Guilt Quotes In The Things They Carried

1.Guilt is one of the worst things accompanied by death.

Guilt plays a huge role throughout the novel. In war, men are constantly dying and these men all become best friends with one another. For example, Norman Bowker felt a tremendous amount of quilt towards the death of Kiowa. In the chapter Speaking of Courage, the narrator explains how Norman tries to save Kiowa, “He would've talked about this, and how he grabbed Kiowa by the boot and tried to pull him out. He pulled hard but Kiowa was gone, and then suddenly he felt himself going, too.” (page 143). Norman lived with this for the rest of his life, playing what he could've done to save him over and over again in his head. Another example is in the chapter, In The Field, a young soldier decides to show Kiowa a picture of his girlfriend. The young boy switched on his flashlight, and seconds later the field exploded around them. “Like murderer, the boy thought. The flashlight made it happen. Dumb and dangerous. And as a result his friend Kiowa was now dead.” (page 163).

2. Often times you may make unbreakable bonds in unlikely places.

Throughout the entire story, the narrator explains how close the men become to each other. You become brothers and you trust each other with your lives. In the chapter, The Ghost Soldiers, Tim O’Brien sees the men he was on the platoon with and is

In the chapter, How to Tell a True War Story, he emphasizes this a lot. “In many cases a true war story cannot be believed. If you believe it, be skeptical. It’s a question of credibility. Often the crazy stuff is true and the normal stuff isn't, because the normal stuff is necessary to make you believe the truly incredible craziness.” (page 68). This is why Tim O’Brien writes the way he does. He wants the reader to believe his story and get a sense of what war is truly