Title

"The Things They Carried" - This title is almost misleading especially after reading the first few pages of the novel. "The things they carried were largely determined by necessity. Among the necessitites or near-necessities were P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches, dog tags, mosquito repellent, chewing gum, candy, cigarettes, salt tablets, packets of Kool-Aid, lighters, matches, sewing kits, MIlitary Payment Certificates, C rations, and two or three canteens of water" (pg 2) After reading this sentnce i thought great, this book is going to be all about the different tangible things soldiers carried with them while in war. But its more than that. This book was about things that weren't tangible- and some that were. It was about the wounds, the deaths, the heat, the memories, the fear, the love, the pictures, and stockings, the jokes, the silence, and so much more. It's about the guilt for a friend's death or the sadness of a lost love. Overall, I liked the novel because I liked what it stood for. It wasnt just a war story, it was like a tell-all from a dozen soldiers. It described all the secret things they carried with them during the war.

Linda

The final chapter really stood apart from the whole book in my opinion. The whole time I was reading this book I felt as if I was getting whiplash the way the story went back and forth from one time period to another and from one story to the other. This last chapter was exactly the same- except the author took his audience back even further- to his childhood. I really loved the innocence in the character Linda. I guess the way O'Brien tied Linda in with the rest of the story was through the fact that she was dead. My favorite line in this final chapter is one where Linda describes what it is like to be dead by stating it is like being inside a book. "...You're safe and everything, but the book hasn't been checked out for a long, long time. All you can do is wait. Just hope somebody'll pick it up and start reading" (pg 232). I think O'Brien relates this and the story of Linda to all the soldiers he knew who passed. Although they are gone, the memories of them live on through stories like this one.

Motivation

Though it was funny in a way, I still thought chapter 20, Ghost Soldiers, was sort of creul. This time O'Brien depicts himself as revenge seeking pyscho. In this chapter O'Brien seeks revenge on Jorgenson for failing to help him properly after being shot. He sets up a detailled prank along with his friend Azar in order to scare Jorgenson. O'Brien admits completely that it was wrong- he even admits to having second thoughts about the whole idea. But he had the motivation- which caused him to make his move. "In the end, all i felt was that coldness down inside my chest. Number one: the guy had almost killed me. Number two: there had to be consequences" (pg 191). The motivation behind his plan was that Jorgenson had failed him in his time of need. Although Jorgenson may have deserved some sort of retaliation or anger from O'Brien, I really thought what O'Brien and Azar did was over the top.

Understatement vs Exaggeration

In chapter 20 I was able to discover an example of an understatement as well as an exaggeration. The understatement I found was after the author has been shot he hears the nurses discussing his injury. "Diaper rash, the nurses called it" (pg 182). O'Brien follows their statement by saying that their comment only makes him hate Jorgenson even more (Jorgenson is the doctor that wasnt able to treat him correctly after he was shot).
On the other end of the spectrum, in the next paragraph of this chapter the author exaggerates when describing danger. "You could still die of course- once a month we'd get hit with mortar fire- but you could also die in the bleachers at Met Stadium in Minneapolis, bases loaded, Harmon Killebrew coming to the plate" (pg 183). Although i suppose it is possible to die at Met Stadium, it is highly unlikely. The author uses this exaggeration to relate the sense of safety the soldiers had where he was now stationed (after being shot twice) to the sense of safety people have just about anywhere they go. No matter where a person goes there is always a possibitlity of danger. I chose to blog about these two examples because I found it interesting that O'Brien was able to use two opposite techniques so close together.

Stories

I love writing. Okay- maybe not required writing (like this right here, im not so enthused about it, sorry). But in general, writing for me is an outlet. It's a way to get things off my mind and off my chest. It helps me breathe a little lighter. I believe that O'Brien feels almost the exact opposite. on pg 172 he says "What Stories can do, I guess, is make things present. I can look at things I never looked at. I can attach faces to grief and love and pity and God. I can be brave. I can make myself feel again." What i gather from this is that O'Brien writes to relive the past. Unlike myself, O'Brien writes to revisit all the feelings. I find that kind of odd though because his stories are about the war- and for me atleast, I think it would be hard to revisit some of the memories he has captured in this story. O'Brien even sates on pg 171 "I want you to feel what I felt." Which makes me wonder if he writes these stories for himself or for his readers.. but really i think its a combination of both.

Metaphor

"A lost ball, he thought. Tired players searchign through the rouguh, sweeping back and forth in long systematic patterns" (pg 160). This metaphor is found in chapter17 as Lt Cross' men are searching for the lost body of their friend Kiowa. As the soldiers wade through a muddy field knee-deep in water, Lt. Cross imagines they are like golfers searching for their ball in the rough. This metaphor is really effective because it portrays the idea of hopelessness and longing to accomplish the impossible. An unending and annoying requirement of golf- which may be the reason why I'm not so fond of the sport. Similar to finding a needle in a haystack. But in the end, the soldiers are able to do just that. They find the body of Kiowa (or atleast what was left of it). It was really sad how O'Brien described the way that the search became less about finding Kiowa and more about being able to get out of that field. I think this metaphor helped me understand how the soldiers were feeling; aggrevated, tired, and doubtful just as a losing golfer would feel as he searches for his lost ball.

Mood

"It had been a hard night. Maube the worst ever. The rains had fallen without stop, and the Song Tra Bong had overglowed its banks, and the much had now risen thigh-deep in the field along the river. A low, gray mist hovered over the land. Off to the west there was thinder, soft little moaning sounds, and the monsoons seemed to be a loasting element of the war. The eighteen soldiers moved in silence" (pg 155). Through these few sentences, O'Brien effectively sets the mood for this chapter. Chapter 17 is one of the most negative and depressing chapters within the novel. It describes the death of Kiowa and the recovering of his mangled body. I think the way the author introduces this chapter really sets the reader up for the rest of its contents. Usually I dont feel too empathetic when reading books or watching movies; however, this book was different for me because it was real. Even more than that, the person telling the story was there. War doesn't seem real to me because i have never experienced it- so when O'Brien describes every detail about the weather and physical stress and every other negative aspect of the war, it catches my attention. When O'Brien sets a mood with all of his detail it makes the story come to life. Not only does it help me envision the events taking place, but it also helps me get into the mindset of what is happening.

Lonliness

I would imagine that a great deal of soldiers count down the days until they return home to their families. All that time away, I'm sure, really must make them miss home. What really struck me in this story is that even though they miss home, some soldiers return and their lives go downhill from there. For Norman Bowker anyways, that is exactly how things went. It was hard for him to get back into the routine of a normal life. "The war was over and there was no place in particular to go." (pg 131)It seems as if life as he had known for so long was gone. And even though he was back at home, he had no one to share his stories and memories with. Atleast Tim O'Brien had found a way to relieve himself of the memories by writing them down. Bowker however was stuck with just thoughts in his head. At one point Bowker actually considers confiding in a car-hop at a local A&W restaurant (Which by the way has nothing on Edwards Drive-In or their awesome carhops :)). To me, it's just really sad to see that someone who risks their life in Vietnam can live and still come home with a spirit that is dead.

Lies

Chapter 12 starts off with a simple flashback to a moment when Tim O'Brien's daughter asks him if he has ever killed someone in the war. His answer, "Of course not" (pg 125). This, the reader knows, is a lie. I want to know though, why does O'Brien lie to his daughter? Is it because she is too young? Because he wants to protect her from the harsh realities of the world? Or is it to protect himself? To help him sleep at night. Rid him of his guilt. "Sometimes i frogive myself, other times I don't. In the ordinary hours of life I try not to dwell on it, but now and then, when I'm reading a newspaper or just sitting alone in a room, I'll look up and see the young man step out of the morning fog." Whether or not O'Brien lies to make himself feel better or not, i don't think it would make much of a difference. Like I mentioned in my previous blog, if I ever killed someone I'm sure their image would haunt me forever. Lying to myself might make it easy to forget during the day, but I'm sure, just like O'Brien says, there would be moments when that image appears in my mind.

Imagery

O'Brien uses a lot of imagery to describe the setting and events occuring throughout the story. I think he chooses to do so because he wants his readers to be a part of the story as he was. He wants them to know exactly what he knows, to feel exactly as he felt. He wants other people to know what it was like to have feelings of guilt and lonliness and fear and appreciation. One of the most noticeable uses of imagery throughout the story was when O'Brien describes the man he killed (which he does several times). "His jaw was in his throat, his upper lip and teeth were gone, his one eye was shut, his other eye was a star-shaped hole, his eyebrows were thin and arched like a woman's, his nose was undamaged, there was a slight tear at the lobe of one ear, his clean black hair was swept ipward into a cowlick at the rear of the skull, his forehead was slightly freckled, his fingernails were clean, the skin at his left cheek was peeled back in three ragged strips, his right cheek was smooth and hairless, there was a butterflu on his chim, his neck was open to the spinal cord and the blook there was thick and shiny and it was this wound that had killed him." Obviously this sentence is just overflowing with imagery and description. At first when I read this I wondered how many years had passed before O'Brien wrote this story because in my mind I doubted that he would be capable of remembering all of those little details. But then i reconsidered. I decided that if I had killed someone- even if it was my job as it was his- that person's lifeless image would be imbedded in my memory forever. I think that's why the author described every detail he could think of. I can only imagine that the face of that man haunts him all the time. By describing the man he killed, maybe O'Brien feels some sense of satisfaction knowing that he isnt the only one seeing the man's face in his mind anymore- but maybe not. That's how I would feel anyways.

Personification

Chapter 10, though incredibly short (it may be the shortest one yet), was filled with a great range of emotion. As I first began to read this chapter I found it sort of endearing (okay maybe it was on the verge of being creepy) the way Dobbins was described wearing his girlfriend's stockings. The reason i found this (almost) endearing was because of the faith he had in those stockings to keep him out of harm's way. The way he saw them as good luck. O'Brien uses personification to express just how important those stockings really were to Dobbins. "They kept him safe. They gave access to a spiritual world, where things were soft and intimate, a place where he might someday take his girlfriend to live". This reminded me of the way athletes tend to wear a lucky pair of socks...or underwear. The athlete knows that those lucky items aren't really what helps them win the game- but they give them a peace of mind. Like a safety net. A sense of routine and familiarity. I believe that's exactly how Dobbins felt about those stockings- even after his girlfriend dumped him (which i found to be an extremely low point in the story).

Dynamic Character

Throughout this novel I believe O'Brien is trying to teach the reader a few things. One of the major lessons i feel that O'Brien embedded within this story is the dramatic way the war could change a person. I mentioned this theme in a previous blog but i think that it is much more evident within chapter nine through the character of Mary Anne. on pg 90 O'Brien describes her by saying "This was VIrtname, agter all, and Mary Anne Bell was an attractive girl. Too wide in the shoulders, maybe, but she had terrific legs, a bubbly personality, a happy smile." But after just a few weeks in the war Mary Anne undergoes major changes. She runs off with the Greenies and becomes one of them. Towards the end of the chapter O'Brien later descrbes her stating "It took a few seconds, Rat said, to appreciate the full change. In part it was in her stare, no sense of the person behind it." Although there are many lessons to be gathered from this story, I really believe that O'Brien tries to stress the idea that war does change people. Even if individuals don't change within the war (such as Mary Anne) they may change in the years after (such as Norman Bowker). It just makes you think- even if you come out alive, you still may not come out the same way.

Direct Characterization

"He had a tendency to play the tough soldier role, always posturing, alwasy puffing himself up, and on occasion he took it way too far." pg 82
A direct characterization is an instance where the author directly describes the personality of the character. In this chapter (chapter 7) O'Brien really does a good job of giving the reader an idea of the personality behind the name Curt Lemon. Curt Lemon is mentioned several times in the story but i feel like this chapter really brought his character to life. O'Brien portrays Lemon as a "showy" type of person through his description (above) as well as the two brief examples he includes within this chapter. The first example mentioned is the joke Lemon played on Halloween. Apparently on Halloween Curt Lemon painted himself and went out trick-or-treating. Curt also shows off when he is required to see the dentist but cannot face his fear. Pride eventually over-takes him and he has the dentist pull out a perfectly good tooth. Through all of these instances Curt Lemon is directly described as a show-off. The type of guy that "couldn't stop bragging". (pg 82)

Paradox

A paradox is defined as a seeming contradiction. When looking over my terms list i thought that it would be extremely difficult to find an example of a paradox within the pages of this novel. On page 78 however I was able to detect one that really stuck with me. O'Brien states, "Though it's odd, you're never more alive than when you're almost dead." I immediately recognized the truth in that statement. It seems like when we look at life and believe we have all the time in the world, we tend to put things off. On the other hand, when an individual believes their time is limited, they tend to live life to the fullest. You appreciate the things you have a little bit more once you realize that you won't always have them. I guess that's how life must be for many ment in the war. They recognize the fact that they aren't invincible and thank God for what they have been given- atleast that's the way i would look at things.

Trust

"Later we heard that Strunk died somewhere over Chu Lai, which seemed to relieve Dave Jensen of an enormous weight." pg 63
This sentence, standing alone, would lead the reader to one simple conclusion- Jensen hated Strunk. This inference, especially since it follows chapter 5, would seem fitting. However, within the contents of chapter six (which is less than two pages long) portrays a new side of Jensen and Strunk. After their viscious argument the two men actually become tolerant of one another. Even more than that, they become close friends. I thought it was interesting how O'Brien added these two small chapters into the book. I'm sure there were a great deal of stories he had to leave out. These two short stories must have had some sort of significance to him. I think O'Brien chose to include these two chapters because they really do show a person just how much you can change because of the war. Two people can go from completely hating one another to making a promise to watch out for eachother in a near-death accident. These contrasting chapters really brought O'Brien's story to life.

Conflict

"No safe ground. Enemies everywhere." pg 60
Chapter 5 is an obvious example of conflict. Lee Strunk and Dave Jensen are in a fight over a jackknife. It's funny to me that even in the midst of a war, we are still capable of fighting with our neighbors. These men, brothers on the field, are incapable of settling their differences. It's sickening the way they describe the tension and paranoia the dispute brings about. "At night he [Jensen] had trouble sleeping-a skittish feeling- always on guard, hearing strange noises in the dark, imagining a grenade rolling into his goxhole or the tickle of a knige against his ear." pg 60. It seems ridicculous that these men are already fearful for their lives in a war against the Vietnam. However, these two men have entangled themselves into a conflict that has made them just as fearful of eachother. To me, it's as if they are almost fighting three different wars. One for their country, one for their pride, and one in their mind- trying to keep sane through the paranoia and fear.

Flashback

Everyone knows what a flashback is. It's a moment when a person, in the present, contemplates an even that occurred in the past. A flashback transports that person to another time and place that they have already experienced- giving them the chance to experience it again within their mind. chapter 4, to me, was a perfect example of a flashback. This chapter took the reader back to a time when Tim O'Brien was a young man. Life before the war. In this chapter O'Brien recalls what it was like to be scared and cowardly.
One of my favorite lines in this whole story lies within chapter 4. on pg 55 O'Brien writes, "I would not swim away from my hometown and my country and my life. I would not be brave. That old image of myself as a hero, as a man of conscience and courage, all that was just a threadbare pipe dream."
I love this line so much because it is so contradictory to how i feel about what was occurring at that moment. O'Brien, young and scared to enter the war was trying to muster up the courage to flee to Canada. But in the end, he says he just wasn't brave enough. But, What is Courage? To me, courage would not be runnning away from the war to live in Canada. I think real courage lies within the actions he took to accept the fact that he would face the war, and death, and life. I just found it ironic that as a young boy he saw his actions as cowardly when in fact they were honorable.

Foreshadowing

pg 31 "I sit at this typerwriter and stare thorough my words and watch Kiowa sinking into the deep much of a shit fireld, or Curt Lemon hanging in pieces from a tree, and as i write about these things, the remembering is turned into a kind of rehappening."
I felt that this segment really seemed like foreshadowing- although it may not be a typical example. Generally I think foreshadowing as being revealed through clues and signs rather than blatent statements. This however stuck with me because it engaged me. This story really was throwing me off because it seems all over the place- hopping from one story or plot to the next. However, this sentence really caught my attention because i wanted to know what the author experienced during the war. And up until this point in the story i felt as if if had really been centered around Lt. Cross. This thought by O'Brien really drew my attention and gave me an idea of what to expect in the following pages of this novel. So, although it may not count as a classic example of foreshadowing, this segment really had the same effect- it prepared me for what was to come as well as kept me interested in the story.

Anecdote

So before reading through my AP Lit Terms I really had no idea what the definition for anecdote was. The definition i was provided with states that it is a short story used to describe the character of a person. Once I read that i felt that it really seemed to tie in with chapter 2 (pgs 26-29). This chapter entitled "Love" describes a specific moment in Jimmy Cross' life when he was in love with Martha. The reason I felt this chapter was an anecdote was because it really helped me to understand Jimmy Cross more as a character. In chapter one Jimmy Cross is portrayed as a man hurting from unrequited love but in chapter 2 the reader really understands why. This chapter made me feel sympathetic towards Lt. Cross as well as baffled as to why he was still in love. It had been years since he had seen her, and she obviously did not share the same feeling as him. pg 27 "Nothing had changed. He still loved her." With chapter 2 acting as an anecdote, I was able to see deeper into the life and love of Lt. Cross.

Similie

As I started reading this book I was sort of confused. The novel starts out giving details about Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and his unrequited love for a woman named Martha. As I kept reading I was slowly introduced to more characters all of whom appear countless times throughout the book. On page 6 however, i was shocked with the description Kiowa gives of the death of their friend Ted Lavender. "Kiowa, who saw it happen, said it was like watching a rock fall, or a big sandbag or something- just boom, and then down- not like the movies where the dead guy rolls around and does fancy spins and goes ass over teakettle- not like tha, Kiowa said, the poor bastard just flat-fuck fell. Boom." That specific passage stuck with me not only because of the similie used to describe how Lavender fell, but also because it shows the reader how the men reacted to the death of a friend. Kiowa seemed almost shocked- but by the end of the story the soldiers have become desensitzed. O'Brien later describes how they carried countless bodies or how they shook hands with others. In conclusion, I had barely started reading when i noticed a similie that really stuck with me because of the image that it left in my mind.