Things They Carried Reflection

The Things They Carried, written by Tim O’Brien, is not just a book about what soldiers carried during the Vietnam War, but a book about what they carried with them for the rest of their lives. The book also describes the traumatizing deaths which caused many soldiers to start to blame themselves.

In the first chapter during a tunnel search, Ted Lavender went off to use the restroom. When he was walking back and was close to the other soldiers, he was shot in the head and killed instantly. The book describes how his mouth was open, his teeth were broken, and his eyes swollen black. The book states that Jimmy Cross, “... felt shame. He hated himself. He loved Martha more than his men and as a consequence Lavender was now dead.” This would be something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of his life.” When Ted Lavender was shot in the back of the head, all the soldiers were in shock, but Lieutenant Jimmy Cross blamed himself because he was in charge of his men and was side-tracked by his love for, Martha, an old school friend. Later in the book, Jimmy Cross visits one of the soldiers from the war. They look through the photos and see one of Ted

Kiowa feels guilt and feels like he took something from his more than his life. He stood over the man’s body and imagined what he was really wanting to do than fight a war. Kiowa thought, “He was not a fighter. His health was poor, his body small and frail. He liked books. He wanted someday to be a teacher of mathematics.” This quote proves that Kiowa feels guilt over the killing of the soldier because he dreamt of his life outside of the war and he just stands over the body. The other soldiers try to get him to realize, the Vietnamese soldier knew he was going to die as soon as he picked up his gun. It takes Kiowa hours to come to terms with