The Things They Carried- blog 3 (pgs. 124-179)

In this section of reading, just the title of the first chapter struck me. Titled “The Man I Killed,” O’Brien writes about the death of My Khe. My Khe was a man that O’Brien had accidentally killed. He continuously describes My Khe for multiple pages and discussing what he was like before the war, what type of person he thought My Khe was, and what his future would be like had he not been killed. He questions every detail about My Khe’s life. One of the main reasons he inserted this specific story into the book was to prove to the reader how guilty he felt about the death of My Khe. My Khe died because of O’Brien, and O’Brien tells the story “The Man I Killed” to prove that he still has not forgotten about killing another man and showing the guilt he continuously feels.

The soldiers continuously feel remorse towards the happenings of the war. Even though they have years and years to put the bloody and stomach-churning memories in the past, they still do not have the ability to do it. A proof of this theme is on page 134, where Tim O’Brien writes, “Even now I haven’t finished sorting it out. Sometimes I forgive myself, other times I don’t. In the ordinary life I try not to dwell on it, but now and then when I’m reading a newspaper or just sitting alone in a room, I’ll look up and see the young man coming out of the morning fog.” O’Brien is continuing to describe how difficult it is to return to your original person after going through war. A good quotation about the war is “You’re already dead before you even go into war.” This statement fits perfectly with the book and one of the main themes. Being in the war basically kills whoever a person used to be and transforms them into a whole new human being, never being capable of returning to who they were before the war.

The chapter titled “Notes” was another slice of the book that relates to this topic. Norman Bowker was a soldier who had committed suicide after war, and he wrote letters before he passed away in which he complained about the war and what he had to deal with. On page 156, a polysyndeton is used in Bowker’s letter. The selection reads, “Guys sniveling about how they didn’t get any parades. Such absolute crap. I mean, who in his right mind wants a parade? Or getting his back clapped by a bunch of patriotic idiots who don’t know jack about what it feels like to kill people or get shot at or sleep in the rain or watch your buddy go down underneath the mud?” Nobody truly understands what war is like until they actually have to go to war. None of us have the ability to understand how much pain they endure, and that is one of the main purposes of “The Things They Carried.” One last part in this section of reading that seemed to stand out to me and correlate perfectly with this specific theme occurred on page 177, where the book reads, “When a man died, there had to be blame. Jimmy Cross understood this. 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..….. In the field, though, the causes were immediate. A moment of carelessness or bad judgement or plain stupidity carried consequences that lasted forever.” Even though you could blame a death of somebody on any other factor of the war, everyone still feels the guilt whether it truly was their fault or not. 

blog 2 (pgs 39-123) The Things They Carried

The author, Tim O’Brien, continues to inform the reader of stories and events that he endured during the Vietnam War. His stories continue to add to his purpose of writing the book, in order to inform citizens about the physical and emotional difficulties that a soldier encounters during a war.

To begin with, O’Brien discusses the story of when he was first drafted for the war. He was not particularly in favor of wars; especially having to fight in one that he does not even believe is worth fighting. How are you supposed to fight for your country when you don’t believe it is worth fighting? On page 44, after he found out that he would be drafted, he talks about how worried and afraid he is. O’Brien wrote, “Beyond all this, was the raw fact of terror. I did not want to die. Not ever. But certainly not then, not there, not in a wrong war… I imagined myself dead. I imagined myself doing things I could not do—charging an enemy position, taking aim at another human being.” Just the thought of having to be in the war scared him, so how is he expected to fight? He is already having fears of the war and he hasn’t even started fighting yet.

Around the same time as being drafted, O’Brien had a job at a meatpacking plant. On page 43 he writes, “At night I’d go home smelling of pig. It wouldn’t go away. Even after a hot bath, scrubbing hard, the stink was always there.” This particular line in the book seems to compare his job to the war. A soldier, no matter how hard they try, cannot erase the horrible memories and losses they experienced in the war. Similar to trying to erase the pig smell after work, it was impossible to erase the emotional hardships from the war. He mentions the pig smell again on page 53 and tells, “and how the smell had soaked into my skin and how I couldn’t wash it away.” He repeats this story and memory to once again help the reader understand how truly difficult it was for him to erase the memories—he couldn’t. They did not have the ability to be washed away.

On page 80, the author uses a polysyndeton, saying, “War is hell, but that’s not half of it, because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love. By using the polysyndeton, he creates the effect of the war dragging on and how many effects it truly has on a soldier. War is more than just fighting; it comes along with all of the aspects he listed.

One final part of this reading that seemed to strike me was the story about Mary Anne. The story was about a relationship between Mary Anne Bell and Mark Fossie. They began in love, but in the end their love did not work out. Mary Anne came to visit Mark while he was at war. One night, he realized that she was no longer around. He searched for her, but nobody could find her. Page 116 reads, “She [Mary Anne] had crossed to the other side. She was part of the land. She was wearing her culottes, her pink sweater, and a necklace of human tongues. She was dangerous. She was ready for the kill.” This story also helps those Americans who never fought in war how easily things will change. The war can change everything, including relationships. Mary Anne wasn’t even fighting in the war, but was still changed by it. Wars can change others besides just soldiers. 

The Things They Carried -- chapt 1-3

The first chapter, titled “The Things They Carried,” is self-explanatory. A great amount of the chapter discusses different men in the army and the things they carried, which ranges from weapons and equipment to personal possessions to the physical and emotional hardships that soldiers experience, especially in this specific war taking place in Vietnam.

Any person that has a duty in any type of battle or war normally encounters hardships or burdens. On page 21, the book reads, “They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing—these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight.” Much of this chapter discusses the difficulties of being a soldier and how much emotional pain they are put through while in war. The emphasis on the emotional hardships should foreshadow a major conflict or theme arising out of the difficulties and burdens the soldiers are put through.  Also, due to the book’s title, the reader can assume that the book discusses both physical and emotional “things” to carry. A line that should strike any reader also occurred on page 21, which states, “Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor.” This line should also help with foreshadowing since it discusses more problems and rough times that soldiers deal with in the war. They also carry each other by helping each other deal with the war. When the author lists all of the physical things they carried compared to the emotional things, it helps emphasize the emotional things.

The second chapter, titled “Love”, discusses the topic of how love can also be affected by the war. Martha and Lieutenant Cross had some romance going on, but their love was discontinued when the war went on. Lieutenant Cross consistently had hoped that their love would rekindle. A picture of Martha was one of the items that Cross carried. The entire situation between Martha and Lieutenant Cross also adds to the emotional burdens that soldiers carry. Love and relationships can be changed by the war also, adding to the other complications that these soldiers endured.

Chapter three’s main topic is mostly O’Brien discussing stories while he was at war. He tells multiple different types of stories, ranging from the positive memories of war to a few violent memories. The beginning of page 31 reads, “The war wasn’t all terror and violence. Sometimes could almost get sweet.” Also, page 35 states, “Not bloody stories, necessarily. Happy stories, too, and even a few peace stories.” Yet, at the end of chapter 3, the author reminisces on another story, saying, “I remember these things, too. The damp, fungal scent of an empty body bag…A hand grenade.” Violent memories will stick with those in the war. The emotional pain the soldiers endure will never go away. Stories are a major part of these soldiers’ lives. Page 38 reads, “and the war occurred half a life-time ago, and yet the remembering makes it now. And sometimes remembering will lead to a story, which makes it forever. That’s what stories are for. Stories are for joining the past to the future. Stories are for those late hours in the night when you can’t remember how you got from where you were to where you are. Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story.” Stories help the soldiers remember the good and the bad, and they become strong enough to tell the stories even after all of the pain they once encountered.