ipl-logo

The Things They Carried Ted Lavender Character Analysis

510 Words3 Pages

In the story, "The Things They Carried" a narrator describes the life of soldiers during the Vietnam War. The narrator lists what some of the soldiers carried during their experience in the war, emotional and tangible. Tim O'Brien presents the character of Ted Lavender, an obviously frightened soldier, in order to be a spokeperson to symbolize obvious stress within soldiers during their journey. He presents the character of Kiowa, a devoted Baptist, in order to represent how some of the soldiers cope with the exorbitant amount of stress. Tim O'Brien characterizes Ted Lavender as stressed and frightened in order to portray fright during the war within soldiers. Ted Lavender took extra precautions compared to the other soldiers. "Ted Lavender, who was scared, carried tranquilizers until he was shot..." (O'Brien 1). The author writes this about Ted to show the readers that he was scared and felt the need to carry tranquilizers in addition to his army equiptment. Ted also felt the need to take dope to …show more content…

Kiowa reveals how he is dependent on his faith to get him through tough events. "Kiowa, a devout Baptist, carried an illustrated New Testament that had been presented to him by his father, who taught Sunday School in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma" (O'Brien 2). Soldiers do not want to carry many extra objects because they already carry an extremely heavy load, so Kiowa really cares about his faith since he carries an illustrated New Testament.Kiowa really cares about his family, which partially portrays his faith as well. "A a hedge against bad times, however, Kiowa also carried his...grandfather's old hunting hatchet" (O'Brien 2). A large part of religion is family, and Kiowa kept his grandfather's hunting hatchet despite its age and the fact that it would take up precious space in his load. Kiowa's devotion to his religion kept him focused and

Show More
Related
339 Words | 2 Pages

He does not carry heavy things as his peers. In Spring of April he was shot to death. In addition, again and again of Ted Lavender’s relates to the plot by implying that there are more deaths to come in the war. His death is repeated frequently in the book “ shot in the head” from page number two and on page number three “ Ted Lavender was shot”.

Read More
1113 Words | 5 Pages

Tim O'Brien because of his own experience in the war as a soldier depicts the Vietnamese war perfectly in his novel “The Things They Carried”. He's depiction is very rare and exceptional, for its feel and emotion that it delivers. Throughout his novel he lists all the different objects each of the soldier carries that characterizes the characters specifically, like Kiowa carrying the New Testament and Jimmy Cross carrying Marthas letters. But Tim suggests that the things they carried were far more than the objects they held literally while humping. “The things they carried were largely determined by necessity, they carried ghosts, they carried all they could bear and then some, including a silent awe for terrible power of the things they carried”

Read More
152 Words | 1 Pages

The chapter opens with a Sioux sweat lodge ceremony. Dennis Linn wants you to imagine the physical and emotional feelings, which emanate from the ceremony. The medicine man thanks God for all creatures including man. Those in the ceremony are thankful to God and ask forgiveness of all those they have hurt and extend forgiveness to those who have hurt them. The author thought it was a primitive superstition.

Read More
949 Words | 4 Pages

Eileen Kane’s insightful work, Trickster: An Anthropological Memoir, illuminates the cultural atmosphere and life of the Northern Paiute people of Yerington, Nevada, during the early 1960’s while reflecting on the many contrasts and parallels to her own upbringing in Youngstown, Ohio. Guided by her research topic, documenting the religious beliefs the Paiute people practiced after the death of Jack Wilson (Kane, p. 155), Eileen Kane depicts the acculturative effects on Paiute religion occurring at this time. For those living on the reservation, the traditional-native spirituality had already witnessed the indoctrination of Christian beliefs by missionaries and whites among many Native American groups, though conservatory attempts to maintain

Read More
992 Words | 4 Pages

In the Novel The Things They Carried, the author, Tim Obrien recalls multiple stories during one of the most devastating wars in United States history. Through storytelling, Obrien casts light upon the horrifying reality of the Vietnam war and the struggles that Obrien’s men encounter, as well as all the other soldiers. Obrien uses the novel to represent the paradox that war is both horrible and beautiful. Obrien displays this through Ted Lavenders death, Curt lemons death, and the killing of the baby water buffalo. Obrien portrays the paradox that war is both horrible and beautiful through the death of Ted Lavender.

Read More
730 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien expresses to the reader why the men went to the war and continued to fight it. In the first chapter, “The Things They Carried,” O’Brien states “It was not courage, exactly; the object was not valor. Rather they were too frightened to be cowards.” The soldiers went to war not because they were courageous and ready to fight, but because they felt the need to go. They were afraid and coped with their lack of courage by telling stories (to themselves or aloud) and applied humor to the situations they encountered.

Read More
67 Words | 1 Pages

Henry Dobbins carried his girlfriend’s pantyhose around his neck for good luck. Kiowa carried his grandfather’s feathered hatchet and his grandmother’s distrust of the white man. Rat Kiley carried comic books and M&Ms. Norman Bowker carried the thumb of a VC corpse. Ted Lavender was carrying toilet paper and tranquilizers when he was shot and killed.

Read More
767 Words | 4 Pages

Literary Analysis of The Things They Carried Young men and women who go off to war and rarely return home the same. The complex psychological scars often outnumber the physical. In The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien emphasizes the emotional struggles faced by a group of infantrymen during the Vietnam war. The author, himself a Vietnam veteran, is now well past seventy years old, yet he still suffers the effects of this war.

Read More
1509 Words | 7 Pages

They rolled him up in his poncho and took him to the patty and waited for the chopper to arrive and take Ted Lavender back to America. After the fact, they were constantly talking about how Ted fell to the ground. “Boom Down” is all they would say. Forcing the memory to repeat inside of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’s

Read More
186 Words | 1 Pages

All stories illustrate the beginning, with value and insight; indigenous knowledge is innately given. In an indigenous worldview, knowledge comes from the creator and from creation itself. The Haudenosaunee people are given principles to explicate for appropriate conduct to all of creation and its beings. The creation story illustrates that all of creation has a responsibility in growth, development, and sustainability; the great law of peace demonstrates how to live a “good mind”; the good message describes how to treat one another; the original instructions depict between the right and wrong doing’s; the symbolism of the wampum belts explicates the history of the Haudenosaunee people. These principles instruct humanity and assigns roles and

Read More
1056 Words | 5 Pages

Animals in native American culture have a much greater meaning than just their physical being. Each animal in their stories in on this earth for a specific reason that is all for the betterment of each and every living being. Animals in this culture are very prominent because many natives are named after and animal and are given a spirit animal that will watch over them for their entire journey. This animal has the same traits that they do which mean that they are even more connected to each other. However in Ceremony by Leslie Silko, the main character Tayo isn't given or it is unknown of this animal this possibly because Tayo is considered a “half-blood”.

Read More
417 Words | 2 Pages

This story started out depicting who the Sioux tribe was and later describes how the Sioux tribe was chosen to receive the pipe, so to speak, by the Buffalo Calf Woman. As the author of this story notes, the members of this tribe believed that everything, whether that be people or animals, came from the Great Spirit, who was named Wakan-Tanka,otherwise deemed as God (2-3). The author has seen to have included this to show the reader that the tribe believed that everything on Earth had an origin. Later on, a woman, otherwise known as the Buffalo Calf Woman, who is wearing, as the author notes, an outfit that was comprised out of skin from a buck, which is a male animal (15), brings an object, that as the author notes, is a pipe which serves

Read More
333 Words | 2 Pages

Also, a ‘holy man’ could be a man or woman. Men and woman had pretty equal rights. Whenever times were peaceful, the village had a ‘white leader’, and whenever there was war, there was a ’red leader’. Fishing was a big food source for the Cherokee, they would even use walnut bark to poison the water so the fish would be easier to catch.

Read More
771 Words | 4 Pages

The Truth Behind A True War Story In the novel, The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien reflects upon the slippery nature of truth, experience, memory and storytelling. Many stories throughout the novel reflect similar meanings with those connections. With the use of the same characters and similar Vietnam War background, O’Brien expresses different points of views to represent the different emotions and reactions that are present throughout the entirety of the novel. Throughout these three stories, How to Tell a True Story, Notes, and Speaking of Courage, O'Brien expresses how to tell if a war story is true and how war stories are interpreted in society.

Read More
613 Words | 3 Pages

Quotes: 1. “Ted Lavender, who was scared, carried 34 rounds when he was shot and killed outside Than Khe, and he went down under an exceptional burden, more than 20 pounds of ammunition, plus the flask jacket and helmet and rations and water and toilet paper and tranquilizers and all the rest, plus the unweighted fear” (O’Brien 6). This quote characterizes Ted Lavender as an anxious soldier who was precautious, but his precaution did not save him

Read More

More about The Things They Carried Ted Lavender Character Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document