Mortality And Death In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

“We who have seen war never stop seeing it” by unknown. In the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, the main characters, Tim and his platoon are drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. This book is a collection of memories being told out of order, twenty years later. The book begins in Vietnam and goes through the experience of each soldier. It gives the cold hard truth about the Vietnam War. Tim O’Brien intended audience was civilians and he discussed mortality/death and morality.

In the chapter “ The Ghost soldiers”, the theme mortality and death was shown. Azar and Tim both have this dark cloud hovering over them, waiting for the perfect time to strike them. In time the cloud consumes them turning them into a new person that has a

Jenson and Strunk fought over a stolen knife. Jenson won the fight and broke his own nose to make things fair, in the chapter “ Enemies”. In the chapter “ Friends”, Jenson and Strunk made a pact to put each other out of their misery if one were to get hurt. Strunk loses his leg and Jenson did not kill him. “Strunk frowned at the sky. He passed out again, then woke up and said ‘Don’t kill me.’ ‘I won’t.’ Jenson said” (O’Brien 63). This shows the beginning of a strong friendship that will last lifetime. They made a pact to kill each other if they became close to death, but when Struck came close to facing death, Jenson spared his friends life. This shows that you never truly can be prepared to

When Mary Anne first gets to Vietnam, she’s this sweet, innocent girl that comes comes into a war zone. She completely changes after being there just a couple of weeks. Now she's distant, not innocent, and is seen in a whole new character. Her values from before and after change herself to where she is a different person. “Too wide in the shoulders, maybe, but she had terrific legs, a bubbly personality, and a happy smile” (O’Brien 90). Mary Anne is this cute girl that comes to this war zone in Vietnam. By coming to Vietnam she did not know the dangers that were hidden in the jungle. Before she felt it was right to go and help with what she can, but after she felt that she had to do more and was losing herself along the way. “She was dangerous. She was ready for the kill” (O’Brien 110). Being in Vietnam, in the middle of a war zone, something triggered in Mary Anne that changed her. With this drastic change in herself, her values in life change from being the perfect housewife to doing whatever it takes to survive the harsh reality of the