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The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien: Chapter Analysis

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“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” (O’Brien 89). The things the soldiers saw changed the way they saw things for the rest of their lives. The changes they had were in the way they acted, the way they thought, and how they talk to others. Based on the ways they acted when they returned, they were very changed men. The things they saw in war were outrageous and shot into their minds and never forgotten. “Ted Lavender carried tranquilizers until he was shot in the head outside the village of Than Khe in mid-April.” (O’Brien 11). Ted lavender carrying tranquilizers was a symbol for how scary and nerve wracking the war was. They also showed that the soldiers would be willing to do …show more content…

Next, the way they thought about things changed a lot throughout the entire war. One thing that tremendously changed was the way they thought of war. “Step out of line, hit a mine; follow the dink, you 're in the pink. All around us, the place was littered with Bouncing Betties and Toe Poppers and boobytrapped artillery rounds.” (O’Brien 31). This quote shows that they really got used to the war and turned it into a joke kind of. They tried to make fun out of these types of things to not actually think about the war. If that were to take place earlier in war they would be so nervous because one false step and they could die. The soldiers also found out that the war was not all about getting medals like some originally thought. “That 's all my old man talks about, nothing else. How he can 't wait to see my goddamn medals.” (O’Brien 33). This quote is a key example of this because the father believed that going to war was all about getting medals, but Norman Bowker was totally against the thought. This may not be a positive or negative effect but it really is a change of thought from being in the war. A man’s whole life could be changed from war, and especially in the way they would think from day

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