20. Final Thoughts

I am surprised of a few minimal loose ends that were not tied up. First, What happened to Martha and Cross? Did he ever get O’Brien to write his story, or was this book what he wanted? When and how did O’Brien finally leave Vietnam? Did he fix his friendship with Sanders? Finally, what happened to the rest of the men?
Enough questions, now my actual thoughts. I am so glad I read The Things They Carried after The Sun Also Rises. I would have been disappointed in Hemingway’s novel, after this book that I could not set down. I think this novel really caught my interest because it dealt with United States history and it really went into depth of being a soldier in Vietnam. It was not the aftermath of the war, but the event itself. The novel presents the lives of the forgotten soldiers, not just the dead. After finishing, I talked to my dad about the novel and Vietnam itself (we enjoy discussing US history). He said that the soldiers who returned home from Vietnam did no receive the credit they deserved because so many Americans were against the war. After hearing this, I want to extend O’Brien’s intentions for writing further. It was not just the dead he wanted to live on, but also the legacy of the men who served the United States in Vietnam. I think it can even be extended to all American veterans, because I believe Elroy, from the beginning of the novel, represented soldiers from before Vietnam. The Things They Carried is something that will stick with me, especially the image of the book waiting on the shelf for the stories to live on. It makes death seem comforting because one can believe that their life will live on even after death.

19. Linda

After I finished the novel, I took a night to ponder the reasons for Linda. It seemed a little out of place in a book all about Vietnam and its effects. Yet, as I look back to the beginning of the chapter, with the actual dead Vietnamese man, I found a connection between the two. The men of Alpha Company are one with death by encountering the man physically, which in O’Brien’s early days of the war he did not understand. O’Brien understood encountering the dead in a different way, through his dreams. Trough his dreams, he would make her come alive and not make death such a horrible occurrence. However, when O’Brien is literally in contact with death he cannot bear it. This time, death is not a figment of his imagination. He cannot make this man’s body live again like with Linda. He has no memory of this man alive.
Yet, this gives him another reason to write, besides to release the things he carries. In his stories, the lives of the dead are not forgotten, just like the metaphor of a checked out book from the shelf (pg 232, O’Brien). In O’Brien’ story, they are not forgotten.

18. The Living Dead

“They didn’t disturb the body, they just grabbed the old man’s hand” (pg 214, O’Brien). Kiowa claims these acts are not decent, but this situation reminds me of Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead in Mexican culture (pg 215). On November 1, or the counterpart to Catholicism’s’ All Soul’s Day, the Mexican cities celebrate the deaths of their ancestors. They lay out altars with candles, and their relatives’ favorite food and items, ultimately inviting them back into the home. Also, they dress up, and dance to the cemeteries in the process of mocking death. By celebrating and finding humor in death they are accepting of their own fate. I am not arguing that Alpha Company’s actions were not humorous and disrespectful, but I feel that at that moment they were one with the dead. They were fighting a war. Almost every chapter of the book revolves around death. These men had watched three other men in their platoon die. They were not blind to the idea, they knew it was a possibility, and somehow, they could accept it.

17. It Really Happened

On page twenty-one of chapter one, O’Brien writes about how men, in order to get themselves out of the war, consider injuring themselves. I never really thought it would happen to one in his platoon. Then again, there is a reason for everything, even this small inclusion of chapter one. Foreshadow. However, the men of chapter one do not ponder this decision more because they do not want to receive the nagging of their peers. Yet, the situation with Rat was different. His mind was not in the right place. I am sure that as a medic he could diagnose his own illness. By the final days of his stay in Vietnam, I am not sure he was fit to serve anyone. So maybe he not only did himself a favor but everyone else. Even O’Brien accepted it, and later, as a result, had to deal with the novice Jorgenson.

16. Child's Play

I find the chapter ‘The Ghost Soldiers’ ironic in several ways. First, O’Brien always expressed how young his platoon was and how sometimes they played games and acted immaturely. For example, the game surrounding Curt Lemon’s death or the jokes after Ted Lavender’s death. O’Brien makes himself seem like he is not a part of this foolishness. However, he is quite the opposite in this chapter. He acts like a child who did not get his way and wants revenge. Yet, the prank itself was not childish, for he targeted Jorgenson right in the heart of fear. Second, O’Brien is no longer a part of his platoon, and the man who made his life miserable has taken his place. After the months they spent together, in the wilderness, it is a surprise that such a bond diminished. Lastly, O’Brien ponders the idea of retuning to the ‘bush’ even though he is much safer now. He makes the ultimate fear of death come alive. The fact of knowing your life is in danger, which makes you accept everything about it. That feeling. However, in O’Brien’s situation I would be thinking that third time’s a charm. =/

15. Pun

The chapter titled ‘Field Trip’ has two separate meaning to its title. To Kathleen, visiting Vietnam was like a school field trip. Her introductory to exploring the world began with Vietnam. However, to O’Brien the return literally was a trip to the field. Not just any field, but the place where he was a soldier, but where his friend lost his life. The title field trip is a cover up for the real reason O’Brien wanted to return to Vietnam. Just like he hides the fact that he killed a man from his daughter, he titles this chapter gently so she may not encounter the circumstances of Kiowa’s death. He might have called it a field trip so his daughter would not understand the seriousness of the matter. That way her father could return to reflect and fulfill unfinished business.

14. Analogy

“The war was as remote to her as cavemen and dinosaurs” (pg.., O’Brien). This analogy not only reflects Kathleen’s view of the war, but a much larger population that includes O’Brien before he was a part of the war. At the time, the Vietnam War was a very complex event to grasp, and would especially be for a ten year old girl. Even after U.S. history, some forty years later, I find it one of the most complicated events of our country; it is like trying to wrap your mind around the origins of the earth, or mankind. As I learned in U.S. history, citizens at that time did not understand the war, so they did not accept it. We were fighting a war against communism, miles and miles away in the small country of Vietnam, once a French territory. If Vietnam would have been left alone it would not have directly affected the US. Yet, the United States was involved in the Cold Warm and a devout follower of the domino theory. However, all people could understand was we were losing, and the blood and gore was oozing into the family room on the television set.

13. Kiowa

Kiowa meant something to O’Brien. He wrote nearly four chapters on him. He also collected different perspectives on his death. Including the guilt of Bowker, Cross’ letter, and the actual event, and O’Brien’s own reflection in Vietnam. Ted Lavender did not receive this attention. He merely got five pages and a whole lot of laughing. O’Brien called Kiowa a best friend. Lavender does not even receive the ranking of friend. Yet, maybe Lavender’s death occurred early in the war. So he and O’Brien never had the chance to meet of maybe Lavender was not all there. The men said he used a lot of tranquilizers. All that matter is that O’Brien held Kiowa special to him. By lying Kiowa’s moccasins in the mud he not only left any guilt he felt for his death, but possibly other memories that haunted him. He was able to return to Vietnam willingly, instead of being forced.

12. Comparison

Like The Sun Also Rises, Bowker finds himself lost after the war just like Jake and his friends. Jake and his group wander from bar to bar while Bowker aimlessly drives around the lake. Each set finds their life revolving in a circle, with no resting point to find their place. O’Brien states that he found relief through writing and is an evident character in this story. Hemingway was also a war veteran and presents some of himself through Jake in his novel. Yet, like Bowker, Hemingway eventually committed suicide (wikipedia). So what is the difference? O’Brien was able to accept change, adapt to his post war world, and find relief in his writing. Was alcohol the effect on Hemingway? His novel does not end with his characters finding a purpose, so maybe he never found his purpose either. It just simply amazes me how two situations, from two different time frames can be so similar, but one finds his catharsis, and the other, not so much. What is the adage? Something about time is surely to repeat itself…

11. Diction

The quote “The routine, daily stuff-just humping, just enduring” brought me back the thoughts I had at the beginning of the novel when the two words were first introduced to us. (pg 135, O’Brien). There is an extreme difference between carry and hump. Carry seems to refer to the actual non-tangible emotions, feelings, memories, and burdens these men kept with them. On the other hand, to hump is the actual process of being in motion and carrying tangible objects. Carry has a larger meaning in that the word itself has to be used to describe to hump. But one would not use hump to describe carry. The word carry fits itself into the theme, because it is the actual memories that haunt these men weeks, months, and years later after Vietnam. Carry, is the reason O’Brien writes. Hump, as Bowker says is the daily stuff, not the ideas that follow you for a lifetime. Because of the abandoned feeling Bowker carries, he must hump to endure his daily life.

10. Life Goes On

Norman Bowker struggles to accept the fact that life simply goes on. While he was busy protecting his own life in Vietnam, the people of his town continued to work, play, and grow older. This situation reminds me of the movie Cast Away with Tom Hanks. After being stranded on an island for four years he returns from the dead to find his long time girlfriend married. Just like Bowker’s situation, nothing ever stops the world from revolving. Like the war in Iraq today, since it has no direct effect on us here, we never stop to truly pay attention to it. It is a part of our every day life, only subconsciously, hidden in the background. When Hanks returned to the states in Cast Away, he lost his ability to interact with others. I see this same characteristic with Bowker. He wants to tell his story, but he thinks no one will understand. So he continues in circles, in isolation. He refuses to interrupt his dad’s baseball game, and he will not even share his story with the guy at A&W who even asks twice for Norman to talk to him. Circles. Never ending.

9. What Tim O'Brien Carries

Like the rest of the war stories O’Brien carries the chapter, ‘The Man I killed’. This chapter states a burden O’Brien still carries today. By the repetition of the flaws to the man’s body and especially the star shaped hole, the reader can infer that this is a subject he ponders frequently. The guilt seems to seep through the pages as he tells the story of all this man could have been. This chapter clearly states the theme again. The past cannot be changed- there are things and memories we will carry until the day we die. O’Brien may not have been fond of sharing his escape to Canada with anyone, and the man he killed to his daughter. However, his courage, that courage he has been investing, shines through the pages of the book because he shares his deepest, darkest memories with anyone willing to read his work. Which, overall, shows an acceptance, a comfort with his past.

8. Six

Six. I am not exactly sure if it could be a motif, but the number appears quite frequently. It is like the bible and the number forty. The number six occurs in Mitchell Sanders’ story of the six man listening patrol, then again with the six greenies in Rat Kiley’s story. It should also be noted that Mary Anne arrived six weeks after Fossie requested her. So do I really believe the number six is important? Not so much. But I think it goes back to O’Brien’s thoughts on a story’s validity. When O’Brien first hears Kiley’s story, Mitchell Sanders was also listening. So, there is a connection between the two chapters. Mitchell Sanders’ story could possibly be based off of Kiley’s. There are six greenies who are sometimes at Rat’s base and sometimes gone for days. Sanders tells of six men who go into the silence of the mountains and hear music. It would not be the first time Mary Anne had sang. As Kiley says “In the darkness there was that flipped-out tribal music, which seemed to come from the Earth itself, from the deep rain forest, and a woman’s voice rising up in a language beyond translation” (pg 107, O’Brien). Sounds like music that was creepy enough to scare a six-man patrol because Mary Anne “…was ready for the kill” (pg 110, O’Brien).

7. Theory

O’Brien questions the validity of a true war story. As he focuses on Mitchell Sanders’ story, which seems skeptical, and provides examples of how to identify a true war story, one must not forget the story of Curt Lemon’s death. It is possible that O’Brien is using Sander’s story to distract the reader of the truthfulness of his story. One of his theories, for example, says, “often the crazy stuff if true and the normal stuff isn't” (pg 68, O’Brien). So let’s apply O’Brien’s theory to his own story. The craziness of Lemon’s death is that they were playing with smoke grenades and although they were soldiers, they were being immature and calling each other yellow mother. So, that has to be normal because it is crazy. Now, the normal; a man died in the war. Well, the normal and the crazy are both true. Without the crazy, the actual death would have never occurred. Maybe, it is not really about theory. It is not supposed to be taken literally. It is about perspective. Someone else analyzing this story might have found the large canopy trees crazy. Also, maybe it is a matter of whose perspective one hears the story from. O’Brien might have been looking directly at the action while Sanders was looking a way. All in all, it is a matter of what the person listening wants to believe. It does however prove one of my points. The novel’s stories have a deeper underlying meaning, which I do not believe has been revealed to the reader just yet, but the stories definitely bridge the chapters together, one after the other.

6. Another (Small) Theme

“[H]e avoided situations that might put the two of them alone together. Eventually, after a week of this, the strain began to create problems” (pg 60, O’Brien). There was no time for Lee Strunk and Dave Jensen to argue over such a juvenile matter. If the argument would have lasted any longer, it could have had the ability to split the rest of t he platoon. This deems unnecessary in a war where they need to be united to not be defeated by a larger force. It is too bad Strunk was injured after they became friends, but good that their fight did not lead to the death of others. On the same topic of life and death, Jensen lucked out in not having to make the decision to Strunk’s life. In a war that abounds in death the decision of life over a promise seems to be the best choice a friend could make. Overall, unity and life seem to be the best decisions in carrying oneself out of the war alive.

Symbol/Mood/Suspense

O’Brien’s writing style is decadent like Dove chocolate (sorry, I’m hungry). Throughout chapter four I was curious as if he really would escape into Canada. At the ultimate climax of the chapter, O’Brien writes, “I can still feel that tightness. And I want you to feel it-“(pg 54, O’Brien). That line exemplifies how powerful his writing style is. When I finished the chapter I truly could feel the tightness in my chest as he described the hallucination of all the people watching, judging. The rhetorical questions asked not only make multiple statements, but also ask me if I could give up everything. It was a choice I could never imagine, leaving my home, family, and facing possible death. O’Brien asked for emotion and he achieved it. I could feel the chills as I finished the chapter. The mood and the suspense, all thrown together as one create a chapter capable of so many emotions. And to think, it was Elroy who saved him from disgrace. This wise, older figure, which through his few words acted as O’Brien’s epiphany is also a symbol of hope, change and represents all the past American soldiers and veterans. He reminds me of that insert of the hero cycle. The exact present idea O’Brien flees from.

4. Tone/Theme

I have created two early tones for the novel. First, nostalgic, which is really simple, because O’Brien is telling of his time in Vietnam, but bringing us to present day with his own narration. My second tone is restlessness. I feel O’Brien has all these stories in his mind that he is trying to jot on paper. I especially sense this when he mentions his daughter saying he is obsessed with his war stories. I can imagine O’Brien being the type of person who struggles to sleep at night because he constantly is getting up to write this novel. Also, this goes back to a first person narrator. O’Brien writes what he knows. Like he said, he cannot write about a little girl winning a million dollars and buying a horse. The thoughts he carries are of his time in Vietnam. This idea is reminiscent of the theme. O’Brien carries his memories, which he must write about. Cross still carries the burden of Lavender’s death. All of these create a theme. These thoughts and emotions are aspects carried through life. The past cannot be forgotten or changed; it can only be carried and lived through the present into the future.

3. Frame

The Things They Carried almost has a frame story structure to it. There is the story of O’Brien and his present life, where Cross visits him. Then, he begins telling a story of Vietnam. I mean literally in chapter two O’Brien is talking about his current life where Cross visits him, and then Cross starts his story about Martha. My current opinion? I am not sure stories could be a symbol, but I am sure noticing some repetition. Initially, after reading chapter two, I thought this story was going to center on Lieutenant Cross; his love life, and surviving Vietnam, a biography written in the perspective of one of his soldiers in first person. Yet, as chapter three continues, I learned that O’Brien is indeed our narrator and it is almost an autobiographical. However, it is not all about him. It is about he and each man he dedicated this book to. How these men live through Vietnam, after, into the present, and the things they carried along the way.

2. Point of View

Like The Sun Also Rises, The Things They Carried begins with an omniscient point of view, but then switches to a first person point of view. However, The Sun Also Rises quickly switches to its first person narrator while The Things They Carried continues as third person omniscient through twenty pages. The only hint of a first person narrator is the reference of "...the guy's dead. I mean really" (pg 12, O'Brien). After that, there is no other reference of first person point of view until the beginning of chapter two. The omniscient narrator allows the reader to be fully emerged into the Vietnam War and it's characters without worry of an opinionated narrator. Which if one looks at the time period of the Vietnam war, it was a very opinionated era in United States history. The omniscient narrator almost clearly expresses that 'this really is what happened to Ted Lavender. I am not making this up'. It also provides a good background of the journey the reader is soon to embark on. The question that remains is who is our first person narrator? My guess, the author himself, O'Brien.

1. Juxtaposition

There are many aspects juxtaposed throughout chapter one. Beginning with the death of Lavender, Lieutenant Cross now had "...something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war"(pg 16, O'Brien). This stone, in his stomach, is juxtaposed with Martha's stone. If it was not for Martha, this new burden would not be present. The two stones lead to more juxtaposition. Before Lavender's death, Cross loved Martha, but now he hates her, yet, loves her. Love versus hate. But wait, there's more! Also juxtaposed are what the men carried and their real situation in Vietnam. O'Brien does a marvelous job of breaking into the war's actions to explain indepth the characteristics of the men, their emotions, and wants and needs through the aspect of 'what they carried'. There is also a contrasting of life and death- as shown through Ted Lavender and the war itself. Finally, which I believe all the other juxtaposed items could fall under, there is the ultimate topic of life in Vietnam (their world) and the real world. Both worlds are one, but there is a difference between peace at home, and war in a foreign land. Without this large juxtaposition, none of the others would exist. Because without war there is no death, hate, burdens to bear, or another world to carry on in.

The Things They Carried

I was able to finish this book on my vacation (2 weeks ago), and write all my blogs in a notebook (ha..no computer). Now it's just taking the time to transfer them over...