The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien Literary Analysis

A solder’s story

“The Things They Carried,” written by Timothy O’Brien and based on his own Vietnam experiences, features Tim O'Brien as the main protagonist who is a soldier fighting in the Vietnam War. “The Things They Carried” is a number of interrelated lyrical stories that has been declared as one of the best narrations about the Vietnam War. O'Brien proceeds to describe the things that his fellow soldiers carried on their missions, which included physical objects in addition to other intangible objects like fear or guilt. O'Brien explains the chronological order of the events that led to his decision to go to Vietnam despite his initial resistance to joining the war. O'Brien narrates various other accounts about the pre and post-war

Other than just being honest, Kiowa is equally meditative and passionate with everything he does. O'Brien narrates that Kiowa wears a pair of moccasins to be able to walk silently and rationalize the actions of his fellow soldiers. Kiowa exhibits courage through his interaction with his fellow soldiers and in the ways he helps them solve their problems. Kiowa is a person, who can speak calmly and maintain serenity and decency in the midst of war and atrocities. Kiowa is courageous not only in the physical aspects but also in the emotional sense, as he baptizes people during the war and is not afraid to face challenges and adversities. While the other soldiers are fearful and uncertain of what the future holds in the battlefield, Kiowa seems to have everything under control. Bloom & Harold state that, however, through the memory of Norma Bowker, Kiowa's death is heroic and symbolic, as it depicts the fragile nature of human life and how death transitions one's life from vibrancy to mere statistics. Kiowa is an iconic figure in O'Brien's memory because O'Brien looks up to him for support and consolation in the midst of atrocities and confusion in the Vietnamese war. Kiowa's death is equally symbolic in the sense that Norman and O'Brien later learn that life is temporal and death is inevitable. O'Brien develops fear and cowardice when he realizes that, despite the physical and emotional strength everyone is

O'Brien has an active memory and creativity that he uses to attach meaning and reason to all the atrocities that occurred in the war. Through the theme of courage vs. cowardice, O'Brien flashes back to the character of his friend and war veteran Kiowa who dies in battle. Kiowa is an epitome of strength and symbol of reason and serenity in the midst of the war, O'Brien relates to and finds solace and consolation (Bloom and Harold 76). Kiowa's death, however, brings about fear and cowardice when the protagonist realizes that despite personal character and physical attributes death is scary. Curt Lemon, on the other hand, is fearful and unprepared to be in combat that O'Brien later learns to associate with cowardice. Curt Lemon's personality is a constant nag and demoralization factor to O'Brien and the other soldiers fighting in the Vietnamese war. Linda is the most compelling character that O'Brien learns from through her interaction with her. O'Brien later discovers that it is Linda, who made him strong and prepared to tackle life courageously from an early