Blog #51 – The Things They Carried
Tim O’Brien’s book, The Things They Carried, focuses on the members of Alpha Company as they hump across Vietnam and also how they dealt with civilian life (“Speaking of Courage”). 
1. The things that the soldiers carried in battle were not just physical things but mental / emotional as well. Henry Dobbins wore his girlfriend’s pantyhose around his neck as a comforter. But after the war is over and done with, the soldiers, like Lt. Cross, carry guilt and pain around with them.
2. The novel is also about truth, especially with the story, “How to Tell a True War Story,” which seems contradictory in many cases. But maybe that’s what the truth really is in a war-time environment – unclear.
3. The novel also captures loneliness and isolation experienced by the American soldiers while in the Vietnamese jungle. Though the soldiers are surrounded by their comrades in arms, many don’t feel a connection to each other. Could this be because they’ve been drafted into a war they don’t want to fight? Or that war is the most loneliest experience – do or die on the battlefield?
4. How does shame or the idea of letting another person down motivate Tim and other soldiers in the stories?
“They carried the soldier’s greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing. Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor. They died so as not to die of embarrassment.”
Pick two of the four topics to write about and also include a brief assessment of the book.
300 words minimum for your total response. Due Friday by class.
1) Both mentally and physically the soldiers carry with them a burden beyond comprehension. The physical things they carried included, their weapons, ammunition, health pack, and basic things that a soldier would carry in a battle field. There were some things that were physical items but got in touch with the soldiers emotionally, such as Henry carrying around his girlfriend’s panties. These were essentially mementos remembering life back in America, and remembering why they are fighting this war. Although that is something physical and of tangible value it connects to an emotional aspect of henry. He keeps it with him as a sign of identity to who he is and what he has back home in America. It also shows his relationship with his girlfriend is very close to him as he carries it around in battle signifying that if he dies, he will emotionally be somewhat connected with his girlfriend. Another thing that they carried that was emotional was graphic scenes and images from the battle field. As the war prolonged soldiers were forced to deal with the traumatizing scenes of fellow members being blasted to pieces, or lose a limb. These images toke a toll not only during the fighting and battles, but really hit hard once the soldiers returned home. The soldiers carried the things that they saw, throughout their lives remembering the things that went on in the battle field.
4) The brutality and goriness surrounding the Vietnam war, was a sight NOT to see by anyone. The guerrilla warfare that took place was disheartening and still sends chills down my back today. The environment in which these soldiers fought was demoralizing. The idea of letting another person down motivates Tim and other soldiers in the stories, because the soldiers realize the situation they are in. Theyre platoon is now their family. They are going to either live or die with them. The embarrassment of not dying is coming home as a disgrace for losing this war. Another reason why the idea of letting a person down motivates the other soldiers because it exemplifies what they stand for as Americans, and to avenge their losses and fight harder and harder due to the loss of a soldier. But also they have a moral obligation to be quite motivated after the thought of letting someone down because of the fact another human being that is fighting the same fight your fighting gets taken out, your fortuitousness leads to your motivation.
I like the book The Things they Carried and that’s exactly how it began, talking about the things they carried, both physically and mentally. Everything they carried to them was a necessity, form their guns to a pebble a girl had sent them. They carried ammo and weapons in order to fight, in order to keep themselves alive. And in a way the other things they carried kept them alive to, like Kiowa’s bible and Henry Dobbins girlfriend’s pantyhose. Things that might not seem like necessities but to the soldiers were in fact necessities. They mentally had to hold on to themselves because they carried much more than just physical things. They carried heavy emotions, they carried fear and such things that they couldn’t just drop and let go. Some continued to carry beyond the war, like Lt. Cross would forever carry guilt, the guilt of falling his responsibilities of allowing a soldier to be lost. O’Brien goes in depth of the things they carried composing a significance to it all that otherwise would more than likely be overlooked.
In The Things They Carried it is brought up that soldiers, people, will be motivated to do something in order to avoid embarrassment, avoid shame. Even stating, “Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to.” I found this to seem very true and believe it is. It’s the simple idea of peer pressure put in the largest scale. If you don’t want to fight then you are a shame to your country. It that fear of what other people are going to think that motivates.
I will know begin my brief assessment of the novel. I personally enjoyed the book very much, I was quite surprised actually on how good I found it. I don’t think I’ve ever read a real war story book so I can’t compare it to much in that sense but overall as a book it was great. I thought it was really well written, and even though some might not enjoy the style of the book I did. I liked the way he wrote, it was if all of this was at the top of his mind and he was just free writing everything done and this book is what he got. Oh, and I chose 1 and 4 to write about.
1) In the first chapter or short story we read in The Things They Carried, O’Brien lists off a bunch of things that he’s seen men carry, like the pebble from a girl he loves as well as all of the weapons and other things the men were required to carry. However, as O’Brien explains, it’s not just guns and family memorabilia that the men in Vietnam carried. During the war, soldiers constantly had images and memories of their families and friends back home and the things they left behind. They also had to carry all of the pain from everything they saw on the battlefield, like watching their friends fall, and killing strangers.
4) O’Brien very strongly expresses the issue of shame during the wartime, and what it meant to him and other soldiers. When he was drafted into the war, he first fled to Canada because he was afraid. After spending time up there, he decided to go back home and fulfill his duty because he doesn’t want to shame his family. He doesn’t want to be remembered as a coward and he doesn’t want to shame his family. The same goes for a lot of the other soldiers; many of the choices they make and actions they take are to save them from shame or to prevent themselves from letting someone down. This explains why Lt. Cross was so upset when Lavender died; he thought he could’ve saved him but instead he shamed himself and let Lavender down.
I liked the book because it really brought the Vietnam War to life for me and opened up a ton of new perspectives for me. However, sometimes it was hard to except the realness of the book and how brutal the war made the men, like when they blew up a puppy for fun. Although it was incredible that O’Brien was able to open so many perspectives of the soldiers, I didn’t like reading some of them.
1) The things the soldiers carried were very emotional. Each thing the soldiers carried had some important significance to them. The most obvious example of this was Cross as he carried Martha’s pictures in his pocket. To Cross, Martha’s pictures represent the love he had and has for her; however he knows that this is an impossible love, and the pictures represent the hope that his affection will be returned. The things the men carry also represent not only their hopes, but their fears also. Henry Dobbins carries extra rations and good luck charms through his girlfriend’s pantyhose. Finally, Ted Lavender carries marijuana and tranquilizers to help calm him down during times of worry or distress. Soldiers carry emotional items, because every time they “hump” them, they are reminded of the past and what their lives were like before they came to Vietnam.
3) I believe that the novel does not capture the loneliness on the battlefield, contrarily; I believe that it shows how during times of stress and destruction, even common men can band together and become friendly. The men have a weird bond, while they don’t have a bond that is made with friends, each man knows that they can trust each other and depend on one another. For example, when that pure darkness comes as the men are walking, the men latch on to each other, knowing that even in the darkest nights, they can trust each other. They also honor each other’s memories, as Ted Lavender dies, the men honor him by speaking as he would as if he was doped up on tranquilizers. The men even hold themselves accountable for each other’s death, even if that was never true
1. The Vietnam War was a troubling time for soldiers. These young men carried many things into the fray. Whether it be the guns they donned to fend off foes, granting them a chance for life; or the mementos they carried, granting them a reason for life. In the case of one soldier, he carries a small rock given to him from a young gal whom he fancies dearly. After the war, the soldiers are able to thrown down their arms and munitions, casting off the weight of their duty to their nation. Some soldiers don’t take to this so easily, as many are burdened by the horrors of war still. The pain and agony felt as soldiers watch their comrades die, not knowing how their families back home would go on, would bear an even greater weight upon the soldiers.
4. Tragedy strengthens bonds. In cases of extreme stress and fear, people tend to become much closer than they ever would. An example would be Romeo and Juliet, from Romeo and Juliet, but it isn’t as well represented in that story. As time went on, the soldiers bonded, grew closer, became “one” if you will. Eventually, all these men had such a strong sense of duty and loyalty towards one another that, in their eyes, letting one of them down meant letting the whole platoon down. Even in the aftermath, this feeling of brotherhood burdens soldiers, like Lt. Cross, by convincing them that somehow the death of others was their fault or it was possible to save them.
A feeling I only once experienced after reading Fifty Shades of Grey, the book terrified me but was also oddly intriguing. In all honesty, there were times when I recoiled in fear, threw the malicious book bulging with dread laden pages to the ground, rushed to a corner and wept softly to myself. Despite my own fears and emotional scaring, I cannot deny that the book was exceptionally written. The desperate situations experienced by the veterans coursing with emotion, death, and depression depicted by Tim O’Brien were so vivid and intense, yet gruesome. In short, the novel is an enticing, eye-opening, experience that effectively utilizes the horrors of war, such as blood and gore, just as well as it does with the state of humanity, like sanity and calamity, forming a truly terrifying retelling of the Vietnam War through the eyes of those who experienced it.
Ben K.
1. The Novel The Things They Carried started off with a short tory also entitled the things they carried. In this short story, O’Brian lists off the many things that the soldiers carried with them. They carried all sorts of things that were physical and or emotional or mental. All the things that they carried with them were necessities to them, and they did not carry more than they deemed necessary. They also carefully calculated the weight of the things they carried. There were many physical things that the soldiers carried and that included their guns and ammunition and various other things that would allow them to fight. They also carried things such as ponchos and a health pack which would aid them on the battle field. There were other things that connected to the soldiers in an emotional way. These things included letters and pebbles sent from a girlfriend and pictures of loved ones or the Pantyhose that Henry Dobbins wore around his neck. It also included things like the finger of a Vietnamese boy that one of the soldiers carried. After the war, the soldiers still carried memories of the war. They remembered the scenes of the battlefield, where they saw their friends and foes being blasted into pieces, and they carried the feeling of guilt from when one of their men died, thinking that maybe they could have done something differently to save that person’s life. Lt. Cross would forever carry the guilt of the death of one of his men, because he believes that if he hadn’t been thinking about his love, his man never would have died.
4. In the novel, it is brought up that the soldiers are motivated to do things in order to avoid embarrassment and shame. The soldiers made many decisions and did things to avoid the shame or embarrassment. Many men that could have fled to Canada went to war as not to shame their family. During the war, the men were also motivated to avoid embarrassment and shame on the battlefield. On the battlefield, their platoon is in a sense their family. Letting one man fall would be shameful to the man in charge, and to all the others, and so they fight to save themselves and the other men around them. Lieutenant Cross for example loses one of his men, and he blames himself for the death causing him to feel ashamed and embarrassed, and that puts a burden on him.
Overall, I did like the book and it brought the book to life for me, but there were some parts that I didn’t like reading because of the content. I have never read a war book like this so I can’t really compare it to anything I have read. It was quite gruesome and isn’t exactly a book I would choose to read, but it did make me see the soldier’s perspective for a change. I liked how realistic and detailed it was, and how you could imagine what it would be like to be there. However, some sections were not as nice to read. One of the sections that I didn’t like as much was where the puppy was blown up showing how brutal the soldiers became during the war. I do think however, that the book was very well written and that the style of the writing is very different from other books I have read, making it something different and memorable.
Sofia C.
(1 &4) I liked the book specifically because of the way it began, I liked the first part that described what each soldier carried and why. It made the soldiers seem more real and it hooked me into reading the book more. It portrayed the fact that everyone fighting together in Vietnam came from somewhere and it showed the beauty of it in that the soldiers so depended on each other and needed to lean on each other and have a lot of trust if they were to survive. The equipment type things they were carrying tied into this in that everyone had the same things and was fighting the same war together. They all had something to go back to if they survived. The personal things they carried reflected this unity too.The things for war they carried showed what sort of emotional things the soldiers were carrying like with Jimmy Cross and his dealings with his love for Martha. He left the woman he loved and knew that she didn’t love him back despite her signing the letters ‘Love, Martha’. This shows that the soldiers left behind their lives and the situations that they may have been dealing with were just dropped and they probably had unfinished business at home and questions that weren’t answered and wouldn’t be answered if they died in the war. All of the Vietnam war soldiers were holding on for dear life, for the sake of coming back to their loved ones and the people they left behind. Martha’s signature also shows the false hope that everyone at home and the soldiers had for their home going. The shame or idea of letting another person down motivates Tim and other soldiers in the stories in a few ways; if they let each other down, then the whole group would be let down. That is why they needed to be there for each other and help one another out.
1: The things that they carried was physical at the start of the war, and it started to become more emotional towards the end of the war. At the start of the war, some of the soldiers carried items that reminded them of home, and things that would calm them down. (Lt. cross carries letters, and pictures of a girl back home, and Ted Lavender carries weed to calm him down). The things that they carry emotionally is based on what they witnes, and there ranking in the military. The Lieutenant has to carry all of his soldiers lives, while the soldiers have to carry the memories of the war. Emotional turmoil after a war affects anyone and everyone. Yesterday on Michigan radio, they were talking to war veterans about PTSD, and how they and their families dealt with it. One person came back and got in to explosive fights with his wife about simple things because of the stress he was under. Another person was on there talking about how their wife was more upset about the war than he was because she lost her brother in the war, and she was the one that would have the explosive outburst. For all war veterans there can be major physical, and mental tension that go on in their mind during, and after the war.
2: No war story will never seem true because of the fact that so much horrible stuff happens during war, that it seems like it can never be true. Also, no war story can ACTUALLY be true, because of the fact that some pf the parts that seem that they can be true, actually aren’t. So any way that the story is told, wether its believable, but not actually true, or its completely true, but there is so many things that don’t actually seem real in the story that no one believes it. Bottom line is that there is now way to tell a true war story, and have the people you are telling it to believe it.
THe things they carried is a collection of war stories, from the Vietnam war, and close the the start of the book, they start talking about how you can’t tell a true war story, and at that point i started questioning the book and how legitimate it was. Overall I liked the book a lot, and it was probably book club worthy,
1) The things all of the soldiers carried both physically and mentally create quite a long list. In a material form, they carried items from dental floss, to like it was said up above, pantyhose. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross even carried a rock in his mouth for a while. One man made sure to have his M&M’s on hand at all times. Then of course there were the million and one weapons they all carried. There had to have been about thirty different guns atthe very least that were described (maybe that’s just what it seemed like to me). Then there was Ted Lavender, who carried way more rounds than he needed and dope. However, the physical weight of all of the items the men carried as a whole isn’t even comparable to the weight of the mental burden they carried on their minds. The men had to see things that they never would have wanted to see while at the same time they couldn’t get home out of their heads. Lieutenant Cross could never stop fantasizing about Martha, however, when Lavender died, he felt that the death was his fault for caring too much about Martha rather than his group. He is only one example of the guilt and the pain that the soldiers carried but rather than feeling the actual heaviness that strains ones muscles for the rest of their life, they felt and still feel this mental load.
2) In the chapter, How to Tell a True War Story, O’Brien explains to us just what the title says. Throughout the chapter, it can be a bit hard to understand at first what O’Brien is saying because it sounds like he is contradicting himself. By saying that the story needs to be told truthfully but at the same time it can be hard to tell a story when it becomes hard to distinguish between what happened and what seemed to happen. The storyteller has the ability to distort the story and still tell the truth of it all, just like how O’Brien told Lemon’s death as a love story rather than a war story. If a writer wants to relate a true war story, they can’t simply write about the “honorable” stuff and make general statements, instead, one must describe the actual graphics of the tale relating the anguish and confusion that the soldiers felt. Those are the images that stick in a person’s mind and it more accurately relates the story.
Quick Assessment: This book is very interesting in the way that O’Brien relates it. Even though the book is fiction, I still felt that the stories were completely real. It furthered my understanding of how the war affected people on a personal level as well.
Kelsey
I believe that war is inherently lonely, because only you have power over your life in a war, yet so much is determined without your consent. You get to choose whether to be brave in the face of danger or run when faced by an adversary, but you have no power over where you fight or why. Without that power life begins to feel meaningless and empty, and so each soldier begins to feel lonely and afraid. This is what drives soldiers to do what they do during war, not any sense of pride or courage, but a sense of loneliness and a need for meaning in their lives. In the stories the sense of shame motivates Tim by causing him to behave the way he does in order to please others. He scares the soldier in the bunker because he wanted to look good for his buddies. He kills Vietnamese because he wants to blend in with what his friends were doing. Together they make fun of the new recruits and weep about losses simply because they don’t want to look different from the rest of the men. This is how shame and cowardice affect the men in each of the stories.
1.) I agree that the things the soliders carried into battle were not only physical items, but also emotional and mental barriers that weighed them down immensely. I think that the most pasionate and personal of these things was the picture of Martha that Cross carried in his pocket. A picture of a person back home brings back memories of love and happiness. It also motivates Cross to get through the battle so he can go home to Martha. I think a picture of a human that is so near and dear to Cross’ heart is the most emotional thing that Cross could bring into battle because it reminds him of his past. I think the saddest thing that one of the soliders brings to war, is how Ted brings marijuana and other tranquilizers to keep him calm and anxiety free during battle. This is truly sad because it shows how mentally draining the war is because all Ted wants to do is numb himself from what he might see or feel.
4.) Shame or the idea of letting a person down motivates Tim and the other soldiers during the war. The Vietnam War was a treacherous and painful war that many soldiers were not very motivated to fight in because they didn’t see the purpose (if there really was purpose there to begin with). Although this lack of motivation was always present, the soldiers developed a brotherhood with one another, and felt that they should protect one another whenever they could. When one dies, some of the soldiers blame themselves. (For example: Cross blames himself for the death of Lavender).
I found this book incredibly painful to read. I often couldn’t read more than a few pages at a time because of the gruesomeness that I continually pictured. found it to be extremely powerful, yet extremely stomach turning at the same time.