Cowardice In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

Cowardice is defined as the lack of courage or firmness of purpose. Soldiers are some of the last people that people would think of as “cowards”. In The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, he tells several war stories about the men in war and how their cowardice got them to where they were in war and in life. Cowardice, to the soldiers, was seen as going to war, rather than avoiding and escaping war. Tim O’Brien, Norman Bowker, and Jimmy Cross exemplify the notion that men went to war and risked their lives out of the fear that they would be ridiculed if they did not, through their actions, attitudes, and beliefs. Tim O’Brien demonstrates his own idea of men going to war and risking their lives out of embarrassment, through his actions and

In this story, Norman Bowker is back home in Iowa after the war and imagines telling his father about how he almost won the Silver Star medal but did not. O’Brien writes that the medals that soldier’s won were for “common valor” and “the routine daily stuff- just humping, just enduring- but that was worth something”, suggesting that the men were awarded for their cowardice in going off to war and that it was significant, even if they didn’t see it as such (135). Norman moves on to thinking about talking to his father about when he almost won the Silver Star but did not because he was not brave enough. Norman would tell his father about how he could not save Kiowa and that “this one time, this one night out by the river…[he] wasn’t very brave”, his father would have said, “You have seven medals… Seven. Count ‘em. You weren’t a coward either” (136). Norman’s conversation that he plays out in his head with his father, demonstrates how veterans from previous wars or more traditional people have had a different experience in the war compared to current or more recently deployed veterans, so they have different opinions on the war. Norman Bowker feels that his father would not hear what he was trying to say about being brave or

Jimmy. In the first story of The Things They Carried, Jimmy Cross is the first character that is introduced as the Lieutenant that received letters from his girlfriend back home, Martha. Martha is a big distraction to Lt. Cross as she is always in his mind: “[He] gazed at the tunnel. But he was not there. He was buried with Martha…he could not bring himself to worry about matters of security…He was just a kid at war. He was twenty-four years old. He couldn’t help it” (11). Lt. Cross is a young man at war who has not even had the chance to be in love. His focus on Martha, instead of his men and war, suggests that he did not think through his decision to go to war. This implies that he simply went off to war because he felt he was obligated to do so. After Ted Lavender’s death, Lt. Cross decided to clean up his act and get his men comport themselves like proper soldiers. O’Brien writes, “He would be a man about it… look them in the eyes, keeping his chin level, and he would issue the new SOPs in a calm, impersonal tone of voice, a lieutenant’s voice, leaving no room for argument or discussion” (24). Lt. Cross’ determination to getting his act together and focus on the war and handling the duties of a leader shows how he had no idea before witnessing the