Ted Lavender In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

The Things They Carried, written by Tim O’Brien, is an assortment of war stories set before, during, and after the Vietnam War. The stories are not written in chronological order, but rather a scattered remembering of events that occurred during O’Brien’s time during the war. When recalling certain memories, they tend to lead to other memories that develop into a story of their own. O’Brien will describe to the reader a death that occurs in the squadron and later will give more detail about that particular character. Ted Lavender’s character is an example of how O’Brien will tell his story. In the first story, the reader is informed of a death in the patrol, Ted Lavender, and later O’Brien describes him as a laid back person who took tranquilizers

to calm his nerves (O'Brien 1990, 12, 33).
This collection is set in a couple different places. The collection of stories is mainly set in the swampy regions of Vietnam, including the banks of the Song Tra Bong River, the Quang Ngai Providence, Tri Binh, and Headquarters Company–S-4. However, there are a few stories set in other places. Set in O’Brien’s hometown of Worthington, Minnesota, and The Tip Top Lodge, which are cabins situated on the Rainy River that separates the United States from Canada, “On the Rainy River” tells the story of O’Brien’s experience with the draft (O'Brien 1990, 39-61). In “Speaking of Courage” O’Brien tells the story of Norman Bowker’s life after the war in Sunset Park. (O'Brien 1990, 137-138).
Each story in the collection recalls a specific memory to O’Brien during his service in the Vietnam War.

O’Brien begins The Things They Carried with a story of the same title, and in this memory O’Brien lists all of the things that the members of the squadron carry. In the description of what each person carries, the reader can get some image of what each character is like in appearance and personality. Also in this story, O’Brien describes one instance of destroying enemy tunnels which ends with one of their company, Ted Lavender, dying. “Love,” the second story is about Lieutenant Cross visiting O’Brien after the war has ended and discussing his love Martha. The next story, “Spin,” is a bit more relaxed and less violent in remembering fragmented memories of days when no battles are fought. O’Brien received his draft notice in “On the Rainy River,” and with this new information he runs away to Canada, but not before stopping at Tip Top Lodge to think about his decision; he decides to go and fight in the war. “Enemies,” and “Friends,” are the next two stories that tell the story of how Lee Strunk and Dave Jensen were foes that became friends. O’Brien prefaces “How to Tell a True War Story” saying that it is true. This story is the only one that has this proclamation. This story is more of a love story than a war story because after Curt Lemon dies, Rat Kiley writes his sister including in the letter all the great stuff that Lemon did. In “Dentist,” Curt Lemon’s story and fears are expanded. O’Brien tells a story Rat Kiley told him about the Song Tra

Bong.
In “Sweetheart of Song Tra Bong,” Rat Kiley told the story of his original assignment to Vietnam, and how another man in the detachment flew over his girlfriend who changed into a ruthless killer. “Stockings,” describes that everyone in the company has some sort of good luck talisman. O’Brien focuses on Henry Dobbins, in particular, for he wears his ex-girlfriend’s pantyhose as a scarf for good luck. The patrol comes across a pagoda occupied by monks, in “Church,” and after a couple days Henry Dobbins contemplates becoming a monk. Naturally, in a war, people are going to kill people, and in “The Man I Killed,” O’Brien describes the time he killed a man. More than twenty years later, O’Brien’s daughter asks his if he killed anybody, and in “Ambush,” he fully describes himself wrestling with the guilt of killing an innocent man. O’Brien recalls a day, in “Style,” when the patrol enters a burned down village and see a girl dancing in the midst of the disaster. “Speaking of Courage,” is about an unfulfilled, undecided Norman Bowker who keeps driving around his hometown lake. Also in this story, Bowker explains why he did not quite receive the Silver Star. Kiowa’s death is also described in “Speaking of Courage.”
“Notes,” is the explanation of why O’Brien included the previous story in this collection of stories. “In the Field,” describes the Song Tra Bong River’s stench and griminess. Lieutenant Cross and the rest of the company search the river for Kiowa’s body. Cross’s struggle in accepting the fault of Kiowa’s death is expanded in this story too. In “Good Form,” O’Brien claims that most of the stories were invented from memories that are elusive. The story truth can or cannot be the same as the happening truth. O’Brien and his daughter, in “Field Trip,” return to Vietnam in hopes to make peace with all that was endured during the war. O’Brien describes how he was injured and taken away from the battle in “The Ghost Soldiers.” His injury would not be as bad if it was not for the lack of action from the medic, Bobby Jorgenson. O’Brien is furious at Jorgenson, so when the rest of the company arrives at headquarters, O’Brien and Azar prank Jorgenson to get revenge. “Night Life,” is about how Vietnam can mentally affect people. In the concluding story, “The Lives of the Dead,” O’Brien focuses more on the relationship between life and death than on the war itself. All of these stories in The Things They Carried play a substantial role in conveying the pain associated with war.
While Tim O’Brien was actually a foot soldier during the Vietnam War, the reader struggles to make the connection as to what is truth and what is fiction The Things They Carried (Peacock 2013). Before the reader begins reading the collection, O’Brien explicitly states that The Things They Carried is a work of fiction. If the reader skipped looking over this page in the introduction of the book, the reader would find it hard to believe that the stories written in the collection were fake until the reader gets to “Good Form.” O’Brien even says in the “Good Form” story that most everything he previously said was invented (O'Brien 1990, 179). Everything in this collection of stories is made up including the characters, disputes, and even the most convincing details about each character’s life. This includes the character of Tim’s daughter (Bruckner 1990). Throughout most of the collections, it seems as if the author and the narrator are exactly one in the same, however, this is not exactly the case. Since everything else is made up, the narrator himself is, in fact, made up too. O’Brien created a fictional version of himself for the purpose of telling these stories to make them seem true (Harris 1990). The only true value that can be taken out of this fictionalized war story is O’Brien being a twenty-one-year-old foot soldier during the time of the Vietnam War.
The sources used to determine the accuracy of The Things They Carried were chosen because all three had similar ideas about the accuracy of O’Brien’s collection of stories. Two of the sources are from The New York Times a well-known and respected newspaper. The other source is from an e-journal that focuses on literary criticisms. Bruckner was a well-known columnist, critic, and journalist for The New York Times. Harris is an editor of The Book Review of The New York Times. Peacock is not a well-known critic, but he provided a critique of The Things They Carried on The Literaryyard. I used Peacock’s critique because, despite the professional’s critique, I wanted a civilian’s perspective of O’Brien’s collection.
The Things They Carried has a great level of bias incorporated into it. All of the stories except two, “Ambush” and “Speaking of Courage,” are told from the perspective of the fictionalized Tim O’Brien. “Ambush” is told to O’Brien by his fellow company member, Rat Kiley, and “Speaking of Courage is told from an anonymous third person point of view about Norman Bowker after the war. Most of The Things They Carried is told from Tim O’Brien’s point of view because the stories he is telling are being drawn up from his “memories.” There is a saying that every story has two sides, so naturally these stories have multiple sides. Each member of the company would have his own version of each story told by O’Brien. Also, each member would have additional stories not told by O’Brien of their march in Vietnam.
The other, in The Things They Carried, refers to the Vietnam War. O’Brien’s consideration of his story collection being war stories is far from the truth. The Things They Carried contains very little information about Vietnam and the war itself. The only Vietnamese mentioned in the stories is the towns and villages the company ventured into. Also, there was only one major scene in which any sort of warlike activity was present. It honestly seemed as if O’Brien wanted to forget that there was a war happening during the time of his stories because it is so barely mentioned.