The Things They Carried reader response

Tim O’Brien’s writing style had a very big impact on me. He tells a story about his experiences so that it seems more a book about life instead of war itself. The way he jumped around from before, during, and after the war, I found to be valid to the plot. He focused on the journey from simple innocence to meaningful realizations about what war is really about.

There seemed to be double meanings for many of the ideas sent across throughout the book. For example, the word coward is used frequently, “They were too frightened to be cowards” (22). By this, Tim O’Brien is implying that the men weren’t afraid of going to war; they were afraid of what people would think if they didn’t. O’Brien says it himself, “I was a coward. I went to war” (61). This surprised me because my first thought about war is death. I can’t imagine being so vulnerable, especially to guns and grenades. It is described, however, that war is the opposite of death. “…Proximity to death brings with it a corresponding proximity to life. After a firefight, there is always the immense pleasure of aliveness” (81). The author goes on to describe how after surviving a fight, there was the realization that they were alive. They were still breathing and still had a reason to keep going. In a way, I think it is meant that they felt encouraged. The significance of “the things they carried” also has two perceptions. The first assumption is literal. “The weapon weighed 7.5 pounds unloaded, 8.2 ounces with its full 20-round magazine” (5). The clothing, weapons and food were all described, including their weights. Those were the physical aspects of what they carried. On another level, “they carried their reputations” (21), “They carried the land itself….they carried their own lives” (15). Things that don’t have a mass; their feelings, their burdens and thoughts of loved ones were all things the men had to carry with them.

There are many relevancies to guilt throughout the story. Guilt didn’t always necessarily come from actually killing someone. Jimmy Cross, for example, felt indirectly responsible for the death of Ted Lavender, “He felt shame…Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone for the rest of the war” (16). He felt that if he wasn’t so in love with Martha, his friend wouldn’t have died. In Kiowa’s death, many people carried the burden of guilt, “There was nothing he [Jimmy] could do now, but still it was a mistake and a hideous waste” (164). Jimmy Cross felt he was responsible because he hadn’t realized the danger of camping on such wet grounds. Norman Bowker felt the blame because he hadn’t been able to pull Kiowa up from the muck, “[He] remembered how he had taken hold of Kiowa’s boot and pulled hard, but the smell was simply too much…” (153). Another of the soldiers felt he was responsible: “…He’d been showing Kiowa a picture of his girlfriend. He remembered switching on the flashlight. A stupid thing to do, but he did it anyway…and then the field exploded all around them” (170). All of these men carried the same burden, but it is clear that there isn’t one person who caused Kiowa’s tragic death. I think that guilt is something that definitely would be prevalent under these circumstances. Everyone seems to blame themselves when something goes wrong.

The Things They Carried involved so many different aspects of life. It gripped reality in a very apparent way; it made me think about why people feel the way that they do.

*Why did Tim O’Brien hold such a great amount of resentment towards Bobby Jorgenson?
*I am a little confused about exactly where Mary Ann disappeared to and who she joined with.