Things They Carried
The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, is about the experience multiple soldiers go through during the Vietnam War. There are stories about the love, hardships, friendships, and loss all the soldiers go through. By going to war, the soldiers all lose a part of themselves. I believe the message Tim O’Brien is trying to convey in his novel is people who do not go to the war, do not understand what it is like. I think throughout this novel, O’Brien tries his best to give the people who are not a part of the war an opportunity to understand. There are multiple examples throughout, The Things They Carried, demonstrating there is no clear understanding from the people at home for what it is like at war. In addition to the disconnection, Tim
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O’Brien puts a twist to the stories he tells to make the events more relatable to the audience. There are examples of this in the stories, “How to Tell a True War Story”, “Speaking of Courage”, and “Notes”.
In “How to Tell a True War Story”, Rat Kiley writes a letter to his good friend, Curt Lemon’s, sister. In this letter, he explains he brother, Curt Lemon, had died at war and emphasizes what a great person he was and how much he loved him. Rat Kiley was expecting to get a letter back from the sister, but nothing ever came. “Rat mails the letter. He waits two months. The dumb cooze never writes back,” (O’Brien 65). The rejection from Curt Lemon’s sister signifies the disconnect from the people at home to the people at war. Rat Kiley’s reaction to the rejection is very grueling and emotional. O’Brien tells the story about Rat Kiley finding a baby water buffalo and torturing it. Rat’s goal was not to kill the water buffalo but to hurt it the same way he was hurting. This story is not about war but about love. It is about the love Rat had for his friend Curt Lemon and the pain he is going through. At the end of this chapter, Tim O’Brien reveals the story of the water buffalo was not true. “Every goddamn detail – the mountains and the river and especially that poor dumb baby buffalo. None of it happened. None of it,” (O’Brien 81). I believe he made up the story about the baby water buffalo to emphasize the feelings perceived by Rat. The emotions being felt through the war are much greater than the factual events going on. I agree with the proposition, stories do not really have to happen in order to be true. “Speaking of Courage” and “Notes”, are stories about Norman Bowker and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Norman Bowker had a strong feeling the death of a friend, Kiowa, in the war was his fault. He believes he could have received the Silver Star medal for saving Kiowa but has failed himself and friend. Because of his failure, he senses there is a lack of courage in himself. Once Norman Bowker was home, all he would do is drive around in circles representing him not being able to get anywhere with his thoughts. “Speaking of Courage” enforces the fact Norman feels like he cannot talk to anyone from home about the war. He believes no one will understand what he is truly going through because of the powerful disconnect. Norman goes through all the people he could talk to, but shoots all of his options down for different reasons. One option would be talking to his ex-girlfriend, Sally. This option is quickly eliminated because Sally is now married and if Norman were to say any type of vulgar word to describe what happened, she would be disgusted and ask him to stop. His next option would be his best friend, Max. Norman knew Max would be his best choice to talk to but unfortunately, Max had drowned before Norman left for the war. The last option Norman could choice to talk to would be his father. Norman describes his father as someone who just sits around and watches baseball. The reason Norman does not want to talk to his father about the war is because he is worried how he would react. The only thing Norman talks to during “Speaking of Courage” is a metal box as he is giving his food order. The metal box represents the disconnection created through war. A sense of a lack of humanity and human connection is created during this
chapter.
In “Notes”, the audience discovers Norman Bowker kills himself. I believe O’Brien writes this story about Norman as a tribute and to give him a voice he did not feel like he had himself. He kills himself due to the lack of communication he is able to complete. There is a struggle for Norman to find a way to express the way he is feeling or what he is thinking. In the end, he winds up taking his own life. Tim O’Brien states, “That part of the story is my own,” when talking about “Speaking of Courage” (O’Brien 154). The statement O’Brien makes there indicates he changed the facts of the story and suggests the novel is not about war but about the power of storytelling. Storytelling gives O’Brien the ability to cope with all the loss resulting from war but Norman does not have the ability to do that. “By telling stories, you objectify your own experience. You separate it from yourself. You pin down certain truths. You make up others. You start sometimes with an incident that truly happened, like the night in the shit field, and you carry it forward by inventing incidents that did not in fact occur but that nonetheless help to clarify and explain,” (O’Brien 152). This quote is significant to the possibility of truth versus fiction and to what extent in this story.
By going to war there is a major disconnect between the people at home and the people at war. The stories, “How to Tell a True War Story”, “Speaking of Courage”, and “Notes” demonstrate the need for understanding and human connections. I believe the major theme or message O’Brien is trying to share with his audience is telling a war story is not to tell the exact details of an event but to make the audience relate to the true emotions felt. This is done by changing a few things up. I do not believe the main goal was to tell what was happening in the war but to share the emotional effects on the soldiers. There is a lot of power that comes from storytelling. In war, the realism of what happens gets lost due to the pure concentration to stay alive. Emotions stick around with people more than the actions of war. The ability to remember a specific event is greater when an emotional response is present. Describing an emotional response without a clear recollection of the event makes it harder to tell a true story. “I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth,” (O’Brien 171). I believe O’Brien would rather his audience get the sense of what people are going through emotionally rather than physically.
O’Brien puts a twist to the stories he tells to make the events more relatable to the audience. There are examples of this in the stories, “How to Tell a True War Story”, “Speaking of Courage”, and “Notes”.
In “How to Tell a True War Story”, Rat Kiley writes a letter to his good friend, Curt Lemon’s, sister. In this letter, he explains he brother, Curt Lemon, had died at war and emphasizes what a great person he was and how much he loved him. Rat Kiley was expecting to get a letter back from the sister, but nothing ever came. “Rat mails the letter. He waits two months. The dumb cooze never writes back,” (O’Brien 65). The rejection from Curt Lemon’s sister signifies the disconnect from the people at home to the people at war. Rat Kiley’s reaction to the rejection is very grueling and emotional. O’Brien tells the story about Rat Kiley finding a baby water buffalo and torturing it. Rat’s goal was not to kill the water buffalo but to hurt it the same way he was hurting. This story is not about war but about love. It is about the love Rat had for his friend Curt Lemon and the pain he is going through. At the end of this chapter, Tim O’Brien reveals the story of the water buffalo was not true. “Every goddamn detail – the mountains and the river and especially that poor dumb baby buffalo. None of it happened. None of it,” (O’Brien 81). I believe he made up the story about the baby water buffalo to emphasize the feelings perceived by Rat. The emotions being felt through the war are much greater than the factual events going on. I agree with the proposition, stories do not really have to happen in order to be true. “Speaking of Courage” and “Notes”, are stories about Norman Bowker and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Norman Bowker had a strong feeling the death of a friend, Kiowa, in the war was his fault. He believes he could have received the Silver Star medal for saving Kiowa but has failed himself and friend. Because of his failure, he senses there is a lack of courage in himself. Once Norman Bowker was home, all he would do is drive around in circles representing him not being able to get anywhere with his thoughts. “Speaking of Courage” enforces the fact Norman feels like he cannot talk to anyone from home about the war. He believes no one will understand what he is truly going through because of the powerful disconnect. Norman goes through all the people he could talk to, but shoots all of his options down for different reasons. One option would be talking to his ex-girlfriend, Sally. This option is quickly eliminated because Sally is now married and if Norman were to say any type of vulgar word to describe what happened, she would be disgusted and ask him to stop. His next option would be his best friend, Max. Norman knew Max would be his best choice to talk to but unfortunately, Max had drowned before Norman left for the war. The last option Norman could choice to talk to would be his father. Norman describes his father as someone who just sits around and watches baseball. The reason Norman does not want to talk to his father about the war is because he is worried how he would react. The only thing Norman talks to during “Speaking of Courage” is a metal box as he is giving his food order. The metal box represents the disconnection created through war. A sense of a lack of humanity and human connection is created during this
chapter.
In “Notes”, the audience discovers Norman Bowker kills himself. I believe O’Brien writes this story about Norman as a tribute and to give him a voice he did not feel like he had himself. He kills himself due to the lack of communication he is able to complete. There is a struggle for Norman to find a way to express the way he is feeling or what he is thinking. In the end, he winds up taking his own life. Tim O’Brien states, “That part of the story is my own,” when talking about “Speaking of Courage” (O’Brien 154). The statement O’Brien makes there indicates he changed the facts of the story and suggests the novel is not about war but about the power of storytelling. Storytelling gives O’Brien the ability to cope with all the loss resulting from war but Norman does not have the ability to do that. “By telling stories, you objectify your own experience. You separate it from yourself. You pin down certain truths. You make up others. You start sometimes with an incident that truly happened, like the night in the shit field, and you carry it forward by inventing incidents that did not in fact occur but that nonetheless help to clarify and explain,” (O’Brien 152). This quote is significant to the possibility of truth versus fiction and to what extent in this story.
By going to war there is a major disconnect between the people at home and the people at war. The stories, “How to Tell a True War Story”, “Speaking of Courage”, and “Notes” demonstrate the need for understanding and human connections. I believe the major theme or message O’Brien is trying to share with his audience is telling a war story is not to tell the exact details of an event but to make the audience relate to the true emotions felt. This is done by changing a few things up. I do not believe the main goal was to tell what was happening in the war but to share the emotional effects on the soldiers. There is a lot of power that comes from storytelling. In war, the realism of what happens gets lost due to the pure concentration to stay alive. Emotions stick around with people more than the actions of war. The ability to remember a specific event is greater when an emotional response is present. Describing an emotional response without a clear recollection of the event makes it harder to tell a true story. “I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth,” (O’Brien 171). I believe O’Brien would rather his audience get the sense of what people are going through emotionally rather than physically.