Things They Carried By Tim O Brien: Character Analysis

What if you were chosen in the next draft for a war between your country and a distant nation, but you had an indifference to the conflict? This becomes a reality for the narrator Tim O'Brien, as he is drafted into the Vietnam war. In the novel, The Things They Carried, written by the narrator Tim O'Brien, the reader is taken through a series of stories ranging from before O'Brien enters the war, when he is stationed in Vietnam during the war, and years after he returns home from the war. These stories are arranged in no particular order, and they all reflect the influence the Vietnam war has on O'Brien's personal experiences of the harsh realities he faces accompanied by his fellow comrades. In the novel, The Things They Carried, the author

Not being one of O'Brien's favorite soldier of the Alpha company, Curt Lemon's death still has a great impact on O'Brien's understanding of the events that occurred in Vietnam as a whole. In the chapter, the narrator explains Lemon's death is caused by a rigged mortar round which he steps on, completely dismantling his body into pieces in a tree. In the text O'Brien states, "He shot off the tail. He shot away chunks of meat from the ribs" (75). O'Brien is very straightforward with the way Rat Kiley kills the baby buffalo in this story which speaks to the more gruesome side of the war. Because he uses such explicit details, it signifies this particular experience was horrendous for a young soldier like himself to witness. This appalling experience definitely left a harsh impression on his memory of the Vietnam war, causing him to remember his time in the war in a horrific fashion. The narrator also explains, "His face was suddenly brown and shining. A handsome kid, really. Sharp gray eyes, lean and narrow-waisted, and when he died it was almost beautiful, the way the sunlight came around him and lifted him up and sucked him high into a tree full of moss and vines and white blossoms" (67). O'Brien's description of Curt Lemon's death in this story is the most

In this chapter, the alpha company is led by Lieutenant Jimmy Cross into a field near the Tra Bong river to set up their position. The men soon find out the spot is not the most suitable location for their outpost for a couple reasons: it is the sewage dump for the nearby Vietnamese village, and they are vulnerable to an attack. The narrator states, "A piece of his shoulder was missing; the arms and chest and face were cut up with shrapnel. He was covered with bluefish green mud" (167). O'Brien faces the reality of the situation, admitting to himself what actually happens to Kiowa and how his dead body appears. He describes the most gruesome parts of the image that shape his experience of the death and the war to make him remember both as horrible events. O'Brien also says, "Looking out across the water hazard that fronted the small flat green, a seven iron in his hand... And you never had to wade out into the hazard and spend the day searching through the slime" (160). This reflection over Kiowa's death in the disgusting field and comparing it to the action of playing golf on a vast, open green course exemplifies O'Brien's optimism. It shows his memory of the death includes a beautiful scene that he is required to make himself accept over the harsh reality he is faced with. Therefore, he uses his own will power to forget