Kiowa In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

The Things They Carried Essay
Envision yourself scurrying through the battlefield, desperately trying to survive a never-ending war while you are encircled with screams of agony and pain. Up to this moment, you’ve witnessed a member of your squad die while attempting to squeeze through a pipe, fought in a forest filled with the scariest of insects and been in war long enough to see your very own platoon members shake hands with the dead corpses as if they were alive. Can you continue to stay sane? How much longer can you convince yourself that everything is fine? It’s vital to uphold one’s spirits and sense of civilization during these difficult moments in the face of death and emotional distress. Tim O’ Brien uses the character of Kiowa in

When they feel lost and deal with the traumas that come with fighting in the war, he quickly engages himself with their troubles and conducts a free therapy session by lending an ear, and checking in on them regularly while fighting in the war at the same time. For example, when Tim killed the young Vietnamese soldier during the war, he started to contemplate about the life that the fallen soldier could have had if it wasn’t for Tim taking his life. While the other soldiers carried on with their lives, Kiowa was the only one who stayed back and said to Tim, “It wasn’t you man. It wasn’t you.” (O’ Brien 145). Since Tim did not have the strength needed to overcome the consequences of his actions and the perplexities of his situation, Kiowa acts as a foil to help him navigate through it all, the war and his own intrusive thoughts. Another instance where Tim received the essence of Kiowa’s morality can be found within chapter 12. In this particular section of the book, the Alpha company stumbled upon a village full of corpses and found an old man’s dead body to toy around with. Although Tim “hadn’t yet developed a sense of humor” (O’ Brien 150), he was peer pressured to try and tag along. Later on in the day, Tim was trying to process what he had seen in the morning but at that moment, Kiowa walked up to his foxhole and offered him a few words of consolation. “You did a good thing today” (O’ Brien 150) he said as they ate cookies together in their little hut. Although Kiowa was not there to protect Tim in front of the dead body, he dropped by in the end to make sure that Tim was feeling alright, which proves that Kiowa acts as a significant foil character to Tim, and embodies the qualities of a caring father who guides him when he is lost. These two characters in the book have contrasting characteristics but when