The Pagoda In The Things They Carried 'By Tim O' Brien

In the chapter, “Church”, the platoon uses an almost abandoned pagoda as a rest stop. Monks inhabiting the church welcomed them inside for shade. They spent seven to eight days in the pagoda, building a fortress and using it as a base of operations. The pagoda is a symbol for peace and tranquility. Tim O’Brien shows that even in the war, there are some peace and calmness. As chaotic and hectic as the war gets, there are times of tranquility. The church is sacred. A church symbolizes purity and religion. “You don’t mess with churches.” (113) Messing with a sacred thing can affect the “karma”. For example, the ying & yang, one has the good in bad and the other has the bad in good. The pagoda is the good in the bad & the war is the bad in the good.
In the chapter, “The Man I Killed” and “Ambush”, Tim O’Brien uses the man that he kills as a symbol for meaningless and represents all the men that the war has killed.
He feels guilt because of the way the man dies. As he stares at the man, O’Brien thinks about the man’s life before any of the war happened. “It was entirely automatic. I did not hate the young man; I did not see him as the enemy; I did not ponder issues of morality or politics or military duty.”(126). O’Brien didn’t think about anything in that moment. He knew that he had to do his duty, but felt as if he had no control whatsoever. “At night, lying on his mat, he could not picture himself doing the brave things his father had done, or his uncles… He hoped the Americans would go away.”(119) O’Brien shows the man’s perspective of his life. Though he didn’t know who the man was or his life story, he showed the readers his interpretation of his life. It shows that everyone in the war had a life before the war. Everyone has a different way of understanding the war and the way they deal with it after is based on them as well. Though he never met the man, he feels remorse for killing him the way he
did.

In the chapter of “Speaking of Courage”, Norman Bowker is portrayed as a normal war veteran. Once he gets home from Vietnam, he realizes that there is nothing for him to go back to. As he drives around the lake, he reminisces about the times he had before he left. His father takes pride into Norman’s medals but Norman thinks otherwise. Ever since he’s returned home, he’s reminded of the loss of Kiowa back in Vietnam. He believes that the reason Kiowa died was him. The reason why he couldn’t save Kiowa from the muck was because of the horrid stench and to save himself from it as well. Based on how he still carries the burden of Kiowa’ death shows how caring he is. He doesn’t think about the medals that he’s won, he thinks about the one he lost because of a task so simple. Years later, Norman Bowker hangs himself. The way he suddenly dies without a note or warning shows how deeply he was struggling to get his life back together. When he came home from the war, he knew everything changed. Nothing was like how it was. He was struggling and no one really knew how or why because they didn’t experience what he has experienced.