The Things They Carried- Close Analysis

Kiowa’s death has a strange effect on many of the characters in The Things They Carried. Three people in particular “carry” the burden of guilt. All of them in their own way feel that if they had done just one thing differently, their friend would not have been lost, especially in the manner that he was. Jimmy Cross, Norman Bowker, and the “young soldier” are the characters who take on responsibility for Kiowa’s tragic ending.

Jimmy Cross, first lieutenant, is the leader of the men. That, in itself, makes him feel responsible for any death that occurs. The fact that he had followed orders to set up camp in a swamp, even against his own intuition, was what brings on this guilt, “Looking out toward the river, he knew for a fact he had made a mistake” (164). In being consumed with these thoughts, Jimmy composes a letter to Kiowa’s father. He accepts full responsibility for what happened, and “place[s] the blame where it belonged” (169).

Norman Bowker is probably the most affected by what happened. As a fellow soldier, Norman had been the one who attempted to pull Kiowa up from the “shit,” but ended up letting go, apparently losing the Silver Star. In the chapter, Speaking of Courage, Norman makes twelve revolutions around a lake in his hometown. He claims that “…when Kiowa got wasted, [he] sort of sank down in the sewage with him…” (156). In driving around the lake so many times, the author could be alluding to what Norman’s days feel like. His life seems to be an endless path, “no hurry, nowhere to go” (143). Norman doesn’t really know what to do with himself after the war. Everything seems so simple and naïve, in comparison to the killing and fighting he had endured.

Norman spends his whole eighty four miles thinking about what had happened during his life-changing stay in Vietnam. It seems that Norman’s dad has a big influence on him. His story about Kiowa’s death inquires as to how not only does Norman feel guilty, but he also feels ashamed in front of his father. He uses the same excuse multiple times in his head when he is reasoning out to his father what had happened: “The stink, that’s what got to me. I couldn’t take that goddamn awful smell” (143), He pictures that his father would take pride in the fact that his son had earned “‘seven honeys’” (154), or medals, even if he had lost himself the Silver Star. In each situation that Norman thinks up, his father is at least in one way or another telling Norman that what happened was okay, and he wasn’t to blame. It is clear that things aren’t justified in Norman’s mind, however. Nothing can rationalize his “survivor’s guilt.”

It is a question, however, whether Norman really did earn the Silver Star or not. He claims many times that he lost it because he let go of Kiowa, but in the end of the chapter Notes, Tim O’Brien claims that, “[Norman] did not freeze up or lose the Silver Star for valor. That part of the story is my own” (161), completely contradicting what Norman was saying previously. Assuming that Tim O’Brien’s statement is a conclusive one, however, Norman possibly felt that he didn’t deserve the Silver Star. Even if he had earned it, the fact that he hadn’t tried harder could have brought him to the point where, in his mind, he was not worthy of such an honor. Another possibility is that it was actually, in fact, Tim O’Brien himself who was responsible for the death. Considering that he had used Norman as a way to place his story in another perspective, there are allusions to the chance that it was Tim who did not succeed in pulling Kiowa from the muck. In the end it cannot be determined for certain.

The final character who takes credit for Kiowa’s death, is the man known as the “young soldier.” Jimmy Cross finds him with his hands through the mud, searching for something. The boy claims he is looking for a picture of his girlfriend that he had dropped, “this picture, it was the only one I had. Right here, I lost it” (176). At first it appears that the young man is selfish, because instead of helping everyone find Kiowa’s body, he is searching for a personal belonging. It is later revealed, however, that the soldier felt the reason Kiowa died was because of his flashlight. The boy had turned on the flashlight during the night to show Kiowa the picture he is looking for, and in turn they were ambushed. “The flashlight had done it. Like a target shining in the dark” (177).

Is it possible for three men to be responsible for the death of one soldier? Is anyone responsible? There is always going to be blame; the only question is where the blame will be put.