The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
Characters:
Tim O'Brien was the narrator and protagonist. He told the stories to deal with his guilt.
Jimmy Cross was the liuetenant for the Alpha squad. He always seemed nervous and was never confident.
Mitchell Sanders was a kind gentle person who was devoted to justice.
Kiowa was O'Brien's closest friend and died from drowning after a mortor blast.
Norman Bowker was one of the quieter men. The letter he wrote to O'Brien was to assist in the healing process.
Henry Dobbins is the big strong machine gunner. He seemed very plain and simple.
Bob "Rat" Kiley was the squads first medic who dies after the second time he gets shot.
Curt Lemon was a careless man who died while using a grenade to play catch with Rat Kiley.
Ted Lavendar was a young and scared soldier. He was the first man to die from the squad.
Azar was mean spirited and cruel, but breaks down in tears.
Bobby Jorgenson was the 2nd medic who kicked O'Brien in the head because he scared him.
Kathleen is O'Brien's daughter. In the story she was used as the naive outsider because she made O'Brien see the war from a whole new perspective.
Created at LetterPop.com
Caption
Conflicts:
Person vs. Person (Lee Strunk vs. Dave Jenson) They fight over a jackknife and Strunk gets his nose broken. They make a pact that if one of them is gravely wounded, the other kill him swiftly.
Person vs. Self (O'Brien vs. Self) O'Brien decides to try to run away to Canada. He spends a while at the Tip Top Lodge. One day the man takes him fishing and O'Brien freezes when he tries to swim to the other side.
Person vs. Society (O'Brian vs. Society) O'Brien doesn't want to fight in an unjust war. He feels like there is no reason to be in Veitnam. He is especially bothered by the killing of the young vietnamese soldier. "I survived, but it's not a happy ending. I was a coward. I went to war."
Caption
Setting:
The story takes place in both the late 1960's and the late 1980's in Vietnam and Massachusets.
Point of View:
Most of the stories are told from the first person, but a few stories are told from the third person.
Plot Line:
-
Recieves draft letter
-
Runs away to the border
-
Throws grenade and kills Vietnamese soldier
-
Ted Lavendar dies. "Oh s$#@, the guy's dead."
-
Strunk and Jenson make a pact
-
Lemon faints and begged to have good tooth pulled
Climax: The men have to deal with all the guilt of death.
Created at LetterPop.com
Theme:
The things the soldiers carried are both physical and emotional. Guilt, shame, terror, grief, and longing are the stresses of the emotional burdens. Almost every soldier carries something to remind them of a girlfriend or a past love. Dobbins carries a pair of pantyhose, while Cross carries only a picture. "Whenever he looked at the photographs, he thought of new things he should have done." Jimmy Cross also carries a compass and maps because he is responsible for the company. The men who survived carry the most guilt and confusion as to why they lived and others did not.
Created at LetterPop.com
Recommendations:
I liked the book a lot, but it was a bit confusing at parts. The story was not in logical order so you had to think about what happened at what time. So for my recommendation i would say its a definate read, but a bad idea for a project due to the story line.
Created at LetterPop.com