Summary Of The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

I. —Introduction Today the average US soldier carries at least 60 pounds of gear, with an extended patrol almost doubling that weight. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is about a platoon of soldiers fighting on the ground during the vietnam war. These soldiers have to endure several challenges during their journey that will test their limits every second of every day. However, the things that get them through the day is what they carry. The things these soldiers carry represents their role in the platoon, as well as, their personalities. The things they carry will have a lot of effect on what they do and how they act in this war story.The things they carry will soon affect them emotionally, Medically, and by Selfishly.

II. —Body

Medics during the vietnam war defy the stereotypes of being lazy and staying at the base safe and sound, by them rather going into the field carrying firearms and grenades following right behind the trained professionals. During ancient times when a soldier had fallen down wounded, he had to continue to lay there with no medical attention. In Vietnam, A medic's duty was to treat and then get to the extraction point. Vietnam was the first time medics were allowed to be armed and carry firearms and grenades into combat. Red crosses on helmets and arm bands were no longer worn to show they were medics. According to The Things They Carried “ Thank god for Rat Kiley. Every so often, maybe four times altogether, he trotted back and forth to check on me.” (Tim O’Brien, 189)This is when O’Brien was shot and Rat Kiley gave him medical care in the midst of a battle, checking on him four times, and then helping O’Brien to the helicopter where he was sent to a hospital to recover. Secondly, going back to ancient times when medics were not out on the field, while injured soldiers had to lay there and suffer with no medical attention. This also occurred in the vietnam war as well due to poor training and laziness. According to The Things They Carried “When O'Brien is shot the second time—this time in the butt—Jorgenson is too scared to crawl over to him. O'Brien nearly dies of shock, and the wound is so poorly

Some people say that the cause of war is from people being selfish. A reporter had been going out into the field to document what was happening and capturing pictures. When doing this he was leaving his wife at home not know anything about him. Every call that she received she had assumed the worst. When he got back home and realized what he was doing to his wife, he realized that he was being selfish during the war. According to The Things They Carried “ He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war.” (Tim O’Brien, 16) When Lee Strunk draws the wrong stick and is forced to go into the tunnel to check it. Jimmy has trouble focusing on the tunnel because he keeps thinking about Martha and what it would be like if he was in the tunnel with her. While Cross is still daydreaming Strunk Pops out and is happy. While Cross was daydreaming he didn't realize that Ted Lavender had gone to pee behind a tree, so when he started coming back all the guys could hear was BANG! Lavender was shot and killed due to Cross’s selfishness over Martha. Secondly, According to The Things They Carried “ When a man died, there had to be blame. Jimmy Cross understood this. You could blame war.. A moment of carelessness or bad judgment