war they may not have believed in. I cannot imagine going to college, graduating, and then going to war.

Fact or Fiction?

I knew before I started reading the book that it was a work of fiction. As I was reading the book, it felt real. It is not until page 179 that the reader is informed that none of it is real except that Tim O'Brien is a writer and he was a foot soldier. O'Brien makes it confusing for the reader by creating a character with his real name. He further confuses the reader by making the character O'Brien write the same books that the author wrote in real life. It made me think everything was true. "I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer than happening-truth" (page 179). Those two lines tell why O'Brien made a character with his name. I had never read a story about the Vietnam War. I really enjoyed reading the book and it was easy to read. I would read page after page before realizing I forgot to underline and highlight key points. It helped me understand about the life in a war zone. The characters were so realistic and had such complex personalities. The characters in the story are unforgettable.

Transition

Reading about Norman Bowker reminded me of how the soldiers are expected to carry on with their lives after the war is over. They cannot go on with how they were living before because of the traumatic events that happened in the war. It reminded me of Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings. He leaves his home, the Shire, to destroy the Ring. When he finally does, he returns home but cannot adjust to his old life so he leaves Middle-Earth. Norman felt guilty for letting go of his friend, Kiowa. He said, ..."there's no place to go. Not just in this lousy little town. In general. My life, I mean. It's almost like I got killed over in Nam... Hard to describe. That night when Kiowa got wasted, I sort of sank down into the sewage with him... Feels like I'm still in deep shit" (page 156). He could not go on with his life. He still couldn't get over his guilt and he was left grieving for his friend. Many soldiers come back from war with drug addictions or alcohol addictions. It is not surprising because the soldiers have to deal with so much. Many couldn't handle. Norman Bowker later hangs himself. It was sad to know that he couldn't deal with it anymore. He could have had a long and happy life it not for the war.

Dead Man

When I read the part where Tim O'Brien kills for the first time, I thought I kept reading the same line over and over. Many lines were repeated but on different pages and I finally realized why. The description of the dead body was repeated over and over because the character kept staring at it. It reminded me of when I see a dead animal on the road and I really do not want to look but I find myself staring at it anyway. Tim O'Brien killed the man and he cannot get over the fact that the man was dead because of him. "The left cheek was peeled back in three ragged strips" (page 124 and 128). "His one eye was shut and the other was a star-shaped hole" (page 126). "The star-shaped hole was red and yellow" (page 126). "One eye was shut. The other was a star-shaped hole" (page 130). I felt like I was accidentally reading the same part over and over because the lines were repeated so often. It felt like I was there, staring at the dead body with 'one eye shut and the other a star-shaped hole.' I could feel O'Brien's guilt and shock after killing the man. His conscience tortures him further by thinking about the man's life. He imagines why the man was there and who he was. He made the man seem like the good guy and he was the bad guy. He really knew nothing about the man but he felt terrible for killing him.

Grief

As I read the book, I would come to a part that simply shocked me. It was the part where Rat Kiley mutilates the body of a baby water buffalo. Curt Lemon had died and Rat was lost. I felt sick as I continued to read about various body parts being shot off of the buffalo. I did feel bad for the baby buffalo because it did nothing to deserve this kind of treatment. In the book, it said, "It wasn't to kill; it was to hurt" (page 79). It was disturbing. Rat was hurting and he had to hurt something else in return. The harshness of his actions scared me. I cannot even imagine killing an animal, though I have killed bugs and I even feel guilty killing them! He did not kill the animal directly though it would die because of the wounds. It would have been better if he killed it but he let it suffer.

Checkers

In the book, there were many phrases that stood out to me. It was about Norman Bowker and Henry Dobbins and how they would play checkers every night. "There were red checkers and black checkers. The playing field was laid out in a strict grid, no tunnels or mountains or jungles. You knew where you stood. You knew the score. The pieces were out on the board, the enemy was visible, you could watch the tactics unfolding into larger strategies. There was a winner and a loser. There were rules" (page 32). I know that is a really long quote but I couldn't cut anything out because it all captures what Vietnam was not. The soldiers did not have a clear enemy. The enemy wore no uniform. There was guerrilla warfare which made anyone a possible threat. There are supposed to be rules to wars but the rules are often broken and go undetected. In a game of checkers, if the opponent cheats, it can be more easily caught. When Vietnam was over, there was an unclear end. Like the war in Iraq, there will be no clear winner or loser.

Hyperbole

"... the stiff thump of the bullet, like a fist, the way it knocks the air out of you and makes you cough, how the sound of the gunshot arrives about ten years later..." (page 191). I have noticed, on several different occasions, that many bad events happen in slow motion. Just a few days ago I went camping with my family and we were riding our bikes. We were riding along the road in the grass because there was a car coming. Once it passed, we transitioned back onto the road but there was a slight dip from the grass to the road. My sister lost control of her bike and I happened to turn around and witness her fall. I saw the way the handle bars turned as the bike slowly fell to the ground and the way her hands reached out to catch her fall. It was like slow motion. I just stood their watching, immobile and unable to help. It seemed like she took forever to reach the ground. She scraped her ankle and hands but she was okay. Many bad events happen in slow motion and I do not know why. The hyperbole lets the reader understand the shock of the bullet. A person gets shot and the shock of it blows everything out of proportion, like the time it took for the sound of the bullet to reach Tim O'Brien's ears.

Imagery

"Except for a few marshy spots along the river, everything was bone dry. No ghosts-just a flat, grassy field. The place was at peace. There were yellow butterflies. There was a breeze and a wide blue sky'' (page 181). The landscape in the book was so vivid. I felt like I had actually seen the field where Kiowa had died. It had seemed ominous and scary. It was dark and rainy and the men were miserable. When the character, Tim O'Brien, returns to the field, it seems very peaceful and calm. There were no visible signs that someone had died there in the war. The land had erased all evil memories at the site. With the use of imagery, Vietnam is clearly imagined and the book becomes reality. When I read a book with a clear description, I feel as though I am being transported into the book. The place becomes real and so do the characters.

Anaphora

Reading the part when Kiowa dies was depressing ( I could only read so much of the book at a time). I started thinking about all of the reasons why he died. The first reason I thought of was the war. He wouldn't have been there if he had not have been drafted. "You could blame the war. You could blame the idiots who made the war. You could blame Kiowa for going to it. You could blame the rain. You could blame the river. you could blame the field, the mud, the climate. You could blame the enemy" (page 177). The phrase, "You could blame", is repeated to show that in a war, there are many factors that contribute to one event. All in all, there seems to be no one and nothing to blame because of the countless factors. One person or thing cannot fully take the blame. The phrase becomes redundant and I finally thought that the reason will never be known why Kiowa died.

Symbol

"I [Rat Kiley] mean, when we first got here-all of us- were were real young and innocent, full of romantic bullshit, but we learned pretty damn quick. And so did Mary Anne" (page 97). Mary Anne is a symbol of all of the soldiers sent over to Vietnam. When they first arrive, they are not prepared for the life in a war zone. They are "green". They do not know exactly what to expect and they have to adjust. When Mary Anne arrives, she begins to quickly adjust to the life there. She learns about the Vietnamese and the land. She also begins to change because of the war. She had planned on marrying Fossie and having three kids and so on but she changes her mind. She begins to go on ambush missions with the Greenies. Eventually she disappears. She is a symbol for all of the soldiers who go to war and come back different people. Mary Anne changed and she would never be the same person ever again. All of the soldiers who go to war come back changed.

Paradox

"War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling; war is drudgery. War makes you a man; war makes you dead." "But in truth war is also beauty" (page 80). When I first read this, I refused to believe that"war is also beauty." I did not understand what was meant by it. I read further as O'Brien describes why it is beauty. The mind hates the whole idea of war, but the events and outcome of the war is fascinating. He describes it, "like cancer under a microscope" (page 81). The cancer is amazing because it has the power to take life, but it is sad because someone must suffer because of it. War is powerful and as a result of it, lives are altered and many lost. After an attack and a soldier is not dead, there is a sense of happiness and pleasure in the mere fact that death was evaded. "... you're never more alive than when you're almost dead" (page 81). This paradox makes the reader examine life in a war more closely. I felt the exhilaration of being alive when the soldiers survived an attack. It made me think about who and what I loved in this world and all that I take for granted in my life.

Rhetorical Question

In the beginning of the book, Tim O'Brien thinks back on the day where he almost jumped off the boat to reach Canada to avoid the draft. He describes what the shore looks like and the trees and bushes and I was thinking to myself "Just Jump Off the Boat!" Then I read the questions, "What would you do? Would you jump? Would you feel pity for yourself?" (page 56). Then I really thought about it. I probably would not have jumped. I would be too scared to leave my family and live in a foreign place all alone. I would feel sorry for myself and ask why it was happening to me. I would cry just as the character did. The question, "What would you do?", allowed me to put myself into Tim O'Brien's shoes so I could feel what he was feeling. Some people may say they would have jumped but it is true? The Rhetorical question allows the reader to put themselves into the situation and understand why the character does not jump.

Antithesis

"Rather, they were too frightened to be cowards" (page 23). "I was a coward. I went to war" (Page 61). Most people think that going to war is a courageous, not a cowardly one. In the book however, it states that going to war is cowardly. The brave action would be to desert the army which ultimately saves many lives. It saves the life of the person and all of those the person might be forced to kill. Tim O'Brien (author) states that a coward goes to war so a brave person would not. There are too many lives lost in senseless wars. O'Brien uses the antithesis to show the difficulties of choosing to answer to the draft or reject it. If a person rejects it and runs away, the person will be shunned by society and they cannot return to their home or family. If the person goes to war, the person could die. There isn't much of a choice.