The Things They Carried: In the Field

I think that it was very noble and honorable for Lieutenant Jimmy Cross to make sure that Kiowa's body was found and sent home after he died.It was so respectable for Kiowa's fellow soldiers to put so much effort into searching for him and recovering his body. He and the rest of his platoon could have simply forgotten about Kiowa. They could have moved forward and gone on with the war. Taking that path would have been so much easier, but the soldiers knew that Kiowa deserved better. I think that everyone there was so passionate about finding Kiowa's body and sending it home because he was such a good person. Like I mentioned in one of my previous blogs, Kiowa was a smart, kind, and decent soldier and friend throughout the course of the entire war. It was sad to see him go, but it was comforting to know that his body was safe now and that his family would have closure. Kiowa was always doing the right thing, and I think the soldiers who recovered his body that day were repaying him by doing the right thing as well.

"...but he was now determined to find his man, no matter what, even it it meant flying in slabs of concrete and damming up the river and draining the entire field. He would not lose a member of his command like this. It wasn't right."

The Things They Carried: Speaking of Courage

Even though it was hard for him, Tim O'Brien put a great deal of effort into writing a piece that would truthfully tell Norman Bowker's story. This task would not have been easy for anyone to take on. Having to think back and remember the death of his other friend Kiowa must have been such a hard thing for O'Brien to do. I think that it was a very honorable thing for Tim O'Brien to put the time into editing and rewriting the story after hearing Bowker's reaction to the initial piece. After Bowker passed away, O'Brien could've taken the easy way out and left the story as it was. He could have forgotten about what Bowker had said and moved on to other things. Maybe no one would have known the difference. But because he valued the opinion of Norman Bowker so much and had respect for the man in general, O'Brien worked to make the story better. I think O'Brien shows how good of a friend he is by making sure that his comrade and friend Bowker had a voice even after he was gone.

"Now a decade after his death, I'm hoping that "Speaking of Courage" makes good on Norman Bowker's silence." -O'Brien

The Things They Carried: Kiowa

I know this is a book about war, but I hate how the characters that I like all end up dying. When O'Brien went back to the time when Kiowa died, it was so depressing not only because I like Kiowa, but I also like Norman Bowker too. I was so sad to hear about Kiowa passing away in the book because I thought he was a genuine person and a very good friend. In my opinion, he was a kind and decent person throughout the whole war. When O'Brien killed the man from My Khe, Kiowa was there for him and supported him. Kiowa talked him through it and never left his side. While Azar was making rude and uncalled for comment about the body, Kiowa helped O'Brien understand that he made the right decision and reminded O'Brien that they were in a war. Kiowa was sympathetic and considerate of how O'Brien was feeling after the shocking situation. He was a true friend to O'Brien, even during the hardest times in O'Brien's life when he needed Kiowa the most.

The Things They Carried: Norman Bowker

It made me so sad when I read that Norman Bowker hanged himself in 1978 at a YMCA. I wonder if his family even knew he felt so helpless and alone. It's so depressing to me that war can impact a person in such a negative way. I can't understand how soldiers come home from war and feel like they don't have a purpose in life or feel lost. How can going home make a person feel lost? I also don't understand how some soldiers make the transition from fighting war to coming home so easily while others struggle daily with the issue. I'm pretty sure that Norman Bowker struggled with the fact that he couldn't save his friend Kioawa, but at least he tried to help him. I understand that watching your friend die after doing everything you could to save them is a very traumatic experience, but I just wish that Bowker didn't feel like suicide was his only way out. Grief and depression are two very strong emotions, and it's awful to hear about times when they take over a person like Bowker and ultimately end their life.

The Things They Carried: The Dentist--Curt Lemon

"The dentist couldn't find any problem, but Lemon kept insisting, so the man finally shrugged and shot in the Novocain and yanked out a perfectly good tooth."

The things that people will do for pride. How far will a person go to boost their ego or salvage their dignity when it wasn't in danger in the first place? It's amazing to me sometimes to see how uncomfortable people are with their flaws or shortcomings. Apparently, some people are willing to go through the pain and suffering to do so. In Curt's circumstances, it's almost funny that he went to such extremes when everyone else let the situation go. He was too focused on being a macho man and covering up a small weakness. I don't understand why he beat himself up about something so insignificant. I guess he was just too proud. But, I think that the people with the most strength and courage don't try to cover up their weaknesses. I have the most respect for the people who know themselves and accept themselves for who they are. If you use your strengths to the best of your ability and work to improve your weaknesses, I think you're the best person you can be.

The Things They Carried: Juxtaposition-Page 151

"...from Vietnam to graduate school, from Quang Ngai to Harvard, from one world to another."

Compared to many soldiers who come back from war and aren't sure what exactly to do with their lives, Tim O'Brien had it pretty easy. His switch from "war to peace" was a fairly simple one. I think it's amazing that he was capable of coming home and just moving on with his life. I give him a lot of credit for such a hard thing to do. But as he describes his goodbye from war to his return to normalcy, O'Brien uses juxtaposition. The purpose of this is to show how truly different these two parts of his life were from one another. His comparisons prove how much change he went through in such little time. O'Brien describes Vietnam and the United States as two different worlds. He makes me appreciate the fact that I haven't had to go through such a tough experience with such huge adjustments. Through O'Brien's one statement above, I understand that any person who hasn't experienced war for themselves cannot possibly fathom how different the two lifestyles can be.

The Things They Carried: Dialect-Page 139 &159

"I mean, we were camped in a goddamn shit field."
"Some lieutenant," "Camps us in a toilet. Man don't know shit."

With any book, there are many different types of characters and people. There are many ways in which a reader can distinguish characters in a story, but one way that stands out to me is dialect. When I am reading a book, dialect helps me learn more about the characters and their backgrounds. In Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, there are numerous types of dialects incorporated. Although this is true, the dialect of the soldiers who have fought in the Vietnam War stuck out to me and caught my interest the most. Just from reading some of the conversations of the soldiers who were with O'Brien, I feel like I have a better understanding of what life at war was like. I could sense the anger, frustration, and fear from the way they spoke. I could mentally picture how terrible and hostile the war could be at times, and I grasped how men who fight change because of it. Just through dialogue, I learned how influential and powerful war is and how it can affect every aspect of life. Looking at how these men talked to one another, I understand how war leaves its mark on people, even after it's over and done with.