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The Vietnam War In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

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The Things They Carried Essay

Many lives were lost during the Vietnam War. War, a word used to describe major battles, a word used to describe a catastrophe within a period of time. War is unavoidable, it will always happen at some point in time and can cause many different effects. In the book, “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, the author describes his experiences as a soldier during the Vietnam War by recalling the many vivid descriptions of several people that undergo a change from their experience during the war One of these people described by would be Bob Kiley, also nicknamed Rat Kiley. The author describes Rat as a buddy of his, an outgoing person. He also mentions that Rat is a person that anyone could trust with their life (pg. 65). Later in the book, it is revealed that Rat’s best friend, Curt Lemon, tragically dies from a booby-trapped 105 round, an explosive (pg. 74). Shocked, Rat soon becomes emotionally unstable which later causes him to torture a buffalo to death. After the buffalo dies, Rat’s face is filled with tears (pg. 76). It reveals that Curt was everything to him as he copes with his feelings by tormenting the buffalo. There were also others that changed as well. …show more content…

Jimmy constantly daydreams about a woman named Martha as he leads his squad through Vietnam. He loves this woman so much that he brings along a photo of her which he guards and that play around with a rock in his mouth, licking it and so forth as he daydreams about her even if his relationship with Martha is a fantasy. After one of the soldiers named Lavender is killed, Jimmy realizes that he has to perform his duty to lead his squad. He realizes that he cannot be in love while be in a war at the same time. It shows that even death can cause someone to change. There is one unexpected person that changed from the

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